Summary: The retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately following the financial crisis. Retailing has been responsible for 10% of the jobs gained during this so-called recovery. Clearly part of the problem is the increase in minimum wage.  Why are retailers adding so many jobs when their business is declining?

* A quick little announcement at the beginning of this podcast; I'm going to try to keep the length of these podcasts down to 20 minutes in the future

* It seems we have quite a bit of audience falloff after about 17 minutes

* We're also skipping our ads at the end in favor of more informative content about Euro Pacific Capital, SchiffGold, Goldmoney and Euro Pacific Bank.

* So I am going to do these shorter podcasts more frequently

* First of all, it's the RetailPocalypse, which I have been talking about on this podcast that, from my perspective - not just my perspective,

* In reality, the retail sector is in worse shape today than it was in 2008 during and immediately foll0wing the financial crisis

* We got a lot of bad news from the retailers this week

* Including JCPenny and Nordstrom's - horrible sales from these companies

* We had other retailers earlier in the week that came out with bad news

* Kohl's Department Store, Dillards

* Kohl's stock is at 36.5 as I record this

* That stock's high was $75-$80 in the summer of 2015

* So it's down 60% or so

* Dillard's is at a 52-week low today, at just under $47

* That was over $120 - more than a 50% decline

* Macy's was down another 3% today - a new 52-week low

* Macy's is at $23.60 -it was a $70 stock

* These are huge markdowns for retail stocks

* Look at Nordstrom's - down almost 11% today on the bad news

* $41.20 - Nordstrom's was an $80 stock is one of the best performers

* JCPenny is going to get the prize for the biggest decline overall

* This stock's been falling for a long time

* It closed today at $4.55

* A lot of people are very complacent - they say, "Oh, it's no big deal because it's all about e-commerce

* Everybody is shopping online

* Look at Amazon - Amazon stock hit a new 52-week high today

* All time high, not just a 52-week high

* Jeff Bezos is on the way to being the richest man in the world