Posted on 05/02/2010 7:12:16 PM PDT by blam
Frugality Among Consumers Is Outliving Recession
A new frugality among consumers whose wealth has shrunk is outliving the recession
Marjorie Feldman poses for a photo surrounded by food she has stocked up on in her pantry, Friday, April 30, 2010, in Creve Coeur, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Jeannine Aversa and Bernard Condon, AP Business Writers
Sunday May 2, 2010, 1:42 pm EDT
Even as the economic recovery plods ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along.
They're not spending freely -- and they have no plans to.
Many of them have steady income. They aren't saddled by high debts. They don't fear losing their jobs. Yet despite recent gains, they've lost so much household wealth that they're far more cautious about spending than before the recession.
Their behavior suggests that the Great Recession may have bred a new frugality that will endure well into the recovery. And because consumers fuel about 70 percent of the economy, their tightfisted habits means the rebound could stay unusually sluggish.
That's the picture that emerges from an Associated Press survey of leading economists and interviews with more than two dozen ordinary Americans. The new AP Economy Survey asked 44 leading economists whether the recession created a "new frugality" among consumers that will outlive the recession. Two-thirds said yes.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Even as the economic recovery plods ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along.
Does it occur to the ass-hats at the AP that many American consumers are still freakin' unemployed?
Unfortunately, the spendthrift nature of the Federal and State governments also outlives the recession.
Spending lavishly means the government gets more tax revenue. I say starve the beast. Buy only what you can afford in cash and pay only necessary bills and kill the sundry purchases.
Ditto.
(Blackmarket and underground too)
Not only that, people aren’t getting raises or bonuses like they were, and everything still keeps getting more expensive. I can’t believe what food costs me now.
Oh, we are all spending more. Taxes and fees of every kind have shot up. It costs more for garbage pickup and city food taxes and all kinds of things.
I’m giving up stuff at the grocery store because I just get a shiver and think, “It’s immoral to spend that much money on a non-necessity”.
Exactly. With the Spendthrift-in-Chief sitting in the Oval Office financial catastrophe and our California legislature looking for another bailout from Washington, er China, I’ll just pay down my mortgage as fast as possible. Everything else can wait until the liberals are out of power.
During and after the “Great Depression” people got frugal. It was only after the war when money flowed freely again that the spendthrift attitude resurfaced. History..repeating?
I’m not convinced we are out of a recession. The only thing that says we are out is numbers cooked up by the White House.
I’ve always been frugal. It’s good that everyone else is discovering it now. I even go further than most because many years ago I invested in a professional dehydrator that will hold 28 trays at a time. When fresh veggies go on sale I buy a lot and dry it.
Of course another, blame the victims, instead of blaming the real culprits.
Congress, Obama and specifically Pelosi, Reid, Rangel,
Schumer, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Dodd...
Article on being frugal, but I see smart balance there in the picture. Quite possibly the most expensive product in the grocery store compared to similar products.
It’s easy to be frugal when you’re unemployed.
“I can’t believe what food costs me now.”
Contrary to whatever the statistics may be saying, food does seem to be going up in price. Significantly. Factor that in and I’ll bet consumer spending in real dollar terms probably hasn’t gone up much at all.
I firmly believe they are lying. Heck, they’ve been caught in them over the last several years. They are literally saying the danger is over as they themselves pray for a miracle.
Personally, I think they have as much chance of solving this as anyone had of keeping the Titanic from sinking once it hit that iceberg. At this point, who is at the helm is completely irrelevant regarding the ship itself. Regarding how full the lifeboats are and who is in them...well, that’s another story.
people are also probably saving up for when the Bush tax cuts expire next year.
>>Even as the economic recovery plods ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along. <<
That is BS. What they mean is “Even as the MSM is claiming an economic recovery is plodding ahead, many American consumers are refusing to come along.”
Frugality is just smart and, frankly, more fun. At least it is for us. Our dishwasher broke two months ago and we let the landlord know, but we told him it’s not necessary to fix it. So far, we enjoy doing our own dishes and it is more energy efficient.
‘Course, there’s only two of us...
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