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CONSUMER SPENDING: OFF A CLIFF

The U.S. consumer accounts for over 70% of the U.S. economy.  Our ability to spend money recklessly appears to finally be catching up with us.   For those still holding out for a second half economic recovery I’ll point you to this chart:

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Consumer spending has only declined minimally from peak to trough thus far.  In both the ’73 & ’81 recessions consumer spending declined 2.5%+ year over year before bottoming.  We have yet to reach that level and in my opinion this recession is far more devastating than either of those.