RR economic indicator - not so good
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Started by bear - Dec. 22, 2022, 10:57 p.m.

for mid december, y-o-y,... total traffic is off 5%.  mix freight off over 3%, and intermodal off over 7%.


for the first 50 weeks of the year, y-o-y,...total mixed freight is flat. not up, not down.  but...  intermodal is off by 5%.  so total traffic is off by about 2.5%.  

folks this tells us that the economy is Not growing.  

Comments
By MarkB - Dec. 23, 2022, 2:15 a.m.
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Thanks for the comment. The RR economic indicator is one way of getting the feel of how goods are flowing in our economy.

Its not difficult to see the detrimental changes in the economy, not just on the rail freight, but also on the retail side. Trucking freight is down for several reasons. Whether for reduced orders, lack of drivers, or not enough pay. Employment by retail companies, from fast food to Walmart, is also down.

Some restuarants can't handle the flow of customers due to staffing shortages. The same with retail stores such as Walmart, Home Depot/Lowes, grocery stores, etc.

What's curious to me is, 4 years ago, there were plenty of workers at these stores. But today, there is a deficit. So there are people who aren't qualified to work any higher than minimum wage, yet they aren't out there working for it. So how are they paying their bills? Are they still collecting unemployment benefits from the plandemic?

The other side of the argument, is that retailers and restuarants, aren't making enough revenue, due to people being poor and not spending as much, to afford to hire more employees. Yet they are showing increase yields in profits, quarter by quarter.

Hhhmmm....