(snip)"Hold Your Hat: the Latest Rectification
Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 7:30 AM

A new paradigm is being trotted out that truly requires buying into false Ministry of Truth economic data as if it was the Gospel. The comments of Morgan Stanley’s Stephan Jen demonstrates in spades how to concoct a new fantasy economic approach. Trying to explain away weakness in Ponzi based credit conditions as a “dichotomy”, Jen rectifies as follows.

Existing data still point to an extraordinarily strong global economy, he says. A resolution of this dichotomy between the financial markets and the real economy will have “significant implications for asset prices”, says Jen, reiterating his earlier prediction that “the financial markets will converge to the real economy, not the other way around”.

The leap of faith required to buy into this doctrine lies with the term “existing data points to”. I would suggest that there are few if any analysts on Wall Street who use any data at all that doesn’t come directly from “official sources”. To my mind that’s a lot like analyzing war reports in 1944 Germany sitting in a Berlin air raid shelter or “the Bunker” and exclusively using Joseph Goebbels’ press releases. Few actual reports from the front even get through to the Bunker, and the isolated inmates there are left to moving imaginary armies around on maps.

The existing data, as I have long preached, is whatever the different Ministry of Truth (MoT) minions and apparatcheks choose to make up, as part of their managed expectations game. It is propaganda pure and simple. MoT “existing data” IS the Matrix Blue Pill, and if you question or dismiss much of it, you are summarily labeled as a conspiracy crackpot at worst, or a low IQ guy with a bad attitude who won’t play by the rules at best. But now that those of us who have questioned this whole data scam are getting confirmation from credit markets that we may be right after all, we now learn from Jen and his ilk that the “existing data” (strong economy) will reverse or offset weakening credit trends, and that collapsing leveraged confidence game Ponzi units will some how converge (return to mania status) with the “real” economy."(snip)

(snip)"My point is that the recognition of credit problems is only now being revealed, despite plenty and I mean plenty of warning signs. Next in the progression comes the recognition that the economy has also been unwinding, this time masked by bogus, faulty and imaginary reporting from official sources. So called robust reports from companies themselves largely reflect distortions and very inflationary conditions. And economic reports from China? That’s a joke, who really knows quite what’s going on there? If we strictly use non- MoT sources and stay out of Berlin bunkers however, the true picture is quite clear. This is but a sample, as I have been posting many more, feel free to browse-

-An unprecedented surge in global demand is behind the 23 percent rise in food prices that the International Monetary Fund recorded during the last 18 months.

-Florida sales tax receipts drop 3.9% year over year in May.

- California year over year sales tax comparisons for May-June were down a whopping 10.0% at $5.265 billion versus $5.853 billion. More confirmation from non-Ministry of Truth sources comes from Los Angeles Times ad data.

- Remittances back to Mexico were down 5.5% year over year in May and down 3.5% in June YOY.

- California reports virtually no job growth for June.

- From Nevada: The Taxation Department report on the July-April sales also showed that in April statewide sales totaled $3.9 billion, down 0.7 percent.

- Year to date visitor traffic and gaming revenue in Las Vegas flat as a pancake.

- Newspaper job wanted ads hit 49 year low (Reuters)

-Think it’s just because ads have shifted to online? Monster Worldwide disappoints domestically and lays off 15% of work force."(snip)