CNBC: Weak retail sales underscore slowing economy… MarketWatch: Corporate profits set to drop

via CNBC: The weak report from the Commerce Department on Monday joined a raft of other soft data, including housing starts and manufacturing production that have left economists anticipating a sharp slowdown in growth in the first quarter. Retail sales dropped 0.2 percent as households cut back on purchases of furniture, clothing, food and electronics … Read more

JOHN MERLINE: The government is now a check-writing, wealth-redistribution machine that costs trillions.

via usatoday: Who would object to the government shifting money from the wealthy to the less fortunate? Except that’s not what happens: Few funds really go to them What is the government’s primary function? If you look at the debates that rage each year when the president’s budget comes out, you’d think it was defense … Read more

The Hunt for Taxes Altering the Economy

by Martin Armstrong We are beginning to witness the impact of state taxes on decision making. California’s high taxes led to the San Francisco Giants losing Bryce Harper to the Philadelphia Phillies. The 26-year-old professional baseball star agreed to a 13-year, $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies because the bottom line net of what California would take was … Read more

Your Economy May Be Fine, But It’s Not Just You

By Patrick Watson Looking at the official unemployment rate, American workers should be pretty happy. Almost everyone who wants a job has one. Yet many aren’t happy at all. We see it in consumer sentiment, retail sales, and other indicators. We all hear it anecdotally from friends and family. Some employers are unhappy too. They complain they … Read more

Chinese J-11s breach Taiwanese airspace for first time in 20 years

At 11 a.m. Sunday morning, Taiwan time, two Chinese PLAAF J-11’s deliberately breached the median line–the official maritime border separating China and Taiwan–for the first time in 20 years. Taiwan scrambled its own fighters and sent the J-11s packing. Huang Chung-yen, a spokesman for Taiwan’s Presidential Office, said China “should stop behavior of this sort, … Read more