The US Consumer Is Drowning His Sorrows At The Bar
Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,
Month after month I watch as the MSM mouthpieces try to spin declining consumer spending in a positive light. They are practically out of excuses. They are befuddled, because month after month they report “awesome” job gains and can’t understand why all these gainfully employed Americans aren’t buying shit they don’t need like they used to. These faux journalists, spouting propaganda for their ruling class bosses, are willfully ignorant of the fact the job gains are in low paying part-time jobs and the fact that Obamacare and record high rents are sapping any discretionary income households would use to buy stuff.
Despite the propaganda from the media and happy talk from the Liar-in-Chief, the country is currently in a recession and the Fed has no ammo to fake another recovery. We are going down and going down hard. When 70% of your economy is based on Americans buying shit they don’t need from China on credit cards, a dramatic slowdown in consumer spending equals recession. When sales actually fall from November to December during the holiday season, you are in recession. We’ve arrived.
The December report was a disaster and portends horrible retailer results coming down the road. More ghost malls coming to your neighborhood. The annual results were pitiful, with the more recent months even more dreadful. So after adding 10 million jobs, according to Obama, spending declines? They must be great jobs.
I think the results are even worse than portrayed in the results presented by the Census Bureau. Retail sales grew by only 2.2% in 2015 versus 2014. That is significantly less than the real inflation being experienced by real people, so on an inflation adjusted basis they fell. Even the 2.2% increase is artificially pumped up by the Fed induced auto debt fueled boom in car sales (or long-term rentals in reality). The 7 year 0% auto loans, subprime auto loans to deadbeats, and record levels of auto leases have created fake demand that will end in tears when the defaults skyrocket. If you remove these fake sales, then total retail sales are up a pitiful 0.9% over 2014.
When you realize that two of the few strong sales categories were autos (7.5%) and furniture stores (5.8%), you can put your thinking cap on and realize the 7 year 0% financing scam is solely responsible for these sales. Reducing credit score criteria and extending loan terms always works. Right? The other relatively strong area was internet sales (6.3%). Amazon and the rest of the on-line retail segment continues to destroy the bricks and mortar retailers, but even these sales are slowing. They were up a weak 0.3% from November. Before the states started taxing internet sales and it was still a newer concept, the annual growth rates were 15% to 20%, so the 6.3% growth rate is rather unimpressive.
And this leads me to the strongest spending segment – restaurants/bars. Sales were up 8.1% over 2014 and continued strong in December. I know this is true firsthand as my wife is a waitress at a restaurant/sports bar and business was booming in December and continues to be good in January. My thesis for this strong spending is that people are so miserable about the economy in general and the direction of the country (reflected in Trump’s support), they have decided to drink and eat, for tomorrow we die. Dining out or getting loaded at a bar takes your mind off your troubles for a few hours. It’s not a huge expenditure and you just put it on your credit card and worry about it later.
When the mass layoffs start hitting in 2016, even this category of spending will contract. If you think the 2015 consumer spending numbers were atrocious, you haven’t seen anything yet.
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My life fell apart, still is, in May but, I did exactly what you advise here!
No booze! Saved tens of thousands!
I only eat what I prepare from scratch. Saved tens of thousands!
Dropped my total cholesterol from 291 mg/dL to 91 mg/dL
Dropped my triglycerides from over 400 mg/dL to 134 mg/dL
Dropped my free fatty acids from 0.82 mmol/dL to 0.48 mmol/dL
Lost 60/lbs! Lost the beer belly!
I feel fantastic which make my material problems much easier, mentally, to deal with! My doctor was amazed.
Now I am much better prepared for a possible life on Slab City and I have pushed that date ahead, at least, 2 years by conserving my resources.
I have eaten a few meals out and they tasted, frankly, nasty!
Now I cloister in my pad. In May I was losing my chit feeling sorry for myself. Now I know I can survive anywhere and I no longer give a fuck because I can cook a 3 star meal out of the back of my 4-runner.
I am turning the finger around and placing the blame right it belongs.....on me! I am now embracing bodhicitta and sharing what I have with those less fortunate than I am.
I am rereading Shantideva, the Bodhisattva of the 8th century. I highly recommend his word!
I am pleased with my progress and no longer fear the future or the past. GL to you all!
Good for you man!
Yeah, the famous beer put. Since Lehman.
"Too Big To Ale!"
Barry gets to open his library in Chicago afterwards.
How appropriate.
A bankrupt president from opening a library in a bankrupt city.
Why don't we all drink some very sexy wine?
I can recommend Dawn of the Red, a red India ale by Ninkasi brewery of Eugene, OR
Tastes great and 7% alcohol...
There is a huge transformation taking place in the US. The TV business is being destroyed. There is nothing on TV and is is overloaded with comercials. People have virtually no disposable income. So you kill two bird with one stone.....eat out. Dining out has become affordable entertainment and since we have to eat anyway.......
There are good shows being made, it's just that nobody has the time or inclination to wait for it to come on tv to watch it. Internet has made tv completely obsolete, and they will sold as the same thing within 5 years(if everything hasn't gone to shit by then)
Since moving out on my own 9 years ago, I have never once paid for cable
Actually TV is much better than the movies now. The problem is it costs $100/month to get all the good shows and the bastards won't let you pick and choose.
FUCK cable
and seriously FUCK DirecTeeVee and Dishwater "network"
after my free month...FUCK Netflix too....God Damned Hitler fetish on that effluvia, as well as movies the dollar theater showed....in 2012.
Get an antenna, or one of those dildos for 20 bucks to get FREE Tee Vee....you know...the way it was meant to be.
Plus...you'll get a load of oldies stations....
Love watching Combat!, Wanted, Dead or Alive, with a straping young Steve McQueen and seeing actors when they were just starting out.
Tom Skerrit was just on 12 O'Clock High last night. He looked like he just graduated from high school.
FREE!
FUCK paying the greedy bastards!
Yeah why pay for your indoctrination when you could get it for free?
Nah. Just like housing sales disappoint because of a lack of available supply, restaurant sales are up because of all the available supply of waiters and bartenders.
You should not drink and bake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJiyO4Ng7v0
....beer and turbo's. What could possible go wrong here?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-spt7y1v6Y
Government Nanny Crooks closed down all the shot and beer joints so now there’s only Yuppie Sports bars and the like. If you spend 15 minutes there you end up smelling like a deep fryer. I’d rather smell like tobacco smoke and hang out with real people.
load a couple of friends in the pickup with fishing gear and head for the drive through at "highway liquiors" before hitting the beach/river----best of all worlds
No doubt Moon. Fortunately where I'm at, their is still some choices. Urban setting, but not big city. All walking distance. But vast majority is home. Might as well enjoy it, fire up the oven as it's winter.
I think most people wanted to hear prez Golfstix narrative. They sure didn't want the truth, because if the truth ever meant anything to them at all, the electorate would never have voted him in for a second term. A large number of US citizens apparently just don't want to know or hear the truth. They'd rather believe in unicorns and wonderland. That's where they were when they voted, and apparently that's there they want to stay.
That's why most people keep me at arms length. I spit the truth constantly and people simply don't want to hear it. Sometimes lonely but the alternative is to join the koolaid party. No thanks.
"Tomorrow we die because yesterday we feasted!" (Burp!)
- Henry the Eighth, New Jersey
Stay the fuck home and eat and drink. Safer, cheaper and certainly more enjoyable.
I'd rather hang out with a bunch of drunks who aren't afraid to speak their minds then my old lady and dog.
I've always preferred hanging out with the dog over either the old lady or a bunch of drunks.
Two old men walking their dogs on a punishingly hot afternoon. ManA says, "I can't do this any longer. I'm going in that nice cool dark pub and have a cold one". ManB says, "How?" ManA says "Watch". ManA puts on his dark sunglasses, opens the bar door. Bartender says, "I'm sorry sir but you can't come in here with that dog." ManA says, "It's a seeing eye dog". Bartender says, "Oh, I'm sorry sir, please come in." ManB says to himself, "Wow". ManB puts on his dark sunglasses, opens the bar door. Bartender says, "I'm sorry sir but you can't come in here with that dog". ManB says, "It's a seeing eye dog". Bartender says, "A chihuahua?" ManB says, "WHAT? They GAVE me a CHIHUAHUA?"
I like the bar scene at our local BJ's. If I remember right, the Founding Fathers often discussed important issues at the Taverns and that's what I see too, sitting there, sipping on a tasty IPA. And you get to meet a lot of interesting people, get their views, share stories and shoot the breeze.
I mostly run into sheeple that are clueless at what is going on around them...
Only because Americans haven't learned how to drink at home. YET
Republicans did nothing effective to stop those budgets, and usually wanted more military spending.
I concur. It's all their fault.
"We control all sides".
This just may be the first article since this new crisis began where the moderator knows the truth behind the stats at a grass roots level. The reason we are not spending our so called savings at the pump is because we are catching up from the extortionary gas prices that taught us to live frugally. And while they were robbing us at the gas stations all other expenses kept climbing as resources continued to dwindle and wages stayed pitifully low. The new minimum wage is $15 maybe $20 dollars per hour. But unfortunately we may never see it.
Us Pro's can walk right into a liqueur store and lead you to the cheapest bulk bottle of vodka, in the joint..
or just follow the Hobos...
p.s if you ever worked at the distillery, you would see, it all comes out of the same pipe, only the labels change
The biggest cost in the liquor industry is the bottle and label...... it's all marketing.
"cuz we're trippin Yellens"
Strongest growth of all (7.6 per cent year over year) was at retailers of "sporting goods, hobby, books and music."
This, of course, is thanks to guns flying off the shelves. Everything else in that category can be bought online.
I love it when they use Hollywood accounting for their statistics. Package three dogs you own with one hit from someone else anf then award 3/4ths of the combined profit to yourself.
Like the sale of books is up 7.6%. Really?
And the sale (not pirating) of music is up 7.6% Really?
Another HIGHLY, no pun intended, reason to drink at home. Start getting dinged for DUIs and no permit to carry and denied firearms purchases. Joined a local private club around corner, nice people, great homemade meals. Taxi taxi taxi added. Know someone with DUIs as the area crawls with tar jockey cops lurking, no longer eligible to acquire a firearm.
My mom worked her butt off since 14. Never drank or smoked, exercised everyday and ate well. She lived frugally and never took a trip to Italy which was her lifelong dream and she died a horrible death from cancer at a very young age with a ton of money. It makes me so sad thinking about it, but my dad feels even worse he never took her to Italy.
There's always tomorrow...
Until there isn't :(
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, till all our yesterdays lead the way to dusty death.
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Seniors got zero cost of living increase in soc sec this year. Contrast this to fast food companies that were forced to raise their prices much higher because of the minimum wage increases. Simple conclusion - seniors are eating fast food less and less…
That's why they've played so many games with the CPI (and every other gov statistic) since Carter. Easier to lie than tell the truth and a lot cheaper. Social Security payments would be double or triple what they are now if they calculated inflation they way they did in the 1970's. Minimum wage would be a hell of a lot higher too.....
The Chapwood Index puts inflation in most metropolitan areas close to 10%
That's why they've played so many games with the CPI (and every other gov statistic) since Carter. Easier to lie than tell the truth and a lot cheaper. Social Security payments would be double or triple what they are now if they calculated inflation they way they did in the 1970's. Minimum wage would be a hell of a lot higher too.....
The Chapwood Index puts inflation in most metropolitan areas close to 10%
...because Fed money is NOT a store of value.
It's not money, it's debt.
After listening to the president tell us how healthy our economy is I went out the very next day and I spend all my money buying GoPro stawks. So I believe I will go to the bar and celebrate and just wait for my riches to roll in. GoPro stawks are a good investment, right ?
the best. did you get a gopro camera so you can record the meteoric rise of the stock you be watching on your computer screen? Don't forget to take a selfie with the stock chart in the background.
people are indeed drinking their problems away, but a much better solution would be to smoke weed, it will heal your soul and allow you to see how you got screwed over and find a way out. And of course I am refering to the good weed, not the weaponized weed that will lobotimze you. Smoke what Bob Marley smoked and you'll see what I mean.