You have struck gold. Discretionary income is being consumed by energy purchases and higher food costs. Costs of coal-fired electricity are “necessarily skyrocketing.” Base load electricity is becoming scarcer and more expensive as cheap coal is forced offline. Filling up a car gas tank is costing twice the dollars per gallon as it did than in W’s last year. As energy prices increase, and everything sold in the country moves in a truck from someplace to another place, transportation costs escalate, making food more costly. If folks can barely eat, pay the rent and get to and from work, there isn’t much opportunity for random wants or impulse buying.