Another howler crosses the wires....

Real personal consumption expenditures rose at a solid pace in August. In September, nominal retail sales, excluding purchases at motor vehicle and parts outlets, increased considerably. Light motor vehicle sales also expanded. Recent data on factors that tend to support household spending were mixed. Real disposable income declined in August, largely reflecting the effect of higher consumer energy prices. In contrast, consumer sentiment rose in September and early October, and continued modest increases in house prices added to households' net worth.

Riiight.

If you happen to believe Zillow then my house has gone up dramatically (ridiculously so) in value over the last few months.  You don't think that's related to Obama's election and the well-known connection between Zillow and the Democrats, do you?

I have a suggestion -- anyone publishing such a Zestimate should have to do so in the form of writing a "PUT".  That is, by doing so they're writing an option that the owner can choose to exercise if they so wish and "PUT" the house on the publisher for the claimed "value"!

I've long advocated that tax assessors should have to live with this, but we ought to extend it across the board to both appraisers and so-called "web estimates" and similar.  In short, put your money where your mouth is or shut up.

I'll make this clear right here and now -- if you think that the Zestimate reflects the actual value of my home as of the date of this posting you may show up at my door with a cashier's check made for that amount (don't bother trying to play a game here; I know what the amount is and printed a copy of the current Zestimate) and it's all yours.  This offer expires in 30 days; I may as well take the (fictitious, in my view) capital gain before rates go up on January 1st.

Near-term inflation expectations from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers declined in September and early October, while longer-term inflation expectations in the survey moved down to near the lower end of the narrow range where they have remained for some time.

Where do people get these "expectations"?  Are they all drunk?  I mean, look, expectations may be whatever they are, but history is also what it is, and it's a fact.  You can't change the disconnect between so-called "expectations" and actual results, especially when it comes to actual budgets and their impact on real people.

I suspect what's going on here is found in this chart:

That which the gummermint covers doesn't go into people's "expectations", you see, because it doesn't come out of their pocket.

Consumer credit expanded briskly in August. Nonrevolving credit continued to increase at a robust pace, mainly reflecting growth in student and auto loans.

Uh, all student loans.  Bend over young folks, Bernnake wants his turn and you're the victim, like it or not.

Looking ahead, a number of participants indicated that additional asset purchases would likely be appropriate next year after the conclusion of the maturity extension program in order to achieve a substantial improvement in the labor market.

Uh, there's been no movement in the labor market.  Again, all that's happened is that food stamps have skyrocketed and the labor participation rate has not materially moved. 

The Fed's actions have done severe damage to the labor market and consumer sustainability by enabling monstrous Federal Deficits, the latter of which are exactly identical in form and function to a tax. 

Since all taxes are paid by people the impact is exactly what you would expect it to be -- it screws people, and since such a tax is not progressive at all (it is in fact regressive as it tends to fall on necessities) it actually screws the least-able to pay the most!