Obama's False Claim About The Economy

During a recent press conference, and in an effort to deflect GOP candidates' comments regarding how bad the economy is, President Obama made the claim that America has the "strongest, most durable economy in the world".  Well, tell that to the retailers who are feeling like canaries in a coal mine.

By May of last year, the major retail chains -- those with 10 or more stores -- announced the closing of more than 6,000 across the  United States.  By the end of the year, the number of closings was much higher than 6,000. Leading the pack was 1800 Radio Shack stores that closed due to bankruptcy.  McDonalds announced 700.  God only knows how many retailers with less than 10 stores shut their doors.

This year, by February 9th, more than 2500 stores have announced closures for 2016 and beyond.  This includes the just announced 140 for Sports Authority closing due to bankruptcy, and the 154 Walmart stores that were previously announced.

Now, understand, most all of these closures are for stores that previously weathered the Great Recession.  Yet, now, when we are supposedly not in recession, we are experiencing all these closures.  The simple answer for this lies in the following chart:

Growth in retail sales has been steadily declining since 2011 with 2015's (excluding autos) already being lower that 2008; when we were at the height of the recession.  The simple conclusion is that people have increasingly less money to spend; indicating fewer good paying jobs. Thus, if both retail sales dip below the "zero" line this year, we are probably in recession.  Just as we were in the years of 2008 and 2009.

Once again, the President tells us what he thinks we want to hear and not the truth.  Because the truth, in this election year, might hurt his party's chances in the fall.

References:

Obama: US Has Strongest, Most Durable Economy in World: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-02-05/obama-u-s-has-strongest-most-durable-economy-in-world

Major U.S. Retailers Are Closing More Than 6,000 Stores: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-02/major-us-retailers-are-closing-more-6000-stores

2015 Retail Store Closures: Sorted Largest First: http://retailindustry.about.com/od/USRetailStoreClosingInfoFAQs/fl/All-2015-Store-Closings-Stores-Closed-by-US-Retail-Industry-Chains_2.htm

2016 Retail Store Closures: Sorted Largest First: http://retailindustry.about.com/od/USRetailStoreClosingInfoFAQs/fl/US-2016-Store-Closings-All-Retail-Chain-Store-Locations-To-Be-Closed_2.htm

Retail Sales in U.S. Decrease to End Weakest Year Since 2009: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/retail-sales-in-u-s-decrease-to-end-weakest-year-since-2009

Sports Authority is bankrupt and closing 140 stores: http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/02/news/companies/sports-authority-bankruptcy/