Does Weak Box Office Reflect Weak Economy? – Ep. 252

Summary: Box office revenues for this holiday weekend were the weakest since 1999.  Why is that? Some say the movies were not very good, but I think it's more likely that this is just another piece of evidence that supports the fact that the consumer is in much worse shape than is generally perceived.

* Hopefully everybody had a happy Memorial Day weekend; I spent my holiday weekend up in Vancouver at the International Metal Writers Conference
* And when I came home, I came back to my home in Connecticut
* This was the first year I spent the winter in Puerto Rico, from January 1 until just a few days ago
* I bought a condo in Puerto Rico a few years ago, I moved my Euro Pacific Asset Management Company there from California at about that time, but I'd never moved there myself until this year
* I like snow, it's pretty, but the next time I see snow it's because I'm skiing on it
* I'm a snowbird now
* But this time I'm not only flying out of bad weather, I'm flying out of high taxes
* It's not just the high taxes in Connecticut; it's the high taxes in the U.S.
* By the way, Connecticut is basically broke, if you read a lot of the articles now
* The tax revenue is collapsing
* I'm moving from a bankrupt state to a  bankrupt territory
* Puerto Rico has already declared bankruptcy; Connecticut hasn't actually done that
* Connecticut is admitting that they can't raise taxes on the rich anymore, because the rich are leaving
* I moved down to Puerto Rico with my wife and two young children, and I love it
* I live in a nice community, Dorado Beach; great neighborhood, many in the same situation as me
* I read this article about box office - holiday weekends are usually a good time for Hollywood
* Memorial weekend is a big weekend to kick off the summer movie season
* The article I read stated that box office revenues for this holiday weekend were the weakest since 1999
* Why is that?