If young Americans knew what was good for them, they would all be in the Tea Party.

Governments should be more honest about the size of their debts and young voters would be wise to get politicians to pay them off as soon as possible, says economic historian Niall Ferguson in the first of his BBC Reith Lectures.

Read the article here.

…New Line/Warner Bros’ Rock Of Ages (3,470 theaters) fell to earth with a thud. Which Hollywood expected because the pic had been tracking poorly for weeks (and even went down at one point week to week). The studio felt the 1980s period piece was a hard sell to younger moviegoers…

via deadline.com – Read the rest here 

David Rosenberg is a well know bear. He has been bullish on equities as of late due to the never ending central bank put, but has 51 signs that show how bad things are for the global economy.

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Chart porn from Rosenberg 

In 2011, a record 46 million people – or 1 in 7 Americans — participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as Food Stamps.

The increased use of Food Stamps is a huge social and political issue for America, and it’s also big business. In 2011, the U.S. government spent $72 billion on Food Stamps.

Among the beneficiaries, food producers such as Cargill, PepsiCo. (PEP), Coca-Cola (KO) and Kraft (KFT), as well as retailers like Wal-Mart. Of course, Wall Street gets a cut too, led by JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which administers the SNAP benefits in 24 states.

In the accompanying video, I discuss the (big) business of Food Stamps with Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of several books, most recently Why Calories Count.

Generally speaking, Nestle is a supporter of the program, calling it “the only safety net we have left for the poor.”

However, with obesity rates rising among the poor — and obesity a huge factor in rising health-care costs — Nestle and other health experts wonder whether there should be restrictions on what kind of foods can be purchased with Food Stamps.

Currently, there are few restrictions on what can be purchased with Food Stamps, other than alcohol and prepared foods.

Read more here:

Rail traffic continues to expand modestly supporting the growth in trucking. All boding well for our economy.

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“Bloomberg had a nice report today on the state of the truckingindustry in the USA.  They note the following:

• Truck freight loadings in April were up 3% year over year and 1.4% month over month.
• Actual tonnage was up 2.8% year over year and 2.6% month over month.
• BB&T trucking analyst Tom Albrecht notes 29 consecutive months of growth.
• Tonnage is seasonally steady.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY – we have never had a recession when tonnage is expanding.”

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gauge of manufacturing in New York state fell sharply in June to its lowest level since November 2011 but still showed growth, the New York Federal Reserve said in a report on Friday.

The New York Fed’s “Empire State” general business conditions index fell to 2.3, a 15-point drop from the month before and the lowest level since November 2011, and far below economists’ expectations of 13.

Employment gauges also dropped, and indexes for the six-month outlook fell for the fifth consecutive month to 23.1, suggesting waning optimism about the medium-term. The shipments index dropped 19 points to 4.8, and the prices paid and new orders indexes also fell to their lowest levels since November 2011.”

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Very big miss here….

Chart porn

via 

A hint to congress to act ? Perhaps, and if all else fails the clam has your back…..

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A good sign for the U.S. economy comes from a slight expansion of trucking shipments.

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Sucks to be in India as their economy is tanking and they are still seeing rising inflation despite a haircut in commodity prices.

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“$GS chief U.S. economist Jan Hatzius and his team lowered their tracking estimate of Q2 GDP growth to 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent on the back of weak retail sales data out of the United States this morning.

Hatzius wrote in a note to clients that “key details of the report were weaker than the consensus had expected,” including non-auto retail sales, which were down 0.4 percent, and “core”/control retail sales — a metric that strips autos, gasoline, and building materials out of the number — which came in flat at 0 percent.”

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“The U.S. economy is due to face some tough times ahead, say prominent investor Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.

“I think we’re in a tough position for the next three, four, five months,” Blankfein tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” appearing alongside Buffett.

‘We’ve been in a lot tougher position, and the economy is not horrible; it’s just not growing the way it should and there’s just a lot of uncertainty,” Blankfein adds.

The U.S. economy is showing signs of softening. In its latest jobs report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the country added a net 69,000 nonfarm jobs to the economy in May. By comparison, January and February added 275,000 and 259,000 net jobs, respectively.

Meanwhile, gross domestic product grew a lackluster 1.9 percent in the first quarter, down from an initial estimate of 2.2 percent, according to official data.”

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Helping to pare gains in Asia, an advisor for China said that GDP growth may fall below 7%. Consensus is for China to grow by 7.9% or more.

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Despite the drop in manufacturing the U.K. managed to rally.

“Factory output dropped 0.7 percent from March, led by pharmaceuticals, aircraft maintenance and food and drink production, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 30 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a decline of 0.1 percent. Overall industrial output was unchanged on the month, weaker than the 0.1 percent increase forecast by economists.”

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With Detroit teetering over a monetary abyss, Mayor Dave Bing and the city’s new chief financial officer issued a clarion call Friday, warning bluntly that the city will run out of cash next week if a lawsuit challenging the financial agreement the city made with the state to avoid insolvency isn’t dropped.

Calling his frustration level “off the charts” and saying the lawsuit is creating an even worse financial situation than the city was already in, Bing said he has urged Detroit’s top lawyer, Krystal Crittendon, to drop the suit so the city can avoid losing a portion of $80 million the state is threatening to withhold if the lawsuit doesn’t go away.

But, Bing said, by law he cannot force Crittendon to drop the suit.

“I didn’t want to get into a lawsuit — it makes no sense to me, and nobody wins, as far as I’m concerned,” Bing said at a news media briefing Friday. “We’ve spent way too much time on this issue that keeps us from doing the things that we need to do to fix the city.”

The urgency of the financial situation and growing impatience in Lansing resulted in Bing’s push to get together with the council for a closed-door meeting Monday to try to come to some type of consensus.

“If our city runs out of money, there is no bigger crisis that we would have,” Bing said.

But City Council President Charles Pugh said he and many of his colleagues want Crittendon to stand her ground on her challenge of the consent deal. Pugh insisted Friday that it’s not out of brinkmanship, but concern that the city’s consent agreement with the state must be reviewed in court to determine whether it violates Detroit’s own laws governing the conduct of elected city officials.

Pugh said of CFO Jack Martin’s warning that the city will be broke by Friday: “We feel like that may be a bit of an exaggeration.”

Peter Letzmann, a former city lawyer for Detroit, Pontiac and Troy who teaches public administration law at Grand Valley State University, said he doubts Crittendon has the legal standing to pursue the case, which he predicted a judge will toss out.

“I’ve never seen this kind of chutzpah by a city attorney acting without the authority of the mayor or City Council,” Letzmann said.

“They’re turning out the streetlights in Detroit, but we’re spending city dollars chasing what is pretty clearly a frivolous lawsuit,” he said. “They’ve got to stop politicking here. They’re just pushing the city to bankruptcy.”

The battle ultimately could lead to an emergency manager if state officials deem the city to be in violation of the consent agreement. The deal gives the state significant control over Detroit’s finances but prevents, for now, the appointment of an emergency manager who could strip virtually all authority from Bing and the council.

Read more here:

“China’s consumer prices rose the least in two years in May and industrial output and retail sales trailed estimates, adding pressure for more loosening after this week’s interest-rate cut.

Inflation slowed to 3 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, compared with the 3.2 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Production increased 9.6 percent, lower than a projected 9.8 percent gain, and retail sales increased 13.8 percent, the Beijing-based bureau said in separate statements.”

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ALLAHPUNDIT has the hilarious breakdown of the Krugman takedown here. Note that Estonia has endured much harsher austerity measures than Greece, and it now it is the only EuroZone country with a budget surplus, which makes the Krugman beatdown even better.