The question that came up after my detailed report on jobs by employer category was this: Why were jobs in the “retail trade” in May, at 15.55 million, still down from the peak in 2016? And why were they about level with where they’d been at the end of 2007 before the Great Recession, even as total jobs at all “establishments” have grown by about 13% since 2007 and by 8% since 2016? Turns out, jobs in the “retail trade” are on a structural decline, despite surging retail sales, in part because of the way jobs in the “retail trade” are defined.

I don’t completely concur with Jimbo’s idea here, but it’s an interesting way to look at it, and I absolutely agree with the conclusion. Fact is that deposits are declining dollar…

The second, third, and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history occurred this year. And yet, none of the banks that blew up were on the “Problem Bank List” that is prepared quarterly by the federal bank regulator that is supposed to be on top of these things – the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

While markets have clearly given up worrying about a recession, the laundry list of indicators warning of one keeps growing. The latest example, via Real Investment Advice’s Lance Roberts, highlights the relationship between tightening bank lending standards and GDP.