Poll: What One Word Is Missing From The Linked Bloomberg Article? -- January 15, 2016

Updates

January 16, 2016: in the original post, I polled readers to see if they could find the one word that was missing in the Bloomberg article in which the writers were unable to explain the weak retail sales in 2015: retail sales in US decrease to end weakest year since 2009.

The one word was ObamaCare or anything related: health, healthcare, insurance, medical, premiums. Not one of those words showed up in the article. I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but $1,000 - $2,000/month-premiums for family health insurance certainly swamps the $40/month Americans are saving in gasoline bills.

But if you are a 20-something subway rider, no family, an Obama-supporter, and writing for Bloomberg, this would be easy to miss.

My hunch is that before the end of the year (2016) we're going to start seeing stories on the labor market: that it never was that strong, and the question will be asked, how was that missed?
 

Original Post

 

I find it amazing how BloombergBusiness can spin the worst news of the day. I'll be out and about all day so I won't be able to write the post now, but I will post my thoughts on this later. But see if you can find the one word missing from this article: retail sales in US decrease to end weakest year since 2009, and we are in our fifth or sixth year of recovery, and we have had a gazillion dollars in stimulus, and interest rates at zero, which unfortunately with such good jobs numbers, Yellen has decided to start raising. But see if you can the one word missing in the linked story.

There are in fact three words that "suffice" to answer the question.

So, the poll, what is "the word" that is missing in the linked article.

Because "polldaddy" requires two choices, I had to set the poll up the way I did. Do not check either of the two boxes, and you can only provide one answer, I believe.

If you do not answer correctly, you are not paying attention. LOL. Just kidding. It's all in fun.

Have a great day. I'm off to the Kimbell Museum, Ft Worth, TX, to see the Caillebotte exhibit again. It's the first time my wife has seen it, something to which she's been looking forward. It's one of my Christmas presents to her (and myself; I loved the exhibit).

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Can You Spell Rescesion?

Probability of a recession at highest levels since fall of 2009. Although the Fed's decision to begin raising rates this past quarter has nothing to do with this probability, if we do enter a recession within a year (and it's only through hindsight), folks will note it began when Ms Yellen began raising rates.

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12,000 miles / year divided by 24 mpg = 500 gallons of gasoline per year

$4.00 gasoline = $2,000 divided by 52 weeks = $40 / week (one meal for two, or two McDonald's meals for four)

$1.50 gasoline = $750 divided by 52 weeks = $14 / week.

The Bloomberg editors suggest that Americans socking away $26/week into savings has destroyed the US retail economy.

Perhaps.

Bloomberg has the evidence.

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The Bird Is The Word

Bird Is The Word, The Trashmen