If you thought a Second Depression would be all bad, think again. The US Balance of trade deficit is getting smaller thanks to globalism imploding (for now). It’s all in the Census Bureau’s International Trade in Goods and Services report for May ’09 out today:
“The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total May exports of $123.3 billion and imports of $149.3 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $26.0 billion, down from $28.8 billion in April, revised.
May exports were $1.9 billon more than April exports of $121.4 billion. May imports were $0.9 billion less than April imports of $150.2 billion. In May, the goods deficit decreased $2.6 billion from April to $37.3 billion, and the services surplus increased $0.2 billion to $11.4 billion.
Exports of goods increased $2.0 billion to $82.1 billion, and imports of goods decreased $0.5 billion to $119.4 billion. Exports of services decreased $0.1 billion to $41.3 billion, and imports of services decreased $0.4 billion to $29.9 billion.
In May, the goods and services deficit decreased $34.6 billion from May 2008. Exports were down $33.3 billion, or 21.3 percent, and imports were down $67.9 billion, or 31.3 percent.
—
The April to May increase in exports of goods reflected increases in industrial supplies and materials ($2.1 billion); foods, feeds, and beverages ($0.3 billion); consumer goods ($0.2 billion); and capital goods ($0.1 billion). A decrease occurred in automotive vehicles, parts, and engines ($0.4 billion). Other goods were virtually unchanged.
These numbers shouldn’t be too surprising, however, since we’ve been mentioning every so often how the West Coast container ports are doing – and come next week, or so, we should start seeing the TEU (ton equivalent unit) reports from the West Coast docks and that should let us know if the collapse in global trade is bottoming.
No, of course, it’s not over yet, but we’ll just wait for the data to confirm… Meanwhile, stock futures are down.
Say, you don’t suppose that the ‘end of the line’ for globalism would be bad for markets, now, do you?
Government Motors Deal
WTF? I don’t remember anything in the Constitution about the government owning the means of production (say, that was Karl Marx, wasn’t it?). But times have changed and I’m a reprobate, I suppose for mentioning it because today “GM is said to complete bankruptcy asset sale to a new company” and guess what? YOU and I own it!
Of course, that doesn’t mean squat since we won’t get ‘shareholder discounts’. But the good news is that Bob Lutz – who walks on water in my book – is being retained to have creative oversight over the remaining GM product line. Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GM and the surviving brands.
I’m still trying to find something American-made I want to buy…but I keep going back to the web site one of the local once-Chrysler dealership sales fellows put up to keep in touch with what is really going on with this stuff…
You are SO Generous
So lemme see here: We put $180-billion into AIG and now the headline is that “AIG Seeks Clearance for More Bonuses” to the tune of $2.4 million. Hey, after promising $588 for every man, woman, and child in America (if my calculator is working right) to these folks, this bonus is less than a penny a person in the whole freakin country. Why, it’s only $60,000 per bonus recipient. Bone us is right…
Disappearing People Meme
While we’ve had some preliminary hits on the idea of mysterious disappearances (the AF-447 crash, for example) there’s a story in process of going mainstream that is most curious because it fits the kind of linguistic sets that have been in the data: “Cleaning woman vanishes at NYC skyscraper” which has not only been picked up at MSNBC, but now more than 200-other reports on the net. How’s that for a meme appearing?
I spoke with Cliff at www.halfpasthuman.com about it – and turns out that the ‘yacht’ with the famous/royal/celebrity types aboard being found missing in Mary Celeste fashion is still ahead in our future – only part of the linguistics were fulfilled by the AF-447 crash, so we may still have that to look forward to. One reason? Data seems to infer that the vessel would be headed a different direction…but more when it happens.
—
One note about the upcoming “shape of things to come” so the record is straight: There won’t be any ‘censorship’ of the data release in the next “Shape of things to come” report. It will all be in there. The idea I was skirting was about not putting it all out there for your kids/young people. Some of it’s pretty dire/bummer/”What’s the point of living then” kind of stuff. If you want to bum out the kids, guess that’s your call and my bad for suggesting it.
—
One other meme thing to say: Yes, we’re aware of the ‘new land’ coming up in Alaska/
O’s “Bummer”
“Quello sguardo “indiscreto” di Obama” headlines an Italian web site.
—
Stories of a young woman catching the presidential eye like “Tail to the Chief” in the NY Post seem to be popping up all over the ‘net this morning. But isn’t the G-8 meeting about international booty?
Fluey!
Oh I can see the chorus to ‘roll up the sleeves’ forming up now. It’s in stories that report “London is days away from an epidemic with the West Midlands not far behind.” and “Obama urges vigilance, not panic.” Did you see in “Swine flu shots at school: Bracing for fall return” that school flu shots are planned for October? Got your exemption paperwork started yet if you don’t want your kids being ‘shot’?
Might want to click here later today to see how much the flu death rate has changed, but in last week’s report it was 170 dead from 33,902 cases. That’s about 1/2 of one percent. We’ve been buying our Vitamin D-3 since you can read for yourself a doctor’s column on why you may wish to “Avoid flu shots, take Vitamin D instead.“