Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Consumption Sugar Rush (Musical Tribute)

August 30, 2011
Consumers gloomy but their spending says otherwise

Consumers sound gloomy, but they're expected to keep spending as long as markets remain stable

Markets are unstable and they've been unstable for more than a decade.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Economists have advice for anyone worried that consumers are too fearful to keep spending: Look at what they're doing, not what they're saying.

Fair enough. Here's a look at what consumers are doing.



Ouch. The chart above shows our preference for eating out over eating at home. There were probably better times in all of recorded history to open a new restaurant. Let's just put it that way.

"There's been a little bit of a disconnect," Perkins said. "Consumers say one thing and do another."

Yeah, it's almost like an economic disconnect. Consumers say one thing, do another, then that information gets spun to show something else entirely.

"The tempo of the economy seems like it's picking up a bit," Mayland said.



Yeah, it's like a sugar rush!



Source Data:
U.S. Census Bureau: Retail Trade
IMF: Primary Commodity Prices
St. Louis Fed: CPI
at

11 comments:

  1. Stagflationary MarkAugust 30, 2011 at 10:28 PM

    One wonders how our economy will be doing if people eat out like they did in exuberant 2000.

    That would be quite a drop from here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. nanuteAugust 31, 2011 at 1:54 AM

    Speaking of sugar, one of my favorite bloggers, TheBloggess recently received a request to write a Limerick for a sugar company with the chance to win an I Pod. Here is here entry: There once was a girl from Nantucket,
    Who bought Imperial Sugar by the bucket.
    She scarfed candies and sweeties,
    ‘Til she got diabetes.
    Then she lost both her legs and said, “Fuck it”.
    http://thebloggess.com/2011/08/i-can-only-assume-theyve-never-read-my-blog-before/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stagflationary MarkAugust 31, 2011 at 2:28 AM

    nanute,

    I really shouldn't laugh at that. That is so tragic.

    But did I laugh?

    No comment! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. TroyAugust 31, 2011 at 9:24 AM

    1.2 billion Chinese can eat a lot of sugar . . .

    And then there's the Hindus . . .

    I liked the 1970s better, when all these people might as well have been on the moon . . .

    ReplyDelete
  5. Charles KitingAugust 31, 2011 at 3:00 PM

    Shit, MoM's site is now forwarding me to blogrolling.com. Hopefully she can fix the bug.

    ReplyDelete
  6. EconomicDisconnectAugust 31, 2011 at 3:31 PM

    Maybe Americans will lose weight if they eat out less??

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stagflationary MarkAugust 31, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    Troy,

    1.2 billion Chinese can't be wrong! (Again.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Stagflationary MarkAugust 31, 2011 at 4:18 PM

    Charles Kiting,

    I was able to post a comment there. Perhaps it was fixed?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Stagflationary MarkAugust 31, 2011 at 4:19 PM

    GYSC,

    Perhaps someone needs to do a real GDP to median American weight ratio?

    Then again, maybe not! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Stagflationary MarkAugust 31, 2011 at 5:42 PM

    Troy,

    Our ship is runnin' a bit heavy.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stagflationary MarkSeptember 1, 2011 at 4:10 AM

    Charles Kiting,

    Not fixed. I was just blogrolling.com'd.

    ReplyDelete