Guest post  by Dr. Ken Mayland, Clearview Economics

Here is a picture of the last year of durable goods orders and shipments (in nominal, not inflation-adjusted terms).

Thank you Washington D.C.
Washington politicians, we thank you for this near recession in manufacturing.

Orders and shipments are both below July levels. 

Furthermore, orders have fallen significantly below shipments, which is not a good sign for future production.

Lay this souring of the manufacturing climate at the feet of the Washington politicians, who have allowed uncertainties re: taxes and spending in 2013 (and beyond) to fester.

As a result, we are very close to a recession.  (The broad-based NBER indicators in November are almost flat versus July.)

Dr. Ken Mayland

ClearView Economics, LLC

www.cvecon.com