Pretty much as I had expected. Consumers are tapped out and you can blame inflation the Fed says doesn't exist the necessities, food and gasoline. Certainly the packages have become small to mask the cost but we all know it's there, lurking. We're getting less and less for our hard earned buck and $20 just doesn't buy what it used to....leaving less for dining out, electronics, clothing, vacations, etc.
Retailers beginning to feel the pinch may shift to more coupons, clearance sales, preferred customer discounts. Others will continue to tighten the belt internally moving more to cloud, temp agencies for personnel (a huge cost savings) and other cost-cutting measures. Insurers for example have discovered that making lump sum payments to Doctors for Cancer patients saves them over 30%.
It won't take much, however, for overseas tensions to cause a spike in oil/gas prices and then what? We're teetering on the spending cliff in my opinion and something has to give.........
From Gall
