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If we need something, I will check out the flyers in the Sunday paper. I buy sales only & use coupons as much as possible. I will do occasional online shopping because I will only buy what we need & not want.
I went to J. C. Penney's & Macy's last weekend looking for something specific that I needed. I waited 15 mins. in Penney's to ask a question & walked out of Macy's. There were very few employees working in either store in the middle of the day. Customer Service told us that there "should have been" at least 2 people working in the department. I finally went to a Boutique to buy what I needed.
I have noticed that there are very few customers in any of the stores that I have been going to. Consumers are holding on to their money & don't appear to be spending as they did in years past.
Where did you get that information? That is nowhere true.. HUGE DOLLARS are being made on the Markets.. You might be in a long term recession but America as a whole isn't.. THATS THE GLITCH...Who is making out the best? Yes the top 5%.. Yes wages are down .. you voted for that.. Yes utilities are going up yes you voted for that...... Jobs , good paying blue collar jobs continue to leave this country... yes you continue to support Walmart and you continue to be against those who fight for decent wages for Americans...
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Originally Posted by augiedogie
Face it, stocks and commodities going down. The Fed is trying to get inflation going and is failing. We're in a long term recession/ depression. Fed anticipation of a rate hike will probably decrease in the next month or so. Hang on to your shorts, this could be a rough ride.
My family and I are moving towards minimalism--buying only what is really needed if at all possible and donating a lot of things that aren't used or needed to Goodwill. I'm personally tired of the buy-buy-buy culture and appreciate having less to keep up/keep clean. Experiences over excess stuff is where I'd like to believe our culture is headed.
I've always been frugal, but I've become even more frugal/minimalist and I am shopping even less at thrift stores now. I've been out of work and I'm sort of liking my semi-retired lifestyle now and I am willing to cut my spending even further to have my time to myself rather than work a full time job again anytime soon.
The Fed is trying to get inflation going and is failing.
It's not that simple. They need a small amount of inflation, but there is too much danger of runaway inflation. They have to be extremely careful. It's like doing brain surgery with a kitchen knife. It's like saying the person doing the brain surgery is trying to get the brain surgery going, but failing to get it going. They aren't failing to get it going, but just being careful. And, unfortunately, being careful is not enough. They can't predict whether we will have deflation or runaway inflation or what. They're trying, but it's not an exact science, and depends too much on luck. The harder they push, the more likely we will have a disaster. The kitchen knife will damage the brain.
Bricks and mortar retail is shrinking because of competition from online shopping. This trend was obvious even 15 years ago but it didn't have that much impact right away; now it does. We have way too many retail stores and many of them are going to close, but total consumer spending isn't going down and seems to be rising pretty nicely.
My wife and I clamped down the hatches several years ago in anticipation of a continued recession and ZIRP policies. A few points:
As wealth becomes more and more concentrated the bottom 99% have less and less to spend thereby ensuring a deteriorating economy. Wealthy people do not by goods and services, they but hard assets.
The economy has been treading water but inducing people to borrow from the future whether it be lands for homes, autos, tuition, credit card etc. Families have run out of the ability to borrow from the future especially given the persistent low wage climate.
<snip>
This is why trickle down economics has been a failure every time it's been tried. The tax breaks to the rich are not impacting the 99% in a meaningful way
Bricks and mortar retail is shrinking because of competition from online shopping. This trend was obvious even 15 years ago but it didn't have that much impact right away; now it does. We have way too many retail stores and many of them are going to close, but total consumer spending isn't going down and seems to be rising pretty nicely.
I agree.
No one wants to pay sales tax and the online vendor who doesn't have sales tax and free shipping wins over the bricks and mortar.
I agree with you DubbleT, and I'll throw one more into the pot: interest rates need to go up. It is going to crush big ticket purchases in the interim, but super-low rates are exactly why homes and real estate, and auto prices, and tuition, and other big expenditures keep going up up up. Eating away more of our discretionary income to spend at the mall, NOT with a credit card.
0% for too long.
I told a friend of mine back in 05 declining interest rates were going to be the death of our economy as they can't give away money for free while taking away any reason for the average Joe to save. When Joe saves the banks have money to loan. If he doesn't the banks need bailing out.
He kept telling me BS but he is the one who goes on about the subprime rates these days.
People are living on credit cards with low interest rates and max them out. When rates go to 3% those people will behave as folks did when the stock market crashed in 1929. They will be so underneath it's crazy.
Its because of inflation. Too much money out there chasing too few goods. All you have to do is look at the empty shelves to know its inflation.
I always wondered why they weren't blocking the streets with pallets of hundred dollar bills during the protests...There is just too much money. We don't want it all. We are being smothered with it.
I dont see too many empty shelves. In fact, I always wondered how these stores make money if they are not emptying their shelves with sales.
It is suggested that online sales are eclipsing retail industry.
I agree with that but nowhere near like all brick and mortar businesses are gonna bankrupt.
Just wait till Amazon and Ebay stocks start collapsing
Also i'd like to ask you consumers a question.
Do you guys have any money??
Salaries are stuck at the same level for decades and how about your cost of living??
Did it also decrease??
I tell you retail is in carnage
Hear me out
Hasnt that been happening for a very long time since the advent of home internet usage, and the rise of the personal computer?
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