Akkam’s Razor

I didn't expect to see this from Businessweek:

The Economy: Not Looking Like Christmas

The GDP, even revised up, is still down. Inventories have grown. And data like truck-freight stats are nothing you'd want under the tree

by Peter Coy

Don't jingle any bells for the U.S. economy as the holiday season heats up. From major headline numbers like the gross domestic product (GDP) report to out-of-the-way stats like truck tonnage, the economy seems to be stuck in below-trend growth.

The article goes on to highlight subpar GDP growth, building manufacturer inventories, the omnipresent housing market, and a warning from David Rosenberg, chief North American economist of Merrill Lynch (MER), stating that the truck-tonnage report "looked borderline recessionary, for lack of a more polite term." He said "this was the worst October for trucking activity since 1982, when the economy was in recession."

The pundit class will most likely frame this as the result of negative (politcal) talk about the economy by partisan operators, and that we should ignore any critical news and focus on the positive.  

Oh yeah, and WalMart had the worst Black Friday in 10-years. 

Popularity: 8% [?]