Paul Craig RobertsMarch 17, 2015 (PaulCraigRoberts) -- The first quarter GDP will be negative unless the figure is again manipulated and faked.
I am looking at a chart showing the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDP forecast. During the past 30 days, the Atlanta Fed’s forecast has dropped from 2.3 percent first quarter growth to 0.3 percent.
https://www.frbatlanta.org/cqer/researchcq/gdpnow.cfm
The chart also shows the Blue Chip consensus. This is Wall Street’s forecast used to market financial products. It is a sales device and nothing more. This forecast as of March 6 is 2.4 percent.
Today (March 17) Zero Hedge lists 43 leading economic indicators that totally contradict the payroll jobs reports. As I and John Williams (shadowstats.com) have pointed out over and over, the reported payroll job gains are totally inconsistent with the behavior of the economy.
How can anyone believe that when retail sales are declining and large retail chains are closing stores, tens of thousands of new retail clerks are being hired? How can construction jobs be increasing when housing starts are declining? Lumber is collapsing also: http://investmentresearchdynamics.com/lumber-is-crashing-again/
Here is the Zero Hedge article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-17/something-strange-going-nonfarm-payrolls
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Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.
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