More stagflation news on $1,000 gold and weak spending

More signs the recession is here

consumer retail spending contracted, by six-tenths of a percent, in February. Economists (the dismal pseudo-science?) had been reportedly expecting a 0.2 percent increase:

“This is a downward spiral consistent with a recession,” said Kurt Karl, chief economist at Swiss RE in New York.

Gold – more signs we have real inflation problems

Gold has punctured the psychological $1,000/ounce barrier. And we know what happened when oil busted $100/bbl. It collected its breath, then speculators started bidding it up even higher.

If Big Ben Bernanke (The Worst Fed Head Since Greenspan™) is serious about a 3/4 point Fed rate cut next week, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see oil at $120 if not $125. Ditto for $1,100 gold, maybe even $1,200.

Result? The Dow was cratering in early trading.