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Retail sales surprisingly not that bad
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Once again the American consumer said, "I'm not dead yet!" as the important January retail sales report came in above expectations with a 0.3 percent gain.
For more, see the Census Bureau report or these reports at MarketWatch and Bloomberg.
--- Light Posting Ahead ---
I've got a worsening case of the flu, so don't expect to see too much new here until after that situation changes. It will be mostly Andy Griffith and the History Channel and maybe some HBO for the rest of the day, perhaps the rest of the week.
10 comments:
Watch the C-Span call-ins - a great place to "read" the country
fatbear
Hey, 0.9% more people this January than last January.
Ok, so my take on this is:
People are paying more for gas, so they're buying the Prius....
Two theories on this: 1) this is yet another side effect of the manipulation of inflation data; 2) our collective credit card debt is rising. I suppose if someone figures they are already unable to ever pay Chase, Citi, and B of A back why not max them out?
Get well soon, Tim!
I checked out the Prius. Basically, I'd pay $400 per month in car payments to save $30 in gas. I'm keeping the used Saturn for now!
Tim, try watching Frasier. I don't generally like sitcoms, but my has me hooked. It's hilarious!
Perhaps we are starting to see the effect of the government's 'stimulus' program PR.
I would not be surprised if consumer spending remained strong next month and for as long as the American feels rich.
(After all they've been told "your check's in the mail" by Uncle Sam).
The economy just called and said please shoot me now and get it over with.
This looks like monthly blippage almost not worth commenting on, but there is little to celeberate here, ex/gasoline sales, inflation, and population growth.
It's only a net positive and/or not negative if it's not falling relative to the cost of essential goods (eg: food, energy) and the overall debt rate is not rising. Otherwise it would seem it's just Americans doing what they do best, prolonging dealing with problems and making them worse.
I can tell you from personal experience that the banks are still searching for all the people they can still loan money to, especially since they are having more difficulty loaning it to people with no possible way of repaying it, and it looks increasingly likely the government will essentially forgive or pay off all those bad debts anyway with taxpayer (read: new printed) money. It's going to get worse before it gets better (if it gets better).
Speaking of, get better soon Tim. :)
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