The elephant in the room is the MASSIVE increase in healthcare premiums brought about by Obamacare. That’s where everybody’s money is going.
I have been screaming that.
I think a much worse issue is the fact that many Americans today, like Europeans 50 years ago, are foregoing children; this immediately trickles down into the housing market, the government education industry (which here in NJ consumes 75% of our high property taxes), and retail (all sectors) as a new generation of consumers doesn’t appear/isn’t bred. As a result, Third World populations have to be trafficked here (to fill housing, classrooms, Wal-Mart aisles), and they have no money. The dwindling pool of American taxpayers has to pay for every single thing for these newcomers (including their ObamaCare coverage), as well as provide for themselves.
Here in NJ it is easy to walk through neighborhoods, past schoolyards, and in malls/Wal-Marts and realize THAT is where everybody’s money is going...
Another couple hundred a month (or more) in insurance expense is enough to curtail most discretionary spending for many. That’s why gas falling below $2.00 a gallon didn’t help consumer spending, it was already spent elsewhere.