In the Land of Perpetual Armageddon, small children choke to death on lollipops, while puppy dogs frolic in molten lava, and unicorns are eviscerated by the rainbow-colored laser beams of invading space aliens.
And the world dies a grisly death, not just once, but each and every moment, from now to the end of time, which is right around the perpetual corner.
Last week, The Pope of the Land of Perpetual Armageddon, “Tyler Durden” reported on the food-stamp data. His majesty proclaimed: “…there is no way to spin this.”
Four seconds later, I found a way.
First, here is what the monthly chart looks like; see if you can figure out my bullish spin. (click to enlarge):
If you noticed that the January 2011 bar was only a bit higher than the December 2010 bar, then you get a gold star. Tell your mom that I said it’s OK.
It turns out that the number of people added to the food-stamp rolls in January was the lowest in over two years:
One month does not make a trend, but keep in mind that the food-stamp data is reported with a two month lag. The economy created jobs in both February and March, so it is conceivable that the food-stamp rolls are already in decline.
But even if that does not turn out to be the case, look at the bars for 2010 on the second chart. See how they are mostly shorter than the 2009 bars? Things are clearly less-bad than they have been.
If you enjoy wallowing in the Land of Perpetual Armageddon, by all means, wallow away. But why not take a peak at an objective view of the food-stamp data every once in a while?
