In a word: Screwed

Today's economic news is worse than reported.  The number showing a 3.8% decline in output is artificially good.  Why?  Business inventories rose in the fourth quarter.  That's usually a sign that companies are gearing up because they expect strong sales.  In this case the build in inventories is because people stopped buying.

Therefore, the real number for this quarter is a stunningly bad 5.1% and that build in inventories means companies will cut back even more sharply now.

Yep folks, we're screwed.

Update 1:  You may be listening to the news and hearing, "The number is not as bad as expected..."  Yeah, the top line number isn't as bad as expected but it's because of a fluke in inventories.  

Update 2:  Here's the real sign we are screwed:  Rush is telling listeners that things aren't that bad.  It's all media hype...  Further he is conducting a count of "casualties" of the Obama administration.  He says every laid off person is real and affecting real families so he's going to count the casualties "the way the drive by media counted casualties" in Iraq.

The guy is equating someone losing their life to someone losing their job.  If a commentator on my side of the aisle did that they'd be run out of the country.