Dateline: 26 January 2017
The stock market is into new highs, but I'm pretty sure that the real economy of America is not experiencing a commensurate rise. Two bits of real-life data bring me to that conclusion.
First, I learned at my last town board meeting that my town's recent annual sales tax revenue check was down 27% from last year's payment. We formulated a budget for the town last fall, based on expected sales tax revenue of $60,000 (which was about what we got in previous years). But the actual payment, received after the first of this year, ended up being $44,000.
The way it works is that sales taxes on all retail sales in my county are sent to the state of New York. The State takes their cut and gives a portion of the revenue to the county. The county then divides the money among the towns in the county (after taking $4,000 for "administrative costs"). Towns with a bigger real estate tax base get proportionately more than the sparsly populated, relatively poor rural towns, like mine. That $16,000 shortfall is significant for my town.
The second reality check came a few days ago when I received my annual statement (for 2016) from PayPal for my business. Almost all my gross sales come to me through PayPal. It so happens that my sales total from last year was 23% less than the year before.
On the one hand, it's a little unnerving to see such a drop in my income. On the other hand, managing my business last year was so much easier and less stressful than it has been in previous years. I actually had more time to enjoy the summer, get some things done around the house, and take a short vacation in the fall.
So, I'm not crying the blues here. I'm just making an observation. From my perspective I don't think the real economy is very good at all.
Is America's economy like Wile E. Coyote in the picture at the top of this page— over the edge of the cliff and about to drop?
I don't think so. I think the Coyote is over the edge, and already on the way down.
That's the way it looks to me.
Time to create a new economy....it is not a new concept - history is full of it.
ReplyDeleteTrue. There is always some sort of economy, and new economic systems replace old ones. Sort of like how Wile E. Coyote shows up again after falling off the cliff, and goes after the Roadrunner again.
ReplyDeleteThat's it! We need a Wile E. Conomy.
DeleteThat's hilarious, Scott. A+++
DeleteHmmm. Maybe that's our property taxes went up this year by 20%.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, all the more important to be debt free if the economy free falls. We aren't there yet, but I'm ecstatic that we were able to reduce our debt by 70% a week ago. 😀
I sometimes wonder if we are closer than we think to something very different than anyone expected, Herrick.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth L. Johnson said,
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! It's already on its way down!!!! Yep, still wiser to get back to basics and out-of-debt. It's past time to be leaning on the everlasting arms of Jesus!
Well since you went there.... I thought about you today. You introduced me to Martin Armstrong's Blog and he wrote this one today:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/civil-unrest/are-we-getting-dumber/
And then Kevin Swanson dissected the Women's march around the country:
https://www.generations.org/programs/585
I about split a gut when they talked about one of the signs that said something to the effect "I can't wait until I have as many rights as a gun."
RonC
At some point, years ago, I looked at all the financial setups people had created and decided it was a mess and I wanted out. Now, I know I can't actually get out, we're all interconnected, but I wanted to reduce my dependency upon the systems, much like we reduce our dependency on the grocery store when we grow our own food. I'm still working on it, of course. This reinforces my original feeling.
ReplyDelete