Last Thursday with a couple
birthdays looming I took myself into Younkers. The place was practically
deserted. No secret department stores
can’t/won’t provide staff anymore, but notable was the paucity of customers.
Not that I was surprised; stats
confirm that consumers are carrying less debt. How indeed would people leverage
the equity in their houses? Many have lost them!
Nonetheless, the National Retail
Assoc. and biz/finance class is apparently surprised that retail sales have not
returned to previous pre-recession i.e. gangbuster levels and has had to lower
its growth forecast from over 4% to 3.5%.
Other stats reveal people don’t have as many credit cards or as much
debt on the ones they have as they once did.
Duh, Folks! You haven’t lowered it enough! Cast a critical
eye on the middle class if you are waiting for the “rebirth of the shop-till-you-drop”
spender. What with recession, immigration, etc. a goodly percent of it has slid
into the have-not class. Good luck waiting for a come-back.
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