12 Very Scary Economic Charts
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 19:44Net Government Savings
An historic decline in in government savings from 2001-2002. Trend is continuing lower.
Depository Institution Borrowing from the Fed.
Civilian Employment to Population Ratio
Head and shoulders top formation indicates trend reversal
Civilian Participation Rate:
40 Year Uptrend Broken
Personal Savings: 30 yr Downtrend broken
Head & shoulders bottom indicates trend reversal.
Structural Change from Consumption to Saving Will be a Painful Transition
Total Securitized Loans:
Began in the 90s and exploded.
Treasury Deposits with Federal Reserve:
Loan Loss Reserves: Small US Banks
Bottomed in 2007 at 1.2%! As this number rises, Bank Profits Will Fall.
Real Change in Private Inventories
Number of US Commercial Banks
This is an amazing chart. During the 80s-90s boom the number of US banks actually dropped by 50%.
Bank consolidation and mergers pushed the line down.
Wonder how “too big to fail” started?
US Monetary Base: Money Supply
Defense Spending
Still Making New Highs.
Why are we still wasting so much on weapons?
Is the military our “Plan B” for fixing the economy?
Related posts:
Don Robertson says:
March 5th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I hate all the charts. They’re good charts, don’t get me wrong. They are just misleading.
This is not an economic crisis.
This is a crisis of the failure of pragmatism to provide a way out of the collapsing edifice made out of decades of the accumulation of inter-dependencies of ALL our pragmatic creations.
Science is dead. Science has been proved the failure here. Economics is just a kind of science.
There is no economic fix for this scientific collapse.
Looking for an economic fix is like looking for a butterfly net in which to catch the remains of the Challenger Space Shuttle.
People are standing around gawking at the economic collapse these charts clearly portray.
But, these charts mislead those same people into believing this is JUST an economic collapse.
These charts say, BAIL OUT THE BANKS! QUICK!
But don’t jump to conclusions.
Those people are in fact watching books that have fallen off a shelf from inside an office tower that is collapsing like when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
Putting the books bank on the shelf would be an exercise in futility.
Again, this is no mere economic collapse. We are all trapped in this collapsing tower.
chartingstocks1 says:
March 5th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Don,
These charts do not say “Bail Out Banks.” They show unprecedented deterioration in savings and fed borrowing as well as structural changes in consumption and jobs. I do not believe banks should be bailed out, i think depositors should.
I would caution you in your “4 Horsemen” outlook. This is, an economic and political collapse and in all such cases there were those calling for the end of the world just as much as those who called for Dow 100,000 in a bull market.
Dow 4,000 may be a likely bottom, with a worst case scenario of 1,500. Carnage? yes. Depression? Certainly. End of the world? Certainly not.
As pessimistic as I am, I am certain we will eventually recover as we did in the 50s (after the depression). As the fallen empires of Russia and the UK have, and as Japan has after it’s collapse in the 60s.
What I am not at all certain of is WHEN.
Jeffry Pilcher says:
March 5th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
@chartingstocks – Thank you for deleting the bigoted comments from yesterday. You are farrrrr more intelligent than many of the people making comments here. Wackos and douchebags undermine the site’s integrity.
john s says:
March 5th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Chartingstocks: you don’t need to waste energy defending comments. I read all of your old posts and you’ve been right on for years. Thanks for what you do
Andy says:
March 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
This all started in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve. It is NOT federal and it has NO reserves. It’s a private entity that’s owned by a number of bankers around the world. It was illegally given the power to print the nations currency. The CONSTITUTION forbids such a thing, the Founding Fathers explicitly gave that power to the PEOPLE through their government. When the government needs money, they go to the “Fed” and the “Fed” creates it out of thin air and then LOANS it to the government (the people) AT INTEREST. Nice scam, what?
Do a search for, “The Creature from Jekyll Island”,, yes, it’s a horror story. Also, “Money as Debt” and finally, punch in, “Zeitgeist The Movie” and, “Zeitgeist, Addendum”. You want charts? Here’s a chart showing who owns the “Federal reserve” http://www.save-a-patriot.org/files/view/whofed.html Wake up, America, it may not be too late.
socialwebcms.com says:
March 6th, 2009 at 3:14 am
12 Very Scary Economic Charts…
Economic Charts those tell a story; a story that is worth looking….
Possible Unintended Consequences « Credit Crisis Solution says:
March 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
[...] is popularizing the “doom and gloom” perspective of the economic situation. Almost daily, new negative economic indicators are [...]