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Gallup Finds December Consumer Spending... Soared?
Listening to talking heads and certainly to various retail associations, US consumer spending in December was lackluster driven by such traditional scapegoats as "lack of confidence ahead of the Fiscal Cliff", lack of clarity on taxation, fears about what the market may do, etc. And while retailers certainly did report a very mixed sales report for both November and December, it certainly was not due to lack of spending, at least not according to Gallup. Curiously, and rather inexplicably, the polling organization found that in December the average self-reported daily spending in stores, online, and in restaurants rose by a whopping $10 to $83. This was the highest monthly figure Gallup has reported since December 2008. It is also the first reading above the $80 mark since the 2008-2009 recession. But how is that possible? Wasn't the strawman that nobody would spend due to fiscal and tax uncertainty? Apparently not, and this unleashes merely the latest episode of baffle with BS, where data from one source contradicts directly what has been reported from other aggregators of spending data.
The Gallup charts:

The December data are based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews with more than 13,000 U.S. adults conducted throughout the month.
In each of the last four years, December was the single month with the highest spending average, which is not surprising given the tradition of giving and receiving holiday gifts. The December averages are typically about $10 higher than the average of the prior 11 months combined.

The four-year high in spending in December 2012 follows the trend toward increased spending Gallup has observed over the last four years. As the accompanying table shows, both the January through November and December averages have increased each year since 2009.
Not surprisingly, the biggest jump in spending was among members of the "upper classe", or those making over $90,000, where the average daily spend soared to a 4 year + high of $155. But even the lower income Americans spent more, at $67 per person per day.

Thus, the increase in spending in December was broad-based, with people of varying economic resources spending at least a bit more than they have in recent memory.
That this is confusing is an understatement. As Gallup observes:
Whether the trend toward greater spending continues in 2013 is unclear. Most Americans are seeing a decrease in take-home pay with the expiration of the Social Security payroll tax holiday, but President Barack Obama's and Congress' efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff kept federal income tax rates the same for most Americans.
Some other observations: could the reason for the undocumented surge be that all spending shifting to online? Yes, a big portion is, but the vast bulk of spending still takes places in malls and other retail outlet venues. The same venues that have bitterly complained and scapegoated the Cliff for their recent performance. Could it be that merely everyone is parroting the conventional wisdom, while trying simply to explain away collapsing margins? Is it possible that the retailer bottom line is declining even more despite the holiday shopping season in parallel with flat or even modestly rising revenues? If so, this is a major change from recent years where top line weakness could be masked by SG&A and COGS "efficiencies" and other accounting gimmicks? If so, watch out for the Q1 retail season as it truly be a bloodbath.
Another perfectly logical explanation is that the 13,000 respondents merely fibbed and overestimated their spending by a substantial amount. In a world in which official government data openly contradicts itself, it is certainly possible.
Finally, and perhaps most logical, is that US consumers spent aggressively in December due to the cliff, hoping to lock in prices which many expected would rise in an environment of rising corporate taxes across the board. if so, then December was merely another "cash for [ ]" grab, that pulled much of the 2013 purchasing ahead into 2012, and will result an even weaker start to the 2013 retail season.
Whereas December is usually the strongest month for consumer spending, January is typically one of the weakest, so it is unlikely spending will remain at the higher level reached in December. One key to understanding the trend in consumer spending will be how January 2013 spending compares with prior Januaries. If January 2013 looks strong compared with prior Januaries, it is a sign that the economic momentum is continuing. If it is weaker, it could be a sign that Americans' more generous spending ways may be ending.
Spot on, unless, of course, the spin now is that January comps will be not comparable because consumers will be "leery of spending ahead of the Debt Ceiling fiasco Ver 2.0" (aka the Debtbacle). And then continuing future spending weakness will be blamed on rainy springs, warm summers, cold winters, a tornado in Oklahoma, a butterfly flapping its wings in China and so on, where reality is only as predicted by the Fed's various computer models, and never what reality actually is.
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What did you expect, the truth?
Gallup is closer to the "truth" than most (note their U% polls). Probably another credit-fuelled bender.
"truth" = Pravda
same shit different century
Russians sit and watch in amazement, that we are doing exactly what happened to them in the last century... Letting communists take us over (for our own good of course) and continue the process of extracting all of our liberties, as they themeselves enjoy the conservative religeous rebirth of their own country and economy under Putin...
St. George on a flag with a cross... would never be allowed to happen here...
I read pravda now for the real truth in the world... more here should do the same...
Why did the French actor Depardieu take Russian citizenship? Who runs the banking in Russia?
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/04-01-2013/123374-gerard_depardieu-0/
Pretty sure Gallup's "increased spending" is actually "inflation".
I don't know about you all... but I like to fuck up polls with bad answers every chance I get.
KISS
The simple solution is usually "the" solution!
Higher taxes came in the new year.
So everybody take their bonuses, payouts and financial perks in December 2012 to avoid the taxman.
Simple.
Future numbers will show this to be the case. One time thing.
Who runs the banking in Russia?
Who are the 20 or so (mega billionaire) oligarchs who stole most of Russia's natural resources? Friends of Soros and the Rothschilds maybe?
All the way down to the final destruction of the empire in Afghanistan. A place that has destroyed how many other empires?
Pravda you say:
What better way to staunch protests at worsening economic and life conditions than to make it feel like an honourable job/duty of the people to save "Gia". At the same time, they used this "science" as new pagan religion to further push out the Christianity they hate and despise and most of all, fear? Gia worship, the earth "mother", has been pushed in popular culture oozing out of the West for a better part of the past 1.5 decades. This is a religion replete with an army of priests, called Government Grant Scientists.
Global warming, the tool of the West
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/04-01-2013/123380-global_war...
exactly... they out the hypocracy of Global Warming profiteering scams unlike the US mainstream media...
Lookup anything by this author...
Obama's Soviet Mistake
19.11.2012 15:23
By Xavier Lerma
USA takes lead in killings of Children
http://english.pravda.ru/society/family/28-12-2012/123333-usa_child_killings-0/
It's amazing what the threat of a pending apocolpyse can do for gift sales.
"Ahh hell...I don't believe any of that Mayan calendar horseshit, but...just in case I'll buy everyone something reallll nice this year."
I was channeling cousin Eddie there http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9sY6iH9Ojg
It's amazing what the threat of a pending gun control apocalypse can do for sales of firearms and ammunition.
Gun and ammo sales would have been greater, but for the national inventory of guns and ammo being completely depleted. If nothing else, Dear Leader has stimulated demand for guns and ammo like nobody else could have done, and this demand won't slow any time soon.
You know, if I was contemplating an invasion of the United States on perceived weakness, it would probably make me pause to hear recent stories of record gun sales, or the fact that there are more guns in citizen hands then there are citizens.
That's what happens when a series of lies no longer line up.
Now we discover AT&T is the biggest Obama supporter.
I currently give AT&T 400.00 per month for all of my services.
AT&T now has a problem, i no longer wish to purchase services from the largest backer of Neo Facism..
Nor should you either.
Consider T Mobile because they are Germans. Maybe Sprint is less Obama-ish/muslim-ish.
pfff... $40.00... After phone, cable modem, cable TV, 3 smartphones and a Broadband hub, I give them bastages over $500 a month to find this out... So my 2 year contract with myself is to eliminate ALL the AT&T (who I used to work for BTW) services period...
Go phones and Panera bread for me from soon on...
These Gallup c*cks called me to ask my rating of my non-NY money center bank. I pretty much told them to F off.
Why am I getting a banner ads here for breast augmentation? Do they have any openings for quality control inspectors? If so - I am your man. When the older ones come in to get checked - I will take my lunch break.
Worthless poll after poll. They used to serve an important role to determine where we needed to focus attention in an economy.
Now it's PR for Algos.
I have come to see polls as deliberately conceived and promoted mainstream predictive programming along the same lines as TV, movies, the so-called "news" etc.
The understanding of what past reality is (aka history) begins with the perception of what present day reality is and vice versa. It is a closed loop positive feedback cycle. Thus future reality can be formed and distorted through perception management.
It's all one unified great directed history, propaganda and perceptions management process.
Never stop believing that to be the truth.
Why aren't you writing this down!!! LOL You are one of the reasons I started coming here to ramble with the bunch of you.
---
To the new folks on ZH. Cognitive Dissonance is probably one of the most important philiosophers of our times and wrote AMAZING stuff on the world of the mind, it's influence on everything and how to leverage it to keep the skin on your ass. Sort of like James Burke but he's doesn't have people throwing bricks of money and hot grad students at him for the effort.
Mrs. Cog.......is that you? :)
You are kind, too kind in fact. Thank you.
Mrs. Cog has been hammering me lately to start posting again on ZH. Lots of writing projects started, but none of them finished. I think she's gonna divorce me if I don't finish something, anything.......including the honey do list. :)
http://www.zerohedge.com/blogs/cognitive-dissonance
i agree, he writes some good shit!
and SWAGs for the naive.
(Scientific Wild Ass Guess)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTJVlJ25S8c
About on the same intellectual level really.
Inflation.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - P. K. Dick
My daily life is exactly what it is.
Weren't rich people dumping money in order to not get hosed by the fiscal cliff deal? T'would explain figure 3.
"Weren't rich people dumping money"
"HNW Clients" that were "advised" did. Actual rich people simply broker shit, they don't give a fuck what happens either way.
Some 2013 spending was pulled into December for those lucky enough to get special dividend or early bonus.
This is why gadget and auto sales were so robust.
Expect downside "surprise!" when this is exhausted.
people getting poorer and still spending more ? jeez i wonder if that has something to do with inflation ?
Guns and ammo sales through the roof !
+ other prepper paraphenalia, including wine and liquor, hic.
I dont get the idea of stockpiling booze when you can just buy a carbouy and equipment to make sure you never run out of supply.
Anything can be made into booze with the proper treatment. Ever been to germany? They make booze out of everything. Prunes, peppers, apricots, apples, pears, oranges. Part of german culture, if it's part of the landscape, make it 19% by volume and invent a delicous dessert to go with it.
How does Gallup make their money?
Directed history, perceptions management and propaganda under the guise of objectivity.
+1
Lying and propaganda is their stock and trade like TV and Hollywood.
The headline data is really high level, if you want the deep dive, you gotta pay. There's a lot of money in polling data.
Gallup did not poll me. I hardly speny anything this year in December. Bought no Christmas presents for anyone, and received none from anyone, as we had agreed to do. There is no way I spent, or do so now, $83.00 a day. I'd be broke if I spent that kind of coin daily. Shoot, sometimes I go a whole week on $10.00. Yeah I am a cheap skate. ;-)
$83 x 365 is only $30,295 ... If you had a family of 5, that's probably not a lot of money to spend per day for living... I think what they were trying to say is that the average shopper was spending that amount per day when they were christmas shopping... But without the average number of days the average person shops, it becomes a meaningless number that can be filed under the heading "contingent valuation"...
but i like your point... +1
Gallop didn't poll my house either. We live quite comfortably but I have finally got my wife to understand that 'Christmas isn't found in a box or a bag' (as the Grinch would say) and our spending has steadily decreased year-over-year. I too am a cheap-skate. I only buy things when I need them.
Funny though, my son (recent college grad with good job) bought me a large screen TV to replace my 27" tube TV (which I purchased from craigslist) - so I finally have a nice TV - I kept saying 'the prices are going to go lower this year too' so I never bought one.
Good for you. I am not hurting but I have cut back on everything and I am pretty cheap. I plan on cutting more in 2013.
yes, it's pretty sad when your best hope for your own future, is that you are able to live in your car some day...
At the end of February I will retire with almost exactly + $0 ... I'll be cutting back too...
I clearly remember the afternoon over thirty years ago when Barefoot Junior told me about the summer he spent ten cents. Although his was not a lifestyle I would care to emulate, nevertheless, there was some wisdom in what he said. That was right after I drove him and Cornbread Ralph into town to go grocery shopping. Cornbread brought a spoon with him.
When we were paying, Cornbread Ralph nudged me and said, "See? Junior spends ten dollars a month on groceries."
Barefoot Junior whipped around, angry, and said, "I ain't never spent ten dollars a month on groceries."
That's when he told me about the summer he spent ten cents.
Maybe they forgot to ask about the post-Christmas "returns"?
I know I took $300 item back to Sharper Image. ;-)
If you look at the second chart at the high earner numbers, this makes sense.
Remember, after the 2008 crisis, luxury retail outlets made a KILLING at first as those with a shit ton of money and their stock prices followed. Of course, eventually even the rich people (who are worried about uncertainty with the Fiscal Cliff, higher taxes ,and the fact the majority of them hate Obama) lost confidence, and spending on CONSUMER items are starting togo down (althoughg houses/cars will still be bought up with cheap debt and prices available due to the strain on the middle and low class consumer).
What IS bullshit about this report? The fact that lower-to-middle class spending stayed flat. How is that possible? Incomes have dropped off a cliff, prices for food/college/gas have gone UP, and the people in these classes are mostly in debt (and according to reports, are deleveraging).
"and according to reports, are deleveraging"
Funny thing, those reports.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
'Consumer spending soared'...Tryin to keep up with inflation....and stockpiling firearms and ammo.
A friend threw a big birthday party for their daughter last year... Much to lavish a party for someone in her financial position... Turns out she wanted to have one big last bash for her daughter before she started serving jail time for driving drunk... She knew she was going to lose her job, so what the heck...
Before I busted out my trucking company several years back I made a generous donation to a family that was having some medical problems... When you have $32,000 in fuel bills for the month, and only have $2,000 in cash, it's easy to decide where your last $$$ goes...
The point is -- It's easy to misjudge consumer confidence when so many people are SO far in debt that they keep spending FAR more than they should on christmas, in the hope that a miracle will happen before they actually go busted and are forced to file bankruptcy... I've seen it, I've felt it, I'm sick about it... but it IS what happens...
And the numbers seem to reflect an otherwise unexplainable confidence...
.gov is spending way more than it makes.
deficit is nearly as much as their income.
yeah, so why the heck should the minions pinch the pennies?
leverage up, cash out, stash away
great point... When the bankruptcy judge asks you what you own, he's thinking cars and houses... Not backup generators, guns, and stuff in general... I was worried he was going to take my hotdog cart, but he never even considered it...
own stuff...
In Bosnia when things were the worst, the most valuable things to have included refillable cigarette lighters... they were perfect for heating food... easy to transport and barter with... own stuff...
Very few Americans would understand what you're describing. Unless you've seen first hand how government can fall apart on every level, you simply have no idea. America is full of entitled people just like the communist countries were. But in the communist countries the news from the West informed the people that they were being lied to. Now the West is lying to their people and nobody is pointing out to the people in the West that their system is slowly falling apart. It's barely visible at first but will pick up speed eventually.
The worse it gets, the bigger their lies and then it becomes more obvious. People read the glorified bullshit news and feel even more depressed that their lives haven't improved and that supposedly everyone around them is doing so much better than before. Then people start talking to friends and family and finding out that they're in the same bad shape. They're pressed hard to find anyone who is actually doing well or even better and if they find one, it's usually a government employee.
Have seen it before, heard all the stories and know exactly how it's going to go down.
My neighbors father used every last bit of money he had left to send his wife and kids out of Cuba when Castro took over. The father was forced to stay behind and died a few years later. I dated a girl whose father was in the Russian military and smuggled her and her mother out of the USSR in 1983, she never saw her father again. I dated her in 2004 and she said if her father would have known what was to happen to America and Russia. He probably would have kept them there.
The owner of one of the local Asian Buffets doesn't look like he belongs there. The guy looks like he belongs as a bad guy in a James Bond film. We've become friendly and he told me he was high up in the Indonesian Army. When his first daughter was born he escaped with his family to come to America. He said if he ever tries to go back, they will kill him and his entire family. He once saw America as a land of freedom. He now sees it as a country that reminds him of home.
These people in my life know what it is like to live under tyranny, and know what it leads to. Americans are dumb and think Obama just means to give them stuff for all their hard work of sitting on the couch watching Honey Boo Boo.
We've become friendly and he told me he was high up in the Indonesian Army. When his first daughter was born he escaped with his family to come to America. He said if he ever tries to go back, they will kill him and his entire family. He once saw America as a land of freedom. He now sees it as a country that reminds him of home.
LOL! His "president" (through one or maybe 2 rigged elections) is a muslim Indonesian - so I can see why he feels like his is at home.
Ah feral unions, liberal marxists, third worlders and illegals turned America in to sh*t. Tell the General to go back to Indonesia so he can brush up his torture skills.
The one last hurrah for old times sake.
It is kind of like my friends with kids who aren't so well off financially. You never know they weren't loaded if you showed up on christmas morning. Thats actually the reason they still sell some stuff in december. The lower middle class spend the shit out of money and pay for it through april by not spending as much. One of my good friends spends half of his projected tax return+ whatever cash he has on his 4 daughters. That is a couple grand, which is more than he can manage to save in a years time.
We're even worse. We think we deserve it and don't have to pay for it.
Seriously anyone pays attention to this shit anymore? You can throw a kid a couple crayons and have them come up with the same shit.
The large jump in rich spending accounted for the entire increase.
Inflation? Giant Eagle (supermarket) raised prices on some items recently. Pre-made (crappy sammich) sandwichs went up from 2.99 to 3.50 and a few other items (fruit and vegetables)
Retailers' holiday hiring was highest in six years http://nbcnews.to/Vy7E0F
And unemployment ROSE.
It's all forced "growth". It's not organic. And these jobs pay shit and have high turnover.
MSM reports:
Companies not hiring because of this.
Small businesses not starting up because of that.
Consumers not spending because of this.
Unemployment rises because of that.
THIS or THAT = Whatever TPTB want to see changed.
When you lose control of the media, you lose control of the discourse of the nation.
Is there anything that Gallup won’t pretend to be able to measure? I know one: consumer spending! How could they possibly be able to measure consumer spending by calling up consumers and asking them? Why bother? The reason is that they want to be able to make a political statement.
TPTBs have to sustain the psychological feeling that the people have confidence in the system; that’s the secret of central bank control. People have to cooperate and to be cooperative you have to be confident the system is working. And when you look around you and your neighbors are reported to be doing all right then you don’t fight the system, even if you personally aren’t doing all right.
This goes along with the constant media reports on employment, housing, and consumer spending and the use of words such as “steady growth,” “moderate numbers,” encouraging signs,” all psychological marketing concepts designed to keep people in the system.
When you lose control of the media, you lose control of the discourse of the nation.
TV and Hollywood are total sh*t. They are 24x7 liars and propagandsist including Fox. If you watch their lies then you support it. Pull the plug on all of it or enjoy being a serf.
We are seeing real economic power from gun buyers. If the same people pulled the plug on Hollywood and TV then thinks might improve but they won't.
Well, you certainly cannot blame me. I eat out once or twice a month, and that involves either Wendy's or our local Thai food take-out restaurant.
BTW, if you wish to buy a ticket for tonight's NCAA football championship game, plenty are available at bargain-basement prices.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-07/notre-dame-alabama-title-tickets-drop-50-to-1-496-81.html
Note: They roll out every excuse but the weather. I didn't realize Alabama was so far away from Florida, that the Crimson Tide fans can't make the trip.
And...isn't Notre Dame's fan base spread throughout the country?
The lone comment on this story on Bloomberg says it all: This country has a problem.
Yes, it does.
I have a buddy going to the game tonight. He got a ticket for $650.This is Miami, 90 degree weather, with TWO BIG fan bases.
Even the NFL is having problems filling stadiums, unless the team is super good. People would rather stay home and save the cash. And they probably need to.
#deflation
Idiots who support TV, Hollywood, pro and college ball deserve to starve. They enable The Matrix. They enable the colleges who put their kids into lifetime college slavery. I almost look forward to implosion so these ball fan idiots will be starving to death instead of tailgating.
This weekend in line at a California Ross store to buy jeans, I was startled at the constantly-forming, long winding line to the 5 cashiers, maybe 50 or more deep, in that I was only 1 of a handful of whites and none of the conversation I heard from customers or cashiers was in English. According to the Ross bilingual cashier checking me out, it was “just like Christmas.”
Just a consumer-spending (government-assisted stimulus) marketing observation.
This past weekend was the first welfare check after Christmas. So yes it was just like the first weekend of December that was the first day of welfare shopping for Christmas.
i know my spending was up YoY, but i'm one of "those prepper" types. usually every year for my b-day and xmas, i treat myself to a new toy of some sort. not this past year.
The spending poll showed a big rise following the election and through the entire holiday season. My best guess is that the rise was mainly due to euphoria among Obama supporters that nothing bad could happen and nothing but good was coming down the pike. Not that this is a good guess, but I haven't seen any better ones. It's a head scratcher.
Oh dear, decisions, decisions...which propaganda machine to believe?
Pollster credibility when down the shithole years ago. Pollsters, like rating agencies, like MSM, carry water for their agenda (ie: whomever is paying them) - usually liberal/democrat.
Pollsters are just another tool to brainwash the public into believing something is true or will happen.
Big brother strikes again.
So spending was way up in December? Nobody gives a fuck Ben and Barry.
Somewhat unrelated, but more fucking crap from our academic wizards.
Pedophiles are a sexual orientation. God help us all.
http://nation.foxnews.com/pedophilia/2013/01/07/normalizing-pedophilia
If you see one, kill on sight!!!
Well I know that I spent more money per day in 2012 than I ever did before. Not because I wanted to, but because gasoline had an average price higher than any time in history for all of 2012 and food pretty much doubled in cost.
Spending more doesn't mean the economy is getting better.
By this methodology, boy things must have been going great in the Wiemar Republic before the end. I mean on Tuesday a guy could have spent $2 billion per person in his family, and on Wednesday the number could have been $10 billion. Just looking at spending, that guy was filthy rich.
Kohls did well but that's b/c they reduced stuff 70-80%. On the other hand, I read places like JCPennys may not be here next Christmas. Unless it's reduced 60-70% 'stuff' doesn't sell whether it's a house or clothes.
It is all "newsspeak" now.
CNN was describing CIA "torture" as " Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"....nice! Keep pouring the water and bring out the electrodes.
Yeah, funny the nomination of John Brennan, by supposed liberal "send the troops home" Obama. I mean, holy fuck are you stupid if you still believe in the L/R paradigm.
I noticed that among those who eck out a living at the bottom that they tend to buy expensive gadgets for status like the ipad, iphone, laptop, etc. Then they skip on the rent or other necessity to make up for it later. So maybe the hidden wealth was not hidden at all but merely robbing Peter to pay Paul, which would not show up on the survey.
The survey doesn't ask where you got the money from, i.e. credit card, pay check or skimped on some other payment.
"And then continuing future spending weakness will be blamed on rainy springs, warm summers, cold winters, a tornado in Oklahoma, a butterfly flapping its wings in China and so on, where reality is only as predicted by the Fed's various computer models, and never what reality actually is."
Mind reader
If you build it they will come. Hahahaha
In America, nobody*/everybody* lies
* delete as appropriate/inappropriate
Right. When consumer confidence numbers drop from a forecast of 80 to 65 for the next six months, I'll choose to believe this is bullshit.
Now what to do with that!!!!! ecommerce web development