I've seen many economists say that the recession has ended and the economy has started to turn.

Last week I showed how state sales tax receipts in July and August are down about 10%.

At this time of year, most of the products that are going to be sold during the Christmas season need to be on a boat on their way to store shelves. 

Instead of ships being loaded down with cargo, steaming across the oceans, empty ships are floating around remote waters  with no place to go.

The ghost fleet of the recession is an indicator that is saying that the recession doesn't look like it's over yet.

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination -  and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year
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This time last year, an Aframax tanker capable of carrying 80,000 tons of cargo would cost £31,000 a day ($50,000). Now it is about £3,400 ($5,500).
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'A couple of years ago those ships would have been steaming back and forth, going at full speed. But now you've got something like 12 per cent of the world's container ships doing nothing.'

Shipping numbers and sales tax receipts are two real time statistics that show what's actually going on in the economy.  It's hard for the government to distort them too much.

Businesses seem to think that Christmas sales will be way down this year.  I guess if they guessed wrong, shoppers will be fighting over the limited supplies.