Everyone Needs a Place to Sleep

The first chart shows furniture and home furnishings store sales divided by wages.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRi4P2iqD7O82h3_eLfoKYW8d5YHJlg4-ccvW57hR4RLcgdlaY96OUMCYwOSFqM0SgvmQMqLKQuLP4JQnAF0DzF3LKtKdOBlKl4IFzPyVIsJZ6WjN6f1JXbEv8AHYn12CwbCzD2YvaWN4/s1600/Furniture+Store+Sales+vs.+Wages.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRi4P2iqD7O82h3_eLfoKYW8d5YHJlg4-ccvW57hR4RLcgdlaY96OUMCYwOSFqM0SgvmQMqLKQuLP4JQnAF0DzF3LKtKdOBlKl4IFzPyVIsJZ6WjN6f1JXbEv8AHYn12CwbCzD2YvaWN4/s320/Furniture+Store+Sales+vs.+Wages.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />The next chart shows the consumer price index for furniture and bedding.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEfNamG8kWC8c91M-a_x5W-8Fqo9bSWZHeYAUMSWv01hyphenhyphenPkb4mVk26P0HJHxd2WdhXaDtBmnmqKBcdCIO200y7KK5tKjeDBxr8HtdNgzwao9gz-n19Ugc76_6RFpvpOL44UwxADkAsXk/s1600/CPI+-+Furniture.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfEfNamG8kWC8c91M-a_x5W-8Fqo9bSWZHeYAUMSWv01hyphenhyphenPkb4mVk26P0HJHxd2WdhXaDtBmnmqKBcdCIO200y7KK5tKjeDBxr8HtdNgzwao9gz-n19Ugc76_6RFpvpOL44UwxADkAsXk/s320/CPI+-+Furniture.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />As seen in the second chart, the first cracks in the furniture dam began to form just about the time that <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/04/409-million-missing-jobs-musical-tribute.html">the long-term exponential trend for job growth began to fail</a>. In my opinion, this is not a coincidence. This is not a short-term cyclical problem. This is a long-term structural problem. The housing bust combined with rapidly rising oil prices just added insult to injury.<br /><br />Weak job growth. Weak demand. Weak pricing. Weak recovery.<br /><br /><b>February 26, 2009</b><br /><a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/he-is-living-in-a-cardboard-box/?_r=0">He Is Living in a Cardboard Box</a><br /><br /><div style="color: #666666;"><i>“<span style="color: red;">I’ve been living in these things for 15 years</span>,” he said. “I get the materials from the hardware store and fix them right up.” He had a blue plastic tarp underneath in addition to the clear plastic on the top to keep out the rain.<br /><br />“I saw them delivering refrigerators down on 14th Street and just leaving the boxes,” he said. “<span style="color: red;">If you’re living on the street, that’s a home.</span> So I picked up four of them and flattened them out and brought them up here. So I’m set for a while.” </i></div><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htm">BLS: CPI Database</a><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=ozS">St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart</a>

Everyone Needs a Place to Sleep

The first chart shows furniture and home furnishings store sales divided by wages.Click to enlarge.The next chart shows the consumer price index for furniture and bedding.Click to enlarge.As seen in the second chart, the first cracks in the furniture…

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