It's A Stretch -- March 1, 2018

Apparently Bloomberg is reporting that for the first time in five years, Americans consumed less pizza than the year before. Bloomberg attributes the decrease to the NFL boycott. But the decrease was not by much. The decrease works out to a single slice of pizza -- it probably occurred in the first quarter of the year -- during the two-week layoff leading up to the Super Bowl.

Just joking. That may or may not be accurate, but I pulled it out of thin air (with apologies to Sir Henry Neville aka William Shakespeare).

But apparently this is true. Apparently Bloomberg is reporting that in 2017 (last year), American gasoline consumption fell for the first time in five years. According to the linked article, government figures show that consumption was down by just 0.0006 percent compared to 2016. The demand reduction occurred in the first quarter, corresponding with the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

And then this: According to Bloomberg, illegal immigrants started driving less after Trump took power for fear of apprehension by immigration officers.

To some that might be quite a stretch, so Bloomberg also noted that higher prices might have had something to do with the decline in consumption by 0.0006 percent.

Anyone who thinks the US government can measure a 0.0006 percent change in any commodity consumption has a lot of faith in US government bureaucrats. It will be interesting if Mark Perry can come up with a graph to show this decline.