To that extent there's also a reason the chart is so condensed.

He's done it purposefully, I actually already debunked this lumber theory of ill repute in a previous article and video.

Is there a reason you don't explore why Lumber prices rose so significantly last year, dropped within months, housing still near 11-year highs in certain respects? Any reason? Isn't it true that bonds prices and equity prices have risen together in nearly 40% of quarters since 1990s?

sure, why not miss out on the equity market rally and resign myself to the offered income gap that will only lessen my chances of prospering when the so-called asset bubbles burst. Logical?

I said, "still part of the retail sales equation". Yes! But again, suggesting Xmas sales over the last 10 years have been lower is a complete farce.

Additionally, household debt to income ratios now stand at the best levels in some 17 years. To suggest the consumer is weak is just not logical. They may simply be making better choices which is logical given the greater millenial concentration of consumer spending and their relative proximity to the former Great Financial Crisis.

Total retail sales only go in one direction long-term which is confirmed in all St. Louis Fed charts of consumer spending and retail sales. Not sure where youre finding such data suggesting that over the last 10 years that Xmas sales have fallen? Just doesn't make sense. I agree about weakness in clothing in other certain discretionary goods, but that's because a greater portion of household purchases have been diverted to smartphone and media packages over that time, which are still part of the retail sales equation.

How does one draw the conclusion the consumer is weak? Moreover, that is clearly subjective as weak to one person may be strong or moderate to another.

Why would you only offer non-commerical positions and also not include combined open interest in VIX futures? Where's the extrapolative value in such an offering?

"GDP is hyped-up to be an all-important measure of economic activity. It does not measure economic activity, instead, recording meaningless money-totals spent in unsound currency over a given period. A bad statistic such as GDP is wide open to official manipulation, and there is always a desire to enhance it. GDP-B, which includes an estimated consumer surplus, appears to conform with this desire. If it is successfully introduced, GDP would be substantially increased, making governments look good, and reducing their debt to GDP ratios. However, it is no more than a statistical cheat."

If always open to cheat/manipulation and that exercise is always performed with regard to the reported data, then there's always a delta factor between real and manipulation that is still extrapolated as the real perspective number.