It's remarkable that there seems to be no indicator of what is actually being produced. For my own purposes, therefore, I have devised a set of non-leading indicators. These are derived from my own data, informally and unscientifically acquired, and not from financial and government sources which may have their own axes to grind. It is interesting to see how many stores are vacant, or how many stores have gone out of business in the last six months or year. Today, there are sales all the time, on all manner of goods.
Personal bankruptcies are at very high levels.
Recently, I had such a person come to my front door and introduce himself as a stockbroker with a newly-opened office in the neighborhood. It's interesting that so many stocks are being hustled in this fashion. Maybe, maybe not. Either he regards the job as too unimportant to do well, or the cost in time and trouble too great for the reward. The evidence of my own eyes carries more weight with me than statistics provided by people who may have a vested interest in keeping me in the dark about the darkness which is descending upon us.