Yes, and gasoline consumption went up a bit as well. Down only 4% year over year.
The deficit is also ‘automatically’ getting larger as well.
We could stop declining as fast and just go into ‘muddle through’ mode at higher levels of unemployment.
And this could encourage the mainstream to do what it can to minimize any fiscal response as the await ‘market forces and monetary policy kicking in.’
Obama recently stated we needed a fiscal stimulus to get things going, but then focus on ‘fiscal responsibility’ when the economy is growing again.
And they all say one of the major problems of the US government is the high level of debt.
Obama is also backwards on trade, as he talks about protecting US workers and opening new markets for US exporters.
Still hoping for the best!
Merry Christmas!
>
> On Thu, Dec 25, 2008 at 1:37 PM, mauer195 wrote:
>
> Everybody keeps focusing on the disastrous season that
> retailers are supposed to be having, but then there’s this
> news:
>
Consumers Spend More As Gasoline Prices Fall
By Annys Shin
Consumers increased their spending last month for the first time since spring, as falling gas prices helped boost their purchasing power, new data showed yesterday.
On an inflation-adjusted basis, consumers spent 0.6 percent more in November than they did the month before, the Commerce Department reported, the first increase since May. Disposable income also rose on an inflation-adjusted basis, by 1 percent, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent in October.
But even as consumers returned to stores and shopping malls, analysts cautioned that the data did not signal the start of a turnaround for the economy. Because energy prices are unlikely to sink at the same clip they have over the past few months, Americans won’t be able to pocket much more savings at the pump.
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