April retail sales fall, raising recovery doubts

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: MSNBC

WASHINGTON - Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April, a disappointing performance that raised doubts about whether consumers were regaining their desire to shop. A rebound in consumer demand is a necessary ingredient for ending the recession.

The Commerce Department says retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, much worse than the flat reading economists expected. The April weakness followed a 1.3 percent drop in March that was worse than first estimated.

Retail sales had posted gains in January and February after falling for six straight months, raising hopes that the all-important consumer sector of the economy might be stabilizing.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30720373/

---

Hmm... you might almost think that all this talk of "recovery" was somewhat of a scam.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x64592

[Autumn]

1. Perhaps spending was up because

people received their income tax refunds?

[Skink]

2. Starbucks traffic seems to be way down.

[GTurck]

3. Watching the stock market....

is like watching a pot coming to a boil. An old simile but accurate. Watching what is up and what is down so closely the essence gets lost.
I don't know what the numbers really are indicating and frankly don't care. It is one of the worst parts of 24/7 that time has to be filled and boy there is nothing like the stock market fluctuations to kill a bit of that 24 hours.
They are killing us and our country with all this newsiness - I just coined that word. It is literally driving me crazy. And really what is 0.4%? Of what sort of purchases? Why aren't people buying besides the obvious ones of recession and job loss? What were they expecting given the problems we now face?:crazy:

[DallasNE]

4. This Is Pretty Much In Line With Expectations

Never mind the "experts". Christmas sales were rotten so stores had inventory to unload, which they did through steep discounts in January and February. Those steep discounts expired so March sales suffered in predictable fashion. April sales were less soft than March. Sales will pick up when the job market is less bleak. Stimulus spending should provide some of those jobs about now so I would look for more improvement in the May sales numbers. To me everything is in line with expectations. The "experts" just need to show fewer knee-jerk reactions arising from their own poor analysis.

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. One problem: The job market is NOT less bleak.

Chrysler is cutting 800 dealers on Thursday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090512/ap_on_bi_ge/us_chrysler_dealers

GM is cutting 1000 dealers on Friday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aCXbYqsqX1g4

Potentially hundreds of thousands of education professionals are going to loss their jobs to layoffs sometime in June.

www.layoffdaily.com

In my school district, the stimulus bill helped, but here's how: Instead of cutting 350 jobs, they now only have to cut 250. So it's not actually creating jobs, it's only making the losses slightly less severe.

There has been an attitude lately that all this economy needs is for consumers to have confidence. This is bunk, but it seems to have been accepted as gospel by many here and in the media. As a result, there has been an almost absurd effort to spin the bad news as somehow positive. It's not, and the sooner we face reality, the better.

[OhioChick]

7. "The job market is NOT less bleak."

Right you are. Those layoffs keep coming and will continue to for some time to come.

[DallasNE]

11. Less Negative Is Still Negative

And I think we are seeing clear signs that things are less negative.

[rvablue]

12. Thank you for posting the layoffdaily link

I'd put out a request on DU a few months back asking for something like this and didn't get any fruitful responses.

While highly depressing and scary, it's very informative.

The worst part, IMO, are all of the layoffs in the school districts. So, so many in CA where things are already so bad to begin with....

[LeftHander]

6. Consumer spending is 70% of our economy

This is the issue. We sold off our manufacturing heritage for quarterly profits and cheap goods long ago.

There won't be any jobs except in education, healthcare and government (MIC). Anyone working outside of those areas is effected by consumer spending.

WIth the shadows of holiday influenced spending and bargain hunting fading fast....we continue down the path to the bottom. That bottom is still a ways down the road.

[shadowknows69]

8. Hi retail America! Welcome to reality!

[ronnie624]

9. The day cannot arrive soon enough

when greed and shopping are no longer the prime movers of our economy.

[Javaman]

10. I believe they are trying the old, "if I think happy thoughts, things will get better!" tactic...

in the face of overwhelming reality, however, it's hard to maintain that smile.

I must not think bad thoughts - X

The facts we hate: we'll never meet.
walking down the road. Everybody yelling
"hurry up!" "hurry up!" But i'm waiting
for you, I must go slow. I must not
think bad thoughts. When is this
world coming to? Both sides are
right but both sides murder. I
give up; why can't they? I must
not think bad thoughts. The civil
wars and the uncivilized wars.
conflagrations leap out of every
poor furnace. The food cooks
poorly and everyone goes hungry.
from then on it's dog eat dog, dog
eat body, & body eat dog. I can't
go down there. I can't understand it.
I'm a no good coward & an american too.
a north american, that is not a south
or a central. Or a native american.
oh i must not think bad thoughts. I'm
guilty of murder of innocent men,
innocent women, innocent children,
thousands of them! My planes, my guns,
my money, my soldiers, my blood on ny
hands, it's all my fault! I must not
think bad thoughts. I must not think
bad thoughts. The facts we hate:
you'll never hear us.
"I hear the radio is finally gonna
play new music, you know, the
british invasion." But what about
the Minutemen, Flesh Eaters, DOA,
Big Boys. And the Black Flag? Will
the last american band to get played
on the radio please bring the flag?
please bring the flag! Glitter-disco-
synthesizer night school. All this
noble savage drum, drum, drum.
astronauts going back in time to hang
out with the cave people. It's about
time, it's about space. It's about
some people in the strangest place.
woody guthrie sang about b-e-e-t-s
not b-e-a-t-s. I must not think
bad thoughts, I must not think
bad thoughts, the facts we hate