Consumers Lose Grapple with Reality, “Decline in Economic Aspirations” Sets in

[marmar]

Consumers Lose Grapple with Reality, “Decline in Economic Aspirations” Sets in
by Wolf Richter • November 27, 2015

[font color="blue"]People can easily “adapt to the worst conditions….”[/font]


The most important economic entity in the world, the one that every economist tries to decipher, the entity that is supposed to pull the world economy out of its funk with debt-fueled, beyond-their-means, damn-the-torpedoes splurges, has done a lousy job.

The American consumer has been lackadaisical despite, as the EIA gushed, the lowest gas prices “heading into a Thanksgiving holiday weekend since 2008.” Instead of spending that windfall on something else, they have the temerity to save some of it.

So the savings rate, according to the Commerce Department on Wednesday, rose to 5.6% in October, the highest – and for our shocked and appalled economists the worst – level in nearly three years.

“I think this is tied to a decline in economic aspirations,” University of Michigan consumer survey director Richard Curtin told Bloomberg to explain the rising savings rate and the so-so results of the consumer sentiment index that had just been released.

November’s final reading of the sentiment index edged up to 91.3 from 90 in October. While consumers at the lower end of the scale began hoping for wage increases, and thus became more optimistic, those at the top end of the spectrum, accounting for more than half of consumer spending, grew more worried about their financial prospects. ...............(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2015/11/27/consumers-grapple-with-reality-decline-in-economic-aspirations-sets-in/

[hobbit709]

1. Save it? More like went to the increase in grocery prices.

[marmar]

2. True. I don't typically pay that much attention to prices in the grocery store.....

....... but some of the price increases have been quite noticeable lately.

[PatrickforO]

5. No doubt. We're getting gouged really badly in other places besides 'the pump'

Drug costs with immoral dirtbags like Skeckly or whatever. and then that other company that has bumped the price of a tube of its skin cancer ointment to over $30K per TUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Decent loaves of bread at $4. Peanut butter jars with big concavities in the bottom so they can put in less product at the same price or more. In fact, we could really spend some time listing products - name brands that do this shit so they can eke out a couple pennies of profit for shareholders.

Yep.

Half of all Americans are a paycheck away from hunger and most don't have much, if any, in savings.

I severely cut back on our Christmas budget because the capitalist 'go out and buy shit you don't need with money you don't have' makes me want to puke. Yeah, buy stuff for the little kids, but the rest? Nope.

[MrScorpio]

3. Wages needs to be raised...

The tax burden needs to be shifted upward.

We need to shift from an economy of consumers to one of producers.

We're wasting too much wealth on an already bloated military.

Race and gender wage inequality needs to be eliminated.

We need to stop attacking the labor force and support it instead.

Unless these things happen and more the problem is only going to get much worse.

[PatrickforO]

6. Yes. It will get much worse.

[Todays_Illusion]

4. Food and housing and utilities are up and the internet access providers find a few new ways everyday

to increase those costs, but most of all wages continue to be deliberately suppressed one of the most effective tools after offshoring is this privatization for profits from tax money. The profit is from the reduction in wages when an agency is privatized to a for profit operation. One of the most visible, garbage services. Once dirty but well paid, are now still dirty and there is no reduction in what you pay, it goes up every year, but the workers are earning much less and have no benefits or few benefits.

I don't know who is saving but it is not people making less than $100K per year. They are paying more for housing and food and education, look at all the things parents now have to send money to school for and all that parent fund raising parents are bullied into participating in for even basic programs and supplies.

It is a for profit only nation with the profits more and more coming from tax money.

[Rex]

7. Millions lost their nest egg in 2008 and are still trying to fully recover.

The predators on Wall Street won't give us time for the wound to even scab over, before they are back sucking on the wound for more blood!

I love how they think everything revolves around gas prices! "Look what we did for you! We went and destroyed Iraq and fucked up the ME so you could have gas under 2 dollars! Why won't you love us?!"

Pathetic.

[Wounded Bear]

9. That's just an example of...

everything revolving around 'the next shiny thing.' To their benefit, there will always be something they can leverage for fooling the public.

[Rex]

10. Agree completely.

Plus there is really nothing to punish them in a fashion that will force them to stop with the fraud. Evidently fraud is okay as long as it does not come from the individual or a small business.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

8. My economic aspirations? To not die BECAUSE of poverty.

I'd rather manage to stay alive until something else takes me out.

[Doctor_J]

11. I do see many at du who are still holding off reality

Probably enough to get Hillary elected.

[MisterP]

12. reality's for chumps and fratboys! people who work for a living are all Archie Bunkers anyways!

[bemildred]

13. I don't want any more stuff, it gets in the way. nt