In Search of...

Here's some things people have long been searching for:

Bigfoot

 

Loch Ness Monster

 

Yeti (The Abominable Snowman)

 

The Holy Grail

Based on the following report (and others like it), perhaps we should add "The So-Called Recovery" to the list...?

"Box Makers Wait for Signal of Economic Growth" (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Some economic indicators suggest the worst of the Great Recession is behind us, but Jim Cory at Pax Corrugated Products, isn't seeing any signs of recovery.
 
"We're still waiting to see it get better," said Cory, president of the privately held custom box and point of purchase display maker that employs 53 in Lebanon. Last year, business was down and Cory said his company isn't seeing many indications of improvement this year.

"Demand is flat, as industry box shipments are down," he said. Year-to-year shipments were down about four percent in January, he said, according to industry data.

Corrugated box shipments have long been viewed as a leading economic indicator, favored by no less than former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. Virtually all manufactured products from raw materials to finished goods are put in a box for delivery as some point. So demand for corrugated boxes is an early sign of the economy's direction, according to advocates.

But structural changes in the economy over the last decade has lessened the reliability of corrugated shipments as economic tea leaves, says Brian O'Banion, vice president of the Elk Grove Village, Ill-based Fibre Box Association, an industry trade group.

As durable goods manufacturing, such as appliances, electronics and home furnishings, has moved overseas, so has demand for corrugated boxes to ship those goods, he said.

After peaking at 403 billion square feet in 1999, U.S. corrugated shipments last year totaled 372 billion square feet, the lowest since 370.5 billion square feet was shipped in 1995.

On the other hand, non-durable goods, such as food, beverages and clothing, represent a larger share of the U.S. economy, and box shipments are a useful proxy for that segment of the economy. "There's still a correlation there," he said.

Comments

[Luke]

i'm searching for a job that pays more than the 25% of the old one i had. if i can just make it to age 60 i could get canned, go on unemployment for two years and then social security. planning which, it looks like, will never occur due to a black swan on the horizon.

[thomas adair]

Traders are taught that the Holy Grail to Investing doesn't exist. Real people were taught that all the planet's move about the earth, don't go to far out into the ocean(you'll fall off the earth), on and on..........

When one looks outside the box(inventor), goes against the group(thinks for self), said they found(developed) something that is supposed to be impossible(airplanes), they were once killed. Now these people are called bad names and delegated to be unheard, and ignored group.

The ultimate business solution. The ability to cut the cost of any business expense, or just plain invest.

I developed multiple arbitrages that enable me to trade(not invest) in the financial markets, without risk(The Holy Grail to Investing), or arbitrage that anyone can do. Over 30% a year.

Thomas Adair
thomasadair@live.com

[TomOfTheNorth]

I FOUND IT! I FOUND THE RECOVERY!!!
um.....ooops....sorry....that's not it...

[roger]

Mish has a good article on brain drain, ( his philosophy is anathema to me
,but he does come up with some good info )
seems like brain drain has made a 180 degree switch.
Another negative clog in the recovery

[austincompany]

I am still looking for an honest politician - one that does what the people they represent want (as in a "Representative Democracy"). Not the spineless and corrupt Senators and Representatives we have now. They work in secret, like cockroaches, and then scurry to pass self-serving laws and taxes to further their own lively hoods and agendas. And like the jackals of hell, they only concern themselves with their own hunger and thirst, caring not what others may think or believe.

I now join the millions of other Americans who no longer have any faith in our government or leaders. I vow from this day forward to have only one purpose, to take what I can for me and my family, before the government takes it from me.

[roger]

Before we blame the politicians,we need to look in the mirror,
cause no politician who talked about the necessity of belt tightening
ever got elected . WE are the problem,more so than them.
AS in advertising only those who promise something for free get bought.