Charts That Make You Go, Hmmmm . . .

We’ve observed before that the economy is weak and looking weaker, and President Obama looks to be the only president in modern history not to have at least one year of 3 percent economic growth. I don’t think liberals care about growth any more (a point Joel Kotkin made over the weekend, observing that seeking economic growth was conspiciously missing from the Democratic platform this year).

One of my first stops every morning is the chart briefing from The Daily Shot Letter (you can subscribe for free here). Here are some charts from early this week that suggest the economy may be at a turning point to the downside, showing car and truck sales suddenly peaking and starting to slump, and commodity prices sliding—a sign of slack forward manufacturing perhaps.

Car Sales copy

Truck Sales copy

Commodities copy

Finally, this one is interesting, suggesting the terrorism problems in France are having an effect on tourism. To be sure, the Y-axis is compressed, which is something I try to avoid because it can be visually misleading, but in this case I think the negative change at the margin is significant:

Paris Hotels copy

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