With Stimmies Fading, Consumers Dip into Credit Cards for First Time since 2019, But Only a Little. Everyone’s Relieved by Wolf Richter • Jul 8, 2021 • 155 Comments No one wants consumers to pay off their high-interest credit cards, least of all banks, and consumers had threatened to do just that.
Anatomy of San Francisco Now: Fewer People, Jobs, Tourists, & Businesses, But More Spending by the Hangers-on (But that Was Inflation) by Wolf Richter • Jun 27, 2021 • 162 Comments The recovery as it were, after everything went to heck but didn’t.
Pay More, Get Less: Consumer Income & Spending Chewed Up by Red-Hot Inflation by Wolf Richter • Jun 25, 2021 • 184 Comments Inflation ate my homework?
Most Important Measure of Fed’s Economy: My “Per-Household Wealth Effect Monitor” for Q1, Based on Fed Data by Wolf Richter • Jun 21, 2021 • 266 Comments How the “Wealth Effect” benefits Americans individually.
Despite Massive Price Increases, Retail Sales Drop: Buyers’ Strike & Fading Stimmies Dent the WTF Spike by Wolf Richter • Jun 15, 2021 • 157 Comments Americans are having to pay more to get less.
Subprime Auto-Loan Delinquencies, Which Had Exploded, Plunged after Stimmies. These Folks Are Now on Buyers’ Strike by Wolf Richter • Jun 12, 2021 • 136 Comments Investors in subprime auto-loan Asset Backed Securities should be genuflecting in front of US taxpayers to thank them for the backdoor bailout.
It Gets Ugly: Dollar’s Purchasing Power Plunged at Fastest Pace since 1982. It’s “Permanent” not “Temporary,” Won’t Bounce Back by Wolf Richter • Jun 10, 2021 • 314 Comments But it’s a lot worse than it appears.
Will Americans, Who’ve Spurned Cheaper Cars for Decades, Buy a Lower-Priced Baby “Truck?” I Don’t Know Either by Wolf Richter • Jun 8, 2021 • 202 Comments Americans love big expensive equipment. And cheap cars have fizzled. Ford, which threw in the towel on its cheapest cars, is trying again.
Car & Truck Sales Show: The Inflation Mindset Has Changed, Consumers Are Willing to Pay a Lot More, Generating not only Record Sales but also Record Gross Profits by Wolf Richter • May 27, 2021 • 183 Comments This change in the inflation mindset is likely not “temporary.”
The Credit Card Hustle by the Banks & the Fed Hits Rough Spot by Wolf Richter • May 16, 2021 • 170 Comments Are Americans finally figuring it out as they’re paying down their credit cards by record amounts? So far, $25 billion a year in lost interest income for the banks!
