Consumers not dead yet

Wayne Grey: while gas prices are higher in Canada, a) gas is cheaper because gas tax is lower in the US, contributing to local and state budget deficits as well as federal (which everyone knows about) and b) as government is starved for funds, non-income taxes are being raised including gas taxes. Sales tax in downtown Chicago will be over 10% after Labor Day.

Americans should not complain too bitterly about gas prices. We in Canada are self sufficient in all hydro carbons yet we pay much more for gas and even supply most of the American market (yes we are your biggest source of foreign oil).

Karen Smith from Houston Tx you wrote;

LOL half of all US families make less than $45,000 a year and the average family has 3.14 members so there are a lot of Americans trying to make ends met with three times the people you have in your family with about half your salary. Of course 120 million of those people are illegal aliens who need to jsut go back to Mexico so the rest of us can do better. Without the illegals draining our gas stations of gas for their old gas hog cars we would have plenty of gas at cheap prices”. Ends..

Now Karen i think you are wrong to suggest that once the illegals go back to mexico you will be much better, my suggestion to you is get a good education mostly science and engineering fields in case your brains can handle it, which i doubt and after that you should be alright. Stop spacegoating hardworking mexicans, they have nothing to do with your being poor and dense.

I am living week-to-week financially. Gas and food prices are cutting into my budget and squeezing the life out of it!

Will be cooking at home more and freezing dinners so I don’t get hungry and run out to eat.

As a family of 5 with 3 growing children we are spending much more. Also, I am making more money than ever before. In reality, gasoline and groceries is just a small percentage of our family’s spending.

The home prices coming down is actually a good thing. It should make it easier for my children to purchase housing when they grow up.

In my oppinion, concentrating on things you can not change is counterproductive. We should concentrate on things we can change to increase our income: i.e. improve our businesses, skills, etc…

With industry gone in USA my job, my family all pull back yes the rich have not pulled back and the mid is suffering most who even cares about the checks hoping to get to poor. Coal plants want to show more electric use more coal sells more even if electric is not generated who really watches the gains in these cooperative monopolies are plants really selling or just holding economy and enviroment ransom. Coal and oil are deeply invested in by retirements / pension funds of baby booming upper and government retiries perks pulling back doesn’t affect them. Who pays now that wages are down oil to work coal to live we need a pull back but the mid is out now and maybe for future the past has only sustained the pull back effort. Home insurance credit card but no relief from expensive government war

I am single and only make $85,000 living in Stamford CT. All I know is that I spend over $6,000 a month on rent, food, credit card debt and other expenses.

I am trying to increase income since I can’t live on this little even as a single person who is 31.

Posted By Nick Stamford CT : May 1, 2008 12:10 pm

LOL half of all US families make less than $45,000 a year and the average family has 3.14 members so there are a lot of Americans trying to make ends met with three times the people you have in your family with about half your salary. Of course 120 million of those people are illegal aliens who need to jsut go back to Mexico so the rest of us can do better. Without the illegals draining our gas stations of gas for their old gas hog cars we would have plenty of gas at cheap prices

LOL

Let’s see real inflation is running at 10 percent or more a year. an increase in spending of 0.4 percent in March is like 4.8 percent per year. Let’s do the math 4.8 percent minus 10 percent means the U.S. consumer spent 6.2 percent less in March then he did last year.

LOL an increase of 0.4 percent from Feb to March is not the right way to look at it as Feb was so depressed anyway. If you look at March last year adjusted for inflation to March this year you will see a 6.2 percent drop in spending.

We are headed down and the government is doing it’s usual let’s find any stat that will prove things are better. I am surprised that they don’t say in 1928 the U.S. consumer spent $40 dollars a month and now it’s $2,000 a month wow what an increase.

GW – “Let them eat cake!”

Consumers aren’t dead, we’re just on the ropes getting the *hit kicked out of us by our opponents inflation and energy, which is why we spend more – and get less. Since the bull run of 2002, the middle class has fallen behind while the annoited few got much further ahead. This wasn’t a recovery for the middle class as it was in the past, where everyone benefitted, no, it was an orgy for those at the top of the food chain.

We’re definitely pulling back on all types of spending.

We were never loose with our money, always living well within our means and maintaining a very healthy savings/retirement rate. Everything we have is paid for, so there’s only rent/internet-telephone/insurance as monthly costs. Two months ago we had a family meeting and have redesigned the budget around the core concept of not only continuing that savings rate, but increasing it. There is now $0 allocated to ‘mad money’. If we want to so much as rent a DVD or get a new jacket it now comes out of the food/toiletries/Rx budget, which has been trimmed.

In short -we’ve gone to an austerity budget by choice. I’m padding up the savings and battening down the hatches for, what appears to be, a coming storm. We have no plans for any big ticket purchases. Like Ed from Saint Louis, MO, we were considering purchasing a house (we currently rent at a great rate), but i’m in no rush at all -maybe next year. We feel that its too big a risk for us with the housing devaluation and job cutting/instability going on.

Poeple waste money like crazy. 80% of what is in the supermarkets is garbage.

Spend more on high quality food and less of processed garbage & less pizza and donuts which are also garbage

I am single and only make $85,000 living in Stamford CT. All I know is that I spend over $6,000 a month on rent, food, credit card debt and other expenses.

I am trying to increase income since I can’t live on this little even as a single person who is 31.

We have a new golden rule in our household. No spending money we don’t have (i.e CHARGE IT) on things we don’t need (fancy dinners out, any type of service we can do ourselves, anything sold in shopping malls)

Food cost more here because China and India are whoring grain. This causes problems for us, too.

Consumer spending is adjusted for inflation, correct? What inflation figure are they using? The CPI, which doesn’t (significantly) include food and energy? If consumer spending figures include food and energy but the CPI doesn’t, then these numbers are bogus. People are spending more because things cost more.

I’m spending somewhat less. I live close to work and I take the light rail to school, so I don’t drive much. I’m single, so the food increases don’t hurt me nearly as much as they would hurt a family with children.

That said, I drive a paid-for car and recently got a roommate to decrease my monthly living costs. I will not be making any major purchases in the forseeable future, but only because they aren’t necessary for me at this point. I am interested in buying a house in the next few years, but I will delay that as long as possible because I think real estate prices will keep falling for at least that long.

The situation would be more under control if the central bank would pay attention to inflation rather than keeping banks and investors happy. I realize some market manipulation is necessary to prevent economic collapse, but Bernanke and company don’t even wait to see the effects of their rate cuts before they cut them again. This will only fuel the fire that led to these problems we’re dealing with now, and it costs the rest of us money through increased commodity prices. They seem to think that market corrections are only good when they don’t affect gigantic corporations.

I think everyone needs to do some belt tightening. The consumption habits of the U.S. are not sustainable, and the sooner we accept that, the less painful the transition will be.

I’m spending more now than I have ever have… I’m also making more now than I ever have. Price increases for energy and food are really a pretty small peice of my overall financial picture. Luckily, the price increases are really not noticable in our monthly expenses. I’m doing my part to keep the economy humming along!

We as consumers don’t have a choice but to increase spending when gas and groceries are at record levels. We have to feed our families and we have to get to work so that we can feed our families. To say that consumer spending went up is correct but its not a positive thing. I think that most Americans are just shifting there habits to deal with higher costs of almost everything. I for one do not eat out more than four times a month, I cook my meals at home and take my lunch to work. My four year old daughter asks why we can’t go to the zoo and I have to tell her that daddy doesn’t have the money.

I’m spending less on everything. About 7 months ago I switched jobs, from a 54 mile commute each way to a 3 mile commute. Now my wife and I ride to work together, and the other car stays at home all week. We carry our lunch every day. No eating out unless we have a 2-for-1 coupon. We’re socking away as much as possible. We’ll be investing the tax rebate check when it arrives. We do not live above our means, so we have zero debt other than the mortgage, which is not one of those stupid negative amortization types. We clip coupons for groceries and don’t leave the lights on. You’d be surprised how little you really need if you’re smart about it.