How Are WE Doing Economically?

             Here are some headlines from Wednesday’s Paper.

1. Ford’s Profit rises 22%. 1^st quarter is the best in 13 years.
2. March new-car titlings rise 21% in Arkansas.
3. Wal-Mart store sales, open at least one year, have now fallen for SEVEN consecutive quarters.
4. Housing Prices nearing NEW LOW. February decline in real estate prices dropped by the most in more than a year. Property values in 20 major cities fell 3.3% from Feb 2010 to Feb 2011. At 139.27 the gauge is just shy of the six year low of 139.26.
5. Top five largest U S airlines showed combined losses of more than $1 BILLION for the first quarter.
6. Consumer Confidence on upswing. The Conference Board consumer confidence index rose to 65.4. Still a far cry from 90 that indicates a healthy economy.

And INTERNATIONALLY:

7. UBS bank of Switzerland profit down 18%, but drop less than expected.
8. Spain has to pay more to float their paper. From 0 .9% to 1.4%, a rise of 55%.
9. China protectionism has increased since the 2008 global crisis.

All of the above from the little old local paper dated April 27^th, this year. So are we dong better? Or are we going nowhere, maybe worse? Be darned if I can tell. But I do know this, Ben “BerBanke” and the Fed Reserve have assured me that inflation IS NOT A PROBLEM. I’m greatly relieved to know that gasoline prices and food prices are just a mirage or hallucination and are not real. Now if I can just determine if the economy is going better faster or slower, slower. Well, you know what I mean.