Buying More and More Crap IS THE ENGINE That Powers America

As we look at all the crap and clutter that Americans have in their garages, their basements, their sheds, their barns, the amount is stuff is STAGGERING.  Recently you may have noticed that storage lockers are popping up all over the city near you.  Why?  Because people don't have enough storage in their own homes to store all their crap so they have to rent another garage to fill up with crap.

We recently sold my parents home.  It turns out that no one wanted most of the stuff that was in their home.  The prized China hutch, filled with china and the Ethan Allen dining room table and the Persian rugs....they were once thought to be PRICELESS and would be family heirlooms passed from generation to generation.  Wrong.  We couldn't give the stuff away.  Goodwill wouldn't even take China hutches because THEY can't give them away.  Today's treasure is tomorrows junk.

Did you ever stop to think that this mountain of stuff will all be in a landfill in the next 10 years?  That above ground pool in you backyard?  Landfill.  That hot tub on your back deck?  Landfill.  That pop-up camper in your driveway?  Landfill.  That sofa in your basement?  Landfill.

"So what's your problem Dennis?  Why the buzz kill so early on a Tuesday morning?"

Because I was just reading a financial forecast from a US Economist and it confirmed how sick we have become as a society.  It's time to recognize our disease.  Only then can we hope to treat it.  I believe the Bible would call our disease Mammonism.

Looking beyond the next quarter, however, the picture is certainly complicated enough to require a survival guide. One fresh concern is that U.S. growth has become significantly lopsided. In Q2, consumer spending grew 4.7%, while the entire rest of the economy contracted 3.7%. 


The consumer will make or break the expansion

Increasingly, the fate of our expansion lies in the hands of the consumer. Consumption makes up 69% of the entire U.S. economy, dwarfing other sectors, and a necessary condition for recessions in the past has been a contraction in household spending. This puts the consumer squarely in the spotlight of our outlook.

Happily, the consumer is well supported, and the outlook remains positive. One of the clearest signs that the volatility that has afflicted Wall Street has not hit Main Street is strong levels of consumer confidence. Two key measures of consumer sentiment remain near expansion highs, and one of our favorite bellwether indexes – the spread of consumer expectations to present situations – remains elevated as well. Global trade tensions could put a significant dent in consumer sentiment, particularly as the next tranche of tariffs stands to include many consumer goods. However, looking ahead, we expect the consumer to only bend and not break.

This, then, is the landscape that investors need to survive. What is in the tool kit of the investor to manage an environment of slow global growth, low interest rates and higher volatility? Slower global growth will ratchet up uncertainty and pressure on the profit outlook for large multinational companies. Central bank policies may – or may not – reignite growth but will definitely keep interest rates low. We expect the U.S. economy to avoid a recession but to be increasingly lopsided. In this environment, month by month, the data could easily temporarily surprise to the downside, causing alarm bells to sound and feeding back into higher volatility.

Here;  https://fsinvestments.com/perspectives/articles/q4-2019-macro-outlook?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRoaVkyUTBPVGRtTmpKaiIsInQiOiIwUWFqQnlMMnRBK1Z5VVlFNWtYVXRIN1I3MWpNMkV1NWVSMEJ1U3ppcnM1WEl1Mmk2a3VkM3Q1ekcrMXhDVDRva2NlYzhnaVI1SDhpM3lkdkFpUEZEMFNcL1gzRTUrdk5nVnFTSkQxOUtGcnVMREtvT3NTaWt4WlNsb0JZOWF3Um0ifQ%3D%3D

So let's recap the landscape:  70% of Americans don't have $1000.  2/3 of Americans have no idea how to even understand a basic budget like MONEY IN MINUS MONEY OUT=DISPOSABLE INCOME.  Most Americans have consumer debt paying exorbitant rates.  Most Americans haven't even started setting aside for old-age/retirement. Most Americans are one paycheck away from financial disaster.  Clearly most Americans are in VERY POOR FINANCIAL CONDITION.

AND YET 70% of the US ECONOMY is powered by American consumers buying MORE CRAP that they can't afford.  This has become the majority of the US Economic ENGINE??  What happens when American's cease to be able to borrow any more money in which to power 70% of our entire economy?

And yet most Americans have never read the Bible.  More Americans believe in aliens evolving on other planets than believe in the God of the Bible.  Porn and drug addictions are sweeping through our youth.  Mainstream churches are closing down by the thousands every year.  Public schools have become indoctrination centers to teach our kids that God doesn't exist...which leads to hopelessness, depression and suicide.  So of course America takes a whole shipload of anti-depression drugs.

I am super hopeful and optimistic about the future because I know Jesus is coming in the future.  However, I'm not super hopeful and optimistic about the future of America because I know what happens to nations who reject Jesus and embrace Mammonism.

Revelation 3
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.