I don’t pretend to have all the answers here, but I think one thing is quite clear: People really do not like paying more for stuff than they used to.
That doesn’t mean American consumers aren’t still spending — they are — but they’re mad about it…
— Emily Stewart writing for Vox.com, November 8, 2023
Like my fellow journalist, Emily Stewart at Vox.com, I don’t pretend to have all the answers.
In my case, there’s no pretending involved. I actually do have all the answers. It’s just that some of them are too unpleasant to discuss publicly.
When Ms. Stewart talks about American consumers being “mad” about shopping, she does not mean “enthusiastic”. She means “angry”. Steamed up. Infuriated. Ticked off. Wroth.
We’re wroth that prices keep going up… but we can’t seem to stop spending.
(I’ve been waiting for years, for the chance to use the word “wroth” in one of my columns. Ah, the small pleasures that make life worth living!)
By contrast, when I write, “We’re mad about spending money”, I’m using the word “mad” in the old-fashioned sense: “Insane”.
Only an insane person would pay the prices that American businesses are charging in 2023. And yet (according to Ms. Stewart and the Financial Times) we’ve been on a ‘consumer sugar rush’ over the past several months, even before we got around to finishing off our leftover Halloween candy.
The U.S. economy grew by a surprising 4.9% annualized rate during the third quarter, helped along by blockbuster movies (did everyone get to see ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’?) and by monster concert tours by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. But we also bought a lot of stuff on Amazon. We ate out a restaurants. We took vacations.
And we’re planning to take even more vacations. Or so they tell us. Depending, maybe, on gas prices?
The money experts at Bank of America are calling it “funflation”.
I call it, “insane”. But I already said that. Because I find myself buying overpriced things — vacations, restaurant food, concert tickets, gasoline, electronics, underwear — that have no lasting value, except on my credit card bill.
Maybe I’m exaggerating about the underwear; I actually still have some serviceable underwear I bought several years ago. I thought my Denver Bronco’s sweatshirt and hat were good, long-term investments. But lately, I’ve had to switch over to Kansas City, just to have a chance at the playoffs. The change was not inexpensive.
And the electronics I bought several years ago all needs to be replaced, which explains why I’m not real happy about the tensions between Washington and Beijing. I spend a lot of my money for things made in China… for things I don’t really need… but also, for things I really do need. (Like, underwear.)
Yes, I was being a little bit pompous earlier, when I said I have all the answers. (As you probably guessed.) Actually, what I have is internet service, and access to search engines.
Which is why I can confidently assert that total household debt in the U.S. increased by $228 billion (1.3%) in the third quarter of 2023, to $17.29 trillion, and credit card balances increased by $48 billion to $1.08 trillion — a 4.7% quarterly increase.
You may have noticed the curious correlation — as I did — that the U.S. economy grew by 4.9% during the most recent quarter… and U.S. credit card debt grew by 4.7% during the same period.
Ouch. Looks like we’re simply putting the ‘inflation’ on our credit cards.
The pundits of the Lamestream Media try to make it sound like the inflation horror story in which we find ourselves has some kind of complicated causation.
The war in Ukraine, for example. The supply chain that got itself all twisted up during the COVID crisis. Governments printing money with nothing to back it. Unstable weather, caused by our supposed ‘climate change’.
And maybe the biggest problem: workers getting higher wages, leading to more disposable income, which in turn leads more disposable spending on more disposable products and services.
These are all perfectly sensible targets for our anger over inflation.
Maybe if we all bought inflatable vinyl punching dolls, instead of replacement electronics…
…it would give a new and more satisfying meaning to the word, “inflation”.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.