http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1741-FOMC-In-English-1216.html
For immediate release
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating.
Those of you without jobs are now rolling off the unemployment rolls, so you don't count any more. We in Washington DC and on Wall Street have our huge bonuses back, and thus the labor market - what we see of it anyway, is doing better.
The housing sector has shown some signs of improvement over recent months. Household spending appears to be expanding at a moderate rate, though it remains constrained by a weak labor market, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.
Credit continues to contract as shown by our most-recent Z.1 (below), but we're not going to tell you that:
This, of course, means that people are spending a higher percentage of their incomes. That in turn means that the squeeze - especially on the middle class - is getting acute.
Businesses are still cutting back on fixed investment, though at a slower pace, and remain reluctant to add to payrolls; they continue to make progress in bringing inventory stocks into better alignment with sales.
Walmart and others are laying off seasonal help ahead of Christmas because, surprise-surprise, sales suck!
