Death Of Shopping Malls And Department Stores In Five Charts

This trend will not stop here.

Auto sales will eventually be mostly online. Dealers will become service centers.

Gasoline will give way to electric.

Uber (NYSE:UBER), Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT), and rent-on-demand will eventually replace car ownership.

The entire notion of "core" retail sales will itself change as delivery mechanisms and ownership preferences change.

This will not happen overnight. But the trends are clear on multiple fronts.

For now, expect more store retail store closings and bankruptcies.

Enormously Deflationary

The picture I present is enormously deflationary.

Technology is inherently deflationary by any realistic definition.

Fighting this, as central bankers do, is extremely counterproductive.

BIS Deflation Study

The BIS did a historical study and found routine deflation was not any problem at all.

“Deflation may actually boost output. Lower prices increase real incomes and wealth. And they may also make export goods more competitive,” stated the study.

It’s asset bubble deflation that is damaging. When asset bubbles burst, debt deflation results.

Central banks’ seriously misguided attempts to defeat routine consumer price deflation is what fuels the destructive asset bubbles that eventually collapse.

Nothing But Bubbles

Central bankers are hell bent on producing inflation but the result is nothing but bubbles.

Guess what?

Bubbles pop.

Tough Chore

Producing inflation (as measured by central banks) is a tough chore. Negative interest rates don't help.

If producing inflation was easy, Japan would have succeeded long ago.

Of course, there is plenty of inflation. Central banks don't see it because they ignore stock market bubbles and housing prices. They also understate medical costs.

Deflation on Deck

As stated above, bubbles pop. When they do, credit deflation ensues.

Add to that mix, student debt, attitudes on marriage and home ownership, and deflationary demographics.

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