Post 330

• The Ford F-Series of pickup trucks have constantly been in the top six of cars sold going back to the 1960s.
  • Pickup trucks now account for four of the top six.
  • In the 2010s Japanese cars accounted for four of the top six.
• After experiencing two straight years of declining sales, Home Depot seems to be turning things around: slowly.
• Amazon continues its strong sales growth.
  • Advertising and web services leading the way.
    • And are now offering same-day delivery for groceries.
• Deere Corporation sales continue to fall.
  • And its share price continues to soar.
• The cost of renting an apartment in Canada has gone through the roof over the last 15 years.
  • And is significantly higher (adjusted for inflation) than it was in past decades.
• In Financial Ructions:
  • Stock market values are very high.
    • 10 and 20-year stock market returns have been very low or negative from these elevated levels.
  • Reverse Repo is almost gone and will no longer be adding liquidity to the market.
  • Foreigners’ purchases of Canadian federal bonds are down 85% this year.
    • Probably getting increasingly nervous about rumours of even more debt-fueled government spending.
      • And no, government spending does not grow the economy.
  • Japanese long-term bond yields continue to climb.
  • In our book review of The Way the World Works we look at:
    • How governments responded to higher inflation by raising taxes:
      • Worst of both worlds for taxpayers.
    • And how fallacious economic doctrine made things considerably worse in the 1970s.