Frightening stats

Okay, we've now moved from the "these numbers look bad" phase to "meltdown imminent".

Cliffdiving manufacturing:

The nation's manufacturers cut back production at a much faster pace than expected in September, the Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday. This is the lowest level since October 2001. The ISM index plunged to 43.5% in September from 49.9% in August. This is the biggest drop in the index since 1984. The drop surprised economists.

Cliffdiving auto sales:

Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday reported a 34.6% drop in September U.S. sales to 120,788 vehicles from 184,612 in September 2007. September marked the lowest sales month so far this year for Ford and the industry, the automaker said. Ford, Lincoln and Mercury combined vehicle sales fell 33.8% to 116,734 units while Volvo sales slumped 51.8% to 4,054. Truck sales slid 39.5% to 76,281 units with sales of the flagship F-Series pickup down 41.6% to 32,727 units. "Consumers and businesses are in a very fragile place. An already weak economy compounded by very tight credit conditions has created an atmosphere of caution," said Jim Farley, vice president of marketing and communications.

Non-residential construction begins to decline. Click on the link and look at the scary graphs.


Oh, and US public debt has now breached $10 Trillion, with $5.8 Trillion owned by the public. US GDP, according to the latest release for 2008 Q2, was $14.3 Trillion, which means that net Public debt represents 40.6% of GDP. This will only get worse as debt expands while GDP contracts.