Frugal all year, U.S. consumers appear to be pulling back sharply on consumer spending in recent weeks, as the financial crisis has deepened. Economists are now predicting that spending shrank in the quarter just ended, which, if true, would be the first quarterly decline in almost twenty years. The New York Times (Oct. 5, 2008)
Consumer spending in August turned in its weakest performance since the last “flat” month — February. Some observers attribute the poor performance to the drying-up of the government stimulas well. The last of those checks went out mid-July. The New York Times (Sept. 29, 2008)
Some $50 billion worth of U.S. Treasury economic stimulus checks mailed to taxpayers in April and May led to an after-tax income gain of 5.4% and an inflation-adjusted consumer spending gain of 0.4% last month. “‘You pump out $50 billion in a couple months time, and there ought to be some noticeable impact,’ said Joshua [...]
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported an increase in consumer spending of just 0.2 percent in December — flat when adjusted for inflation. Consumer prices in December, by contrast, were 3.5 percent higher than a year ago, well above the Fed’s designated “comfort zone” of 1 to 2 percent. Opinions vary on just how bad the news [...]
Evidence mounts that consumers at all levels of the U.S. economy are curtailing spending, raising the possibility that the country may experience a rare decline in personal consumption, thanks in large part to a triple whammy: higher energy costs, falling home prices and a volatile stock market. The New York Times (Jan. 14, 2008)