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American Spending Goes Into Overdrive As Savings Plunge To 2008 Levels
Why save when one can spend (and, more importantly, why save when one has ZIRP)? This appears to have been the motto of American consumers in the past three months when the US Savings rate has plunged from 4.7% in December to a tiny 3.7% in February: the lowest since December 2007's 2.6%, and just as the recession and the market crash was about to send everyone scrambling for the safety of bank savings. The reason: in February personal spending soared by 0.8% on expectations of a 0.6% rise, while incomes barely rose by 0.2% on a consensus rise of 0.4%. Which means the balance had to be savings funded. So even as we have seen retail weakness in the past three months, we now know that it was not only credit funded, but also forced US consumers to burn through their meager savings. And all this before the gasoline price shock hit. The question then is: with the remainder of US savings about to be tapped out on gasoline purchases, just where will the money come to fund all those priced in NEW iPad acquisitions? Or will Apple finally use up its cash hoard and start a captive lending unit, giving consumers credit to purchase its products? At the rate the US consumer is going broke it may soon have no other option.
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Exactly what the Fed said they wanted last week.
Slogan for the decline of the West:
Deleveraging is Death.
Stupid fuckers never learn.
A report from our White House mole;
http://annoyanidiot.blogspot.com/
A blog post loses all its credability when the author doesn't know the difference between "their" and "there." Sorry.
Thanks. Fixed it.
You're so nice.
So I guess personal savings is on the rise then? (Mr. "credAbility")
I wonder about this mega millions jackpot. Someone told me it is going from 400 to 750 million. Does that mean consumers are going to dump $400m on tickets this week? That amount would have to affect retail sales data wouldnt it?
wear is that mistake....I'll help him fix it....
Psssssst, it's misteak.
Yu'l not bee alow'd to join the sheeple core untill you lerne to spel.
my friend's aunt makes $72/hr on the internet. She has been without work for six months but last month her payment was $19183 just working on the internet for a few hours. Here's the site to read more ..... http://lazycash9.com
I called this spot on, before the report came out. This is indeed a "no brainer". This is the American way, stay in debt, and pay, pay, pay interest. Here lies the problem, remember all of those times you have seen on TV, those bad math scores for students in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. People here do not understand the math on interest rates, if they had no credit card debt and lived "WITHNMEANS", then more then likely they could buy twice the amount of crap then they have now.
The Big Bad Banks OWN YOU!
Not if u default....
DEFAULT MOTHER FUCKERS....
then u own the fucking bankers......
RIGHT ON! DEFAULT DON'T GIVE SHIT TO THOSE BASTARDS, THEY HAVE OWNED OUR LIVES SINCE THE MONEY CHANGERS, EVEN JESUS BEATED THE SHIT OUT OF THOSE CROOKS OUTSIDE OF THE TEMPLE... THEY ARE THE CAUSES OF ALL ECONOMIC MALAISES AND CRISES AND CONTRACTION OF ECONOMIES, PROFIT WARS...YOU NAME IT!
EVEN BETTER, WE SHOULD ALL, I MEAN ALL OF US, DECIDE ONE DAY CALLED"PEOPLE'S HOLIDAY" AND TAKE ALL THE FUCKING MONEY WE HAVE, OUT OF THE BANKING SYSTEM IN ONE SHOT, & STARVE THAT FUCKING BEAST!!!
BEFORE THEY SURPRISE US ON A MONDAY"BANK HOLIDAY" AND...OOPS , NOW THE IS DOLLAR DEVALUATED 30%. BITCHEZ, THEY WANNA FUCK US FOR SURE, LET'S US FUCK THEM FIRST!!!!
You're right about Jesus overturning tables and calling out the twisted elites at the temple, but your ALL CAPS is so annoying. Jesus would probably slam your keyboard on your face.
CAPS? it was pressed on the keyboard by accident and i wtrote it so fast without correcting it... no sin for that one, but maybe Jesus who knows better would slam the whole PC and monitor on your face instead due to the violent intention behind your reply, don't you think?
don't blame the speculators!
Hey trembo...don't b a childish smart ass...
focus on the message if u can or care...
they are Buying AAPL product
and we are buying PM's. I'm fairly certain neither are counted as "savings" according to the data. Fine by me!
iPads aren't too good when you are homeless and can't find a socket to plug them in. Oh wait, we have Starbucks with all those other excessively educated banksters working as Baristas.
BusinessWeek had an article a few weeks back, Living in your car isn't just for the homeless. Everyone's doing it. Buy an iPad and move out of your apartment. There's probably an app to locate available outlets for the homeless elite
"affluent" homeless neighborhoods
A Y membership is cheaper than rent. They supply hot water and toilet paper. Our Y even has eat cheap nights sponsored by local eateries. You can charge your iPad while relaxing in the lounge.
iPad reception stinks under some bridges they allegedly warn in the instruction sheets that come with iPads.....so they tell me....
Or just park your car beside a homeless person/wireless router,
http://digitaljournal.com/article/321114
Makes sense with the graph. Apple products typically have a four year shelf life before they break or become obsolete.
Extend the iPads value by using it as a frisbee or cutting board or food when it stops working.
And your evidence for this broad and sweeping statement is what?
Not sure if its evidence but a new iphone gets relased about evey 12-18 months so a full life cycle of 4 years seem long if you ask me. Thats one of the points with the die hard APL people, they cant have last years model. And to have one from 4 years ago (the original iphone 16GB relerased February 5, 2008 would be out of the question
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone#Model_comparison
Again, not sure if this is evidence of the product life-cycle but ..
http://www.maceinsteiger.de/ueber-apple/product-life-cycle-purchase-advice/
I've had 2 ipods die on me. They're not designed to last. I did not drop them. They just stopped working. Maybe I'm biased from bad luck.
Either that, of most stupid fucks see the new model and throw the old model in the closet somewhere to never be seen again. Even if it works perfectly. I never see an ipod older than four years old out in public. Do you?
There are to ways to spend money:
- By free will (girl shopping)
- By force (gasoline price)
This is increased spending by force, since with 46% youth unemployment and most of working population about to retire, nobody in his right mind would go out and waste money.
a) Free will would imply the possibility of not shopping.
b) Ride a bike.
Even though gasoline is expensive, and vital to the economy in many ways, it's still flexible demand. You want inflexible? Try healthcare.
you mean "try paying for health care." of course "if you take out the word care" it's much easier. that's right: "try paying for health." and suddenly..."we have health on EVERY channel!" And PRESTO! "Healthcare"!
I live in Canada. I am a member of an extinct species called "canadian right winger".
If you are just trying to visualize gov medical care, wait unti you taste it. And by the way, it is not health care, it's just medical care. They are brainwashing the US citizens the way canadians and europeans (where I come from) have been brainwashed.
Sucks about your brainwashing. Maybe you can get some socialized healthcare to fix it?
It's not healthcare. What they are talking about is medical care. Health care involves working out, eating well which are far more important than medical care which is when one is already sick.
The brainwashing has ocurred by using the word "healthcare" as if the gov can take care of our bodies. All the law is about is to take care of our sicknesses, not our bodies.
Leftwing brainwashing at its best.
Yes, the government has no role to play in regulating our "healthcare." Take for instance food . As you say, "eating well" is an important part of health and I couldn't agree more. Now explain to us Monsanto's influence in both countries' governments along with GMOs , pesticides and other "healthy" things. While you're at it, throw in all the other corporate food heavies and their funny chickens and other oddities.
Funny thing about brainwashing , it knows no political label. In fact, simplifying any subject to a political (now meaningless) label is, in itself, political brainwashing.
I was sorry to hear about your recent passing. "Daydream Believer" was a great, happy tune.
thank god I spell my name different
I'd have them do the basic insurance part and leave the medical care to the doctors (with top-up private insurance for lipo, boob jobs, and boner piils), but that's me.
A shared risk pool for something most everyone needs, but almost always to a degree to which they can't completely guess ahead of time, seems....prudent!
I agree the way medicine is administered after the damage has been done leaves a bit to be desired, but we need to leave something to personal responsibility, don't you think?
Hmm, this maybe the governments underlying ploy to fix healthcare, you know the OBESITY problem.
Raise the gas prices so you have to ride a bike.
All while fighting terrorism and potentially generating electrical charge to store.
Get pedaling!
Gas is not flexible to me ... without fuel my business stops "dead right there" ... I don't know anyone that joyrides...
And there are three ways to spell two.
I'm at work and blogging when nobody is around me. Pls allow a couple of spelling errors.
I know how it is. I wasn't questioning your intelligence...just having a little fun with you.
Keept doing it. Entertainment is important.
***I'm at work and blogging***
I know who you are. YOU'RE FIRED
Synopsis:
More Americans dip into savings (or more likely, credit cards) to buy food & gasoline (despite many not paying their mortgage or student loan payments).
Good luck retailers who think they can simply close 50 to 120 of their 'big box' stores to ride out the storm.
Yet grocery chains and producers are struggling. Except for Ben's neighborhood bodega.
Exactly.
I'm being quite serious. Not only is the consumer deleveraging in any category of consumption that is flexible (i.e. discretionary - see Best Buy or other major retailers), they're actually reducing consumption of inflexible (i.e. non-discretionary) 'things' such as gasoline and groceries (buy driving less, substituting less expensive brands, etc.) and they're still dipping into savings (if they are among the few to actually have significant savings) or borrowing more on their credit cards to pay for this reduced level of consumption of essentials.
The pain train is so obvious, but no will have been privy to "seeing this coming" in a few months or year or so from now.
I love CNBCs Onion Orwell spin on this: "Spending Shows Big Jump Even As Income Gains Little"
They go on to say what a great sign that is in consumer confidence.
Where do they get these people?
Same place they found Obama, at the elite, too expensive and hyper-hyped Ivy Leaguer schools. If this is the best and brightest, my cat just hacked up a masterpeice.
wow, I thought it was the gutter Oh wait...
This is what I was going to say. Not all of us are blowing our money on iPads. Sure I'd like one and a new iMac but I'm really starting to struggle just to survive. Food prices have gotten insane IMO. Simple things like 8oz blocks of cheese or a 1lb of butter going for 6-8 dollars. And forget about meat or pork. I'm down to eating ground turkey as my protein since its the cheapest and even it is creeping up to the same nutty price as beef/pork. Gas is already over $4 here in Hartford, CT.
I hate this place but I'm stuck here until the wife's contract is up then I'm hoping we can move back home to our house in Wichita. Kansas is the cheapest place in the union to live still. And we are 2-3 years behind the rest of the country economically. Food and gas are killing me. And I laugh at the insanity of leaving those two categories out of the inflation index the fed uses. How the hell do you take out the two most expensive costs for every single person alive from your inflation calculation?!?! This entire system is a fucking fraud. I cannot believe its lasted this long. The entire fraud can't implode fast enough as far as I'm concerned.
gardens
greenhouse
compost
if you don't have the land
cut a deal with someone who does
man, not only 2 more expensive cat. but also the one you need every day!!! real inflation is 7-10% hands down.
You have to wonder where all the spending is when a national chain like SVU is making new 52 week lows. $5.84 now, down 50% from the April 2011 high.
Hoodwinked by phony stock markets created by a courrpt banking cartel to create the illusion of a "recovery" which does not exist, the stupid over indebted American buyers continue to buy foreign made goods and line the pockets of the Walton Family as the workers of the world use their new found wealth to buy Gold and Silver. With this I hear the mantra that Americans best days are ahead of us, yet we manufacture nothing and our courrpt politicians have the country addicted to foreign energy making a manufacturing revolution (which is real welath) an impossibility. I hope that is so, I love my country but I am afraid that a collapse needs to wake the country up to reality before such a transition will occur.
Collapse will happen... it's not that it needs to as much as it is destined to. The system of credit/money can only exist for so long before the cost of maintaining the debt burden overwhelms the productive economy. There are all sorts of tricks along the way to push the inevitable collapse further out, but we are rapidly approaching the end, I believe. 2 months... 2 years... perhaps longer. I didn't think we'd see 2012 back in 2008, so clearly this can be prolonged longer than I originally thought, but there is no way out... that much is a certainty.
The questions to answer: How bleak will things be during the transition from this thing to the next? Is it Mad Max or something else? Is it 30 years of war like WWI-WWII with something new on the other side? How much worse will our coming greater depression be than the great depression. What will we use as money during the transition. Who will win American Idol. Stuff like that, mostly.
I dont know about you but everywhere I see there are Asians of all sorts (Koreans, Chinese, Japanese) and they are shopping to the gills here like its Xmas in March. They are the ones boosting retail sales in my opinion...but of course there are those sheeples who has to own the next Apple product when it comes out.
go to miami and see the south americans loading up on stuff for their return trips. US has become an outlet mall
The Vietamese emigrants where I live don't shop much. Maybe they do, how would I know? I don't shop at all.
They're busy ruling their mani/pedi empire with an iron fist...
In Weimar, 1923, people came from all over Europe to snatch up the bargains. There are stories of Americans trying to pay for lavish dinners with a five dollar bill and the restaurants not having enough paper Marks on hand to make change such was the inflation. People could go out on the town for a few dollars and come home with change,
@ Chuck Walla.
Your comment" s are not being allowed to be voted on.
Your arrows are frozen on two comments and i am not allowed to get an arrow to go up or down.
You been spanked.
It's because he began with italics.
If one wants to begin with italics, but still wants to be able to be up or down voted, just put a - or . or other non-italicized symbol in the first spot.
iCreditz
Congratulations, you have earned another 500 iCreditz on your next Apple Store purchase. Please contact your Apple products consumer representative at the Apple iBank right away to learn how to claim your iCreditz.
'i' is the new 'Mc', as in McDonald's.
And the best part about company scrip is I never have to travel to more than one store!
/sarc
I'm so glad I found this site.
Let the money printing continue!!!
BB, I dig your hop moniker. Are you a homebrewer or a pro?
Homebrewer looking to turn pro. I'm in the midst of starting a contract brewery.
Trade n Silver?
Hollar at a player.....
I have been homebrewing for over a decade. Never had the nerve to go pro. I wish you the best of luck!
second that vote
Stock market bottom April 2012 - http://stockmarketbottom.com
I'm all for uncensored speech on ZH, but the douchebag above has been a very short term member who has now posted the same 5 word post with lame link attached in 5 threads.
IOW, kill the spammers, ZH.
Free speech is free speech.
Ignore him but let him speak.
"Ignore it but let it speak."
There, fixed it for ya. Never call a bot "him"......
Congress has made no law abridging the spammer speech on this site. However if Tyler, who pays for this site, chooses to abridge it, I believe he has the right to do so.
Isn't is ironic.......
The Adminstration and Bernanke, win.
Their narrative has been "we will change our consumptive patterns one we return to sustainable growth". Of course since "sustianable growth" is undefined, and likely last occured in the US at some period in the 1990's, there will neve be a change to consumptive patterns.
Of course, there will be cheer for this number. And most don't believe in sustainability. Most just waiting for the next hit of heroin and the next 10 S&P points.
iRonic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPQOBRA-Ioc&feature=player_detailpage
Yeah buying gas and food is a bitch.
And then you die.
if you think it is now....
forgive if im wrong here, but dont banks need deposits so they can commingle the cash and buy bad euro debt and stocks? but if they save, then aapl doesnt go up $10 everyday and stocks crash. quite the dilemma for an insolvent world.
With you on the first point, but there is no relationship between debt slave savings and Apple price going up.
There is a direct relationship with CTRL-P and Apple price rising.
Why doesn't Obama redistribute Apple's wealth? He could make a real serious speech about it with that annoyed look that he gets.
Political suicide. Apple will state they have no money left to develop iPad 4. This is why he is after big oil. Easy target.
Because Apple supports Obama. Duh.
From the reports I've read/heard over the past two days, it appears there's a movement brewing to redistribute Apple's wealth to a bunch of Chinese factory workers, which is really just a ploy by US labor to make Chinese labor less price competitive. Since US labor and Obama row the same boat, I'd say you're already getting what you're asking for.
As a reminder this 'consumer spending' includes gvt programs too. Somebody detailed this previously. Housing credits, etc..
A world were numbers are...well useless.....
This is tax refund check anticipation spending...
equity markt redemptions and outflows being used to fund consumption, debt service and taxes
Could tax returns account for some of the increase in spending instead of being purely credit based?
Well why trust any of these numbers and data in the first place?
I think once again there is some kind of crisis coming in the short term (putting aside the obvious certainty of the long term collapse of paper currency). The high oil prices are creating all sorts of problems everywhere. In the UK, the consumers are really getting hit hard and are completely tapped out. In Europe, drivers are paying record high prices in Euros for petrol. India is on the verge of a currency crisis with the high oil prices hemorrhaging their Forex reserves. And of course, US consumers are getting a pasting at the pump.
All this means one thing in the short term: high demand for US Dollars. Due to the perversity of the global trading system, high oil prices means that every country on earth which is a net consumer of oil has to pay more in US Dollars for their oil imports. Massive dollar demand eventually leads to a liquidity squeeze which in turn will cause another credit event somewhere: may be a bank, may be a country, we don't know this today.
Consistent with this thesis, I converted all my saved cash in Pounds Sterling into US Dollars earlier this week. In the short run, I cannot think of what else one can do. The markets are so irrational that after the latest announcement that the UK's economy SHRANK 0.4 per cent in Q4 2011 and another 0.1 per cent in Q1 2012, the Pound rallied to 1.60 against the Dollar (I sold all my Sterling at 1.5855). Of course one can buy more gold. But if you have a third of your net worth in it, you want to keep some gun powder dry in case there is another panic. And in a panic, I think the Dollar will do better than any other currency. Long term, you have to get out of the Dollar as it will go the way of toilet paper.
Time will tell if I got the above completely wrong.
Savings?! We don't need no stinking savings!
"Everything' s coming up roses..."
Look at this chart of gasoline sales by refinaries .. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=A123600001&f=M
Goes back to levels from 1984!
Why hang onto your fiat and let the pigdemons take 10% of it every year thru inflation (at least).
Putting an office in your house.....or buying pms is better than that.
when paying the credit card bill is a smarter move than paying the mortgage, we have crossed the tipping point and savings is meaningless
Bernanke and the Fed clearly indicated they want everyone to spend, not save with their actions. This includes the US government.
Bernanke's own son carries $400,000 in debt from college and medical school. This should indicate to people around the world that Bernanke intends on devaluing the dollar much further, surprising everyone.
Watch out everyone, Bernanke's big dollar devaluation is yet to come!
Ahh come one they are just spending their tax returns and adding some savings for their new Ipads and toys. Now they can finally afford to fill up their fuel tanks and buy some decent food with their returns.
Theres something wrong here, I dont know anyone around me spending hand over fist on shopping sprees.
I think first theres nothing TO save, second spending is all higher prices. $5 gas is no joke.
That's exactly right.
what's "wrong"?
well, the graph shows the savings rate = 3.6% and has declined a little
nothing about prices, wages, crashes, ipads, gas, oil, or even "savings plunging"
nothing from that chart; all that stuff is from somewhere/somebody else; possibly from someone wirth an agenda...
saving are not plungingl they are growing at a rate of 3.6%
that is what the chart sez; and that the rate of savings is decreasing
keep drinking, tyler! this is funny as a fuking crutch!
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-29/to-cut-costs-greeks-line-up-for-potatoes
LMFAO!! SOON VERY SOON
This is so sad. But I think that a lot of the spending is just people trying to get by. Food, gas, heat, the basics. Remember, for those working most have not had real pay increases or benefit increases, if anything, it has all been lowered over the months. True, some just spend because that 21% interest rate on a credit card they should not have qualified for is no big deal. And they need that 3rd I Pad.
But many are just "tapped out" and have no choice. The moral fiber and fabric that was once the mainstay of this country is moving in a direction that will move us from a position of strength, freedom and prosperity into a crony semi capitalist nation of the few who have too much and the many who do not have enough. And the young will suffer and pay the price of our absurd greed, fraud, deceit and stealing. While I hold out hope for this once great nation, we are preparing for what will probably be the outcome of all the financial and moral destruction wrought upon us.
Find one like Thomas Jefferson and "hope" may be for real, not the "change you can believe in" that was nothing more than one person longing for power.
2008....AH what a fine year it was...
Yes and this is considered good news that consumers are spending and have no savings? This whole system is sick. Hardly anyone in this country is going to be able to retire. When we're 70 and social security has been done away with or engulfed in the black hole(stock market) people are going to be wondering how nice it would have been to have the $250 a month back that they sent to Apple. Most of us don't need that bullshit. If you can afford it fine, if not well don't say I didn't warn you.
I was also a dumbass, took me up till I was almost 40 to grow a fkn brain of course going from $40hr to nothing I can't exactly plan on saving much anytime soon. My house is paid off and I have no credit card debt but I suspect that will just be one huge prize down the road for some asshole lawyer if something gets fouled up.
Speaking of which.........North Dakota is leading the charge to outlaw property taxes. That seriously needs to happen.
I mostly work for myself, buying and refurbishing equipment of all sorts. People around here probably just think I drink all the time lol. Mainly cause I like to get on here when im drunk and raise hell. Fact of the matter I gotta go pack some stuff, work in the shop till 5, then drive 50 miles to pick stuff up....hell I may not be done till 9pm tonight. It's rough.
Property tax is the only tax that should be levied. The people own the land.
I'm depleting my savings to buy physical.
Hard to ween consumers off of cyclicality. But "ween" they will. This is a great signal for shorting.
Is it possible people realize sitting on fiat inflating away will do them no good when SHTF? We keep a foul weather cussion in the bank, but have been drawing some of that down to prep for SHTF. Is there any internals to show what people are spending it on? I know some of it has been going to guns and ammo ( http://www.zerohedge.com/news/fourth-largest-gun-maker-us-out-guns ) and higher gas. Maybe PMs?
wowser!
savings are growing, but at a lower rate
The End
That chart looks like a complacency curve.
Apple made a brilliant move with the release of its new iPad. They effectively reduced their price without overtly saying so. They released an iPad 3 that is not substantially different from #2. As a result, they can cut the price on #2, while still getting significant scale in production of both #2 and #3 because the frame and most of the parts are the same. But on the upside they have generated greater sales of the high-end version (#3) without investing a huge amount in an upgrade. As much as people want to hate Apple on this site, they clearly have a very good understanding of the current market.
Watch for Obama to issue an Executive Order to ban savings. Although The Fed has kind of done that already.
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/fhas-capital-personal-income-spending-and-savings-all-aboard-the-debt-train/
Made me look, Made me look...
No one said Americans are too bright.
Look what they allow the Federal Reserve to call themselves,and to run the countries monetary policy.
And the ones that have saving ,don't really,they owe it somewhere else.
I had no idea the savings rate was that low. No idea at all.
But hey, you lose a bit of your faith in humanity every day.
In past public speaking events, Bernanke has always talked about consumer spending as an economic driver.
Saving has to decline for that to work.
There is no other option.
Call it a Frankenstien economy, but that's what we have become.
Rode a bike to work today. 3rd time this week. Sorry, gas station owners.
Bike Club...!!!!
I took a break from paying down my debt and I bought a tonne of junk this winter. The bank got upset and increased my minimum payment from zero to 150 bucks. The bank statement indicates it will take me 11 years to pay off my debt.