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...

Read more »