26 Economic Factors That You Should Pay...

pay attention Editor’s Note: Dennis Fassett is a former corporate finance executive turned real estate investing “Cash Flow Mercenary.” Dennis specializes in single-family and multi-family cash flow properties and thoroughly enjoys assisting his fellow investors with their own strategies, including how to buy your first apartment building.

As an ongoing contributor to Mogul’s “Market News Updates,” Mr. Fassett provides us with his own unique, lively, and thought-provoking commentary on the timely industry news and events of today that are impacting our industry. And be sure to check out his other super-helpful Market News Updates. For now, enjoy...

From Dennis Fassett, Cash Flow Mercenary...

It’s no secret that I’m keeping a close watch on the economy so I’m prepared to adapt if the outlook changes.

I’ve been asked a number of times what I look at, and I found an article on ZeroHedge that nicely summarized the factors I’m watching. They listed 26 factors that together make me nervous about what’s coming after the new president is inaugurated in January.

Take a look and let me know what you think…

26 Factors

In early 2009, the U.S. government was $10.6 trillion in debt. Today, the U.S. government is $19.5 trillion in debt. We’re stealing a tremendous amount of consumption from the future to make the economy look better than it otherwise would be, and we are systematically destroying the future in the process.
The rate at which we are adding to the national debt is actually increasing. During the fiscal year that is just ending, the U.S. government has added another $1.36 trillion to the national debt.
Total U.S. corporate debt has nearly doubled since the end of 2007.
Default rates on U.S. corporate debt are the highest that they have been since the last financial crisis.
Corporate profits have fallen for 5 quarters in a row, and it is being projected that it will be 6 in a row once the final numbers for the 3rd quarter come in.
During the month of August 2016, commercial bankruptcy filings were up 29% compared to the same period a year ago.
The rate of new business formation in the United States dropped dramatically during the last recession and has hovered at that new lower level ever since.
The Wall Street Journal says that this is the weakest “economic recovery” since 1949.
Barack Obama is on track to be the only president in all of U.S. history to never have a single year when the U.S. economy grew by at least 3%.
In August 2016, the Cass Freight Index dipped to the lowest level that we have seen for that month since 2010. What this means is that the total amount of stuff being shipped around the country by air, by rail and by truck is really dropping, and this is a clear sign that real economic activity is slowing down in a major way.
Capital expenditure growth has turned negative, and history has shown that this is almost always followed by a new recession.
The percentage of Americans with a full-time job has been sitting at about 48% since 2010. You have to go back to 1983 to find a time when full-time employment in this country was so low.
The labor force participation rate peaked back in 1997 and has been steadily falling ever since.
The “inactivity rate” for men in their prime working years is actually higher today than it was during the last recession.
The United States has lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs since the year 2000, even though our population has become much larger over that time frame.
If you can believe it, the total number of government employees now outnumbers the total number of manufacturing employees in the United States by almost 10 million.
One study found that median incomes have fallen in more than 80% of the major metropolitan areas in this country since the year 2000.
According to the Social Security Administration, 51% of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
The rate of homeownership in the U.S. has fallen every single year while Barack Obama has been in the White House.
Approximately 1 out of every 5 young adults is currently living with their parents.
The auto loan debt bubble recently surpassed the $1 trillion mark for the first time ever.
Auto loan delinquencies are at the highest level that we have seen since the last recession.
In 1971, 61% of all Americans were considered to be “middle class,” but now middle class Americans have actually become a minority in this nation.
One recent survey discovered that 62% of all Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.
According to the Federal Reserve, 47% of all Americans could not even pay an unexpected $400 emergency room bill without borrowing the money from somewhere or selling something.
The number of New Yorkers sleeping in homeless shelters just set a brand-new record high, and the number of families permanently living in homeless shelters is up a whopping 60% over the past 5 years.