This is just a sampling of the kind of damage done recently. I have gathered up some charts into specific sectors.
Carnage Class: Retail
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Massive Retail Failure
Well, just about the only thing left that countless millions of people cling to to give their bankrupt lives some kind of meaning is failing. The seven year support level for retail has been breached. The world continues to collapse into a heap, aching under the weight of a hundred trillion dollars in debt that will never be repaid. Enjoy the show. Slope is your front row seat.
Death by Consumption
Those of you who have been on Slope for a while probably know that I hold no affection for consumerism. I agree with Thoreau that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”, and my view is that men – – and, God knows, women – – try to extinguish that desperation by plunging themselves into debt to buy crap that they don’t really need. It’s simultaneously pathetic and revolting.
Buying stuff ceaselessly has become the American Pastime, and this “lifestyle” is a vapid emptiness we have successfully exported to China, Japan,and all around the world. We are now a globe packed with insatiable consumers, always looking for the next shiny thing to distract them from an existence that would torment them if they deeply examined it.
(more…)Waiting for Nordstrom
Like most equities, Nordstrom (JWN) has had a very strong run since stocks bottomed on August 15th. In that short span of time, it has ascended nearly 40%.
Retail Wrecked
I’ve been bearish on retail for months, as you know, particularly by focusing on XRT. Today we’re finally starting to see that the gluttonous American consumer is finally running out of steam, as witnessed by the plunge of Macy’s………
Shop ‘Til You Drop
As the SlopeCharts of credit card debt clearly shows, the gluttonous appetite for mass-produced garbage is almost limitless in America. Any chastening from the financial crisis is a distant memory at this point.
Full Circle
I think I’ve made my point with these two: retail is, shall we say, having a downturn, not like that which accompanied the financial crisis. I’d say that’s telling.
