Paulitical Economy™

• Clorox continues to struggle to grow its top line. 
  • And its share price
• A look at real residential real estate price appreciation over the years in: 
  • Canada
  • U.S.A.
  • China
  • UK
• Costco sales are still soaring. 
  • And a look at the profit model.
• Whirlpool's sales and share price are tanking. 
  • Tariffs to the rescue. 
    • And a look back at 1992.
• The US jobs numbers for April were weak. 
  • But the headl...

• Home Depot is still experiencing slow growth due to consumer uncertainty and normal interest rates.
• Spirit Airlines goes bankrupt.
  • No taxpayer rescue.
• Prices of Kimberly-Clark products are falling and volume is rising.
• There are many apologists out there for soaring home prices i.e. those who own houses.
  • But no, increasing home sizes do not justify higher home prices.
    • And home sizes have been falling over the last te...

• The rate of crime in the US has fallen significantly.
  • Homicide rate the lowest since the year 1900.
• Spirit Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection: for the second time.
  • Government meddling is making a bad situation worse.
    • And a look back.
• UPS and Fedex are going in different directions in terms of their package volumes. 
  • It’s because of Amazon.
• The quality of life in Canada is improving from ve...

• Lululemon has not grown comparable store sales in the US for almost two years. 
  • And we review a scathing attack from the company's founder.
• US home prices vs. income have increased over the last twenty-five years. 
  • This, despite much lower mortgage rates. 
    • Correction, because of much lower mortgage rates.
• Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo maker BRP has experienced strong sales growth of late. 
  • But new tariffs wh...

• Sales at Dollar General are slowly accelerating. 
  • Even with discretionary items.
• But sales growth at Dollarama is ticking lower. 
  • And we take a look back.
• Retail sales and the Special K economy. 
  • The bottom 70% of income earners reduced their spending.
  • But that was more than offset by increased spending from the top 30%.
• Luxury furniture retailer RH has had impressive sales growth, albeit slowing. 
  • Share ...

• The construction of multifamily properties in the US has soared over the last few years.
  • Resulting in higher vacancy rates and lower rents.
• European consumer products company Unilever got rid of its ice cream business last year.
  • Now they’re bidding adieu to the rest of their food business.
• US confectionery company Mondelez has been rapidly increasing its prices to offset higher commodity costs.
  • Volume has been ...

Hello everyone,

I hope you had a nice weekend.  Things are finally starting to warm up here in the Toronto area: it has been a long winter.  And now that we’re near the end of March the birds are making their way back north including the Toronto Blue Jays (as some of you know I’m a birdwatcher and baseball fan).

Four more of my podcast interviews are now available for your viewing enjoyment.

I was on a live radio show in Singapore cal...

• Homicides in the US are the lowest in 125 years.
• Canada’s economic decline has outpaced all other developed nations over the last ten years.
  • And so has our happiness.
• I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
  • California has by far the highest gasoline prices in America.
    • And Kansas the lowest.
• Delta’s passenger revenue miles go negative.
  • And economy class revenue even more so.
  • And a look back.
• If y...

• Carnival Corporation is charging record prices.
  • And a look back.
• A look at what and who caused Canada’s housing affordability crisis.
  • And how housing affordability crises around the world have contributed to lowering the globe’s fertility rate.
• Construction of rental properties in Canada is soaring.
  • And rents are falling.
  • But construction of single-family detached homes has slowed.
    • And an increasing number of...

• An increasing number of homes listed for sale in Canada are vacant.
• A look at Canada’s poor record on economic growth.
  • And sadly, it’s primarily self-inflicted.
• In Financial Ructions:
  • More Canadians are starting new companies in the US than they are in Canada.
    • This is a significant change over the last ten years.
• Book Review
  • We continue our review of George Selgin’s great book False Dawn.
    • One of the b...

• A Wall Street Journal article looks at how older Americans are significantly wealthier than the next generation.
  • Spoiler alert, it’s a result of bad policy.
• As cocoa bean prices soared, chocolate consumption fell.
  • Now it’s the bean prices that are falling and government imposed minimum prices are causing an inventory glut.
• Amazon sales continue to soar.
  • Especially in web services.
• Inflation in the US contin...

• Eddie Bauer: Another retailer is going by the wayside.
  • And a look back.
• For Canadians who file for insolvency, on average they owe money to over 10 different lenders.
• The Chart of the Century shows car prices in Canada going down 15% over a nine-year period.
  • When in fact they actually increased 23%
• US jobs numbers are once again revised downwards.
  • And Canada continues to struggle.
• Vancouver and Toronto lead ...

• Pepsi has had 14 straight quarters of declining volume.
  • Management springs into action.
• Despite beef prices rising more than 30% over the last two years, Tyson is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in its beef division.
• A look at the main causes of housing affordability crises.
  • Spoiler alert, it’s distorted interest rates.
• Weight loss drug Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk’s share price is losing weight faster than its...

• Politics in the U.S. is significantly more divided than back in the 1950s/60s.
  • But the country is not divided because of the politics.
    • The politics is divided because of monetary policy.
• Dick’s Sporting Goods continues to have impressive sales growth.
  • They have bought Foot Locker which had been struggling for some time. 
• French luxury goods company LVMH is still experiencing weak sales growth.
  • Particula...

• Uber is experiencing uber sales and profit growth.
  • By charging more and giving less.
• Pubs in the U.K. are banning some politicians from their establishments.
  • It’s a tax revolt.
• Ranking airlines:
  • Southwest in the U.S. has improved.
  • But U.S. airlines score poorly on a global basis.
• Inflation in the U.S. remains firmly above the Fed’s arbitrarily set 2% confiscation rate.
  • Coffee still soaring and eggs coming...

• Delta Airlines passenger revenue growth is barely in positive territory.
  • But falling fast in economy class.
• Walmart takes to the air.
  • In less than two years drones will be delivering to over 40 million Walmart customers.
• Saks Global files for bankruptcy protection.
• A look at the evolution of Canada’s housing affordability crisis.
  • The Bank of Canada first handed the baton to municipal and then federal governments...

• A look at how pension plans compare between the Canadian private and public sectors.
• Car prices in the U.S. and Canada have soared.
  • And no, it’s not because of tariffs.
• Macy’s seems to be turning around its business.
  • And more evidence of the Special K phenomenon.
• But not all luxury companies are benefiting, and Saks Global may be filing for bankruptcy protection.
  • And we take a look back.
• Continuing our luxur...

• The price of weight-loss drugs is plummeting.
• Used luxury watches are a multibillion dollar business.
  • And so are fakes.
• TV watching via streaming has taken over.
  • And YouTube leads the way.
• The percentage of American homeowners with a mortgage has been declining.
  • But is due to a generational divide with the next generation’s monumental mortgage debt funding the retirement of mortgage-free Boomers.
• Audiobooks ...

• Electric vehicle demand is a fraction of what auto manufacturers thought it would be.
  • But government involvement helped to distort expectations.
    • Ford takes a huge write-down.
• Coty is a leading cosmetics/fragrance company founded in Paris.
  • Its sales are falling, but not as fast as its share price.
    • And we take a look back at this interesting business.
      • Do you know what a flacon is?
• We revisit ...