US consumer spending rises as incomes surge

US consumer spending rises as incomes surge

rawstory.com

US consumer spending posted a modest gain in May but savings vaulted amid massive government stimulus spending aimed at pulling the economy out of recession, official data showed Friday.

The Commerce Department reported consumer spending rose 0.3 percent in May from April, in line with most analysts' forecast.

The May uptick in personal spending -- which accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity -- followed a revised flat reading for April and a 0.2 percent decline in March.

(visit the link for the full news article)

AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA....

Thanks for the laugh...

The Big Brother / Fed propaganda-spewing machinery is chugging along at full speed now, showing us sheeples that "all is well, your incomes are doing great...see?"

Alice in Wonderland, what's up is down, what's down is up...Nothing is as it seems, your job losses, home-losses and struggles are all illusionary, now go back to sleep as we continue violating you, debt slaves...

More of the same old, same old from TPTB...

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Huh? Geez, I was gonna say. They expect us to believe anything now. The economy is as the plebians really feel it is, not how the metrics used to guage it for the wealthy indicate. Maybe they're trying to use the law of attraction.

If taxes are raised on inelastic necessities, does that revenue stream get counted as increase consumer spending? I'm no economics guru, so I'm prone to such speculations.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


I laugh myself also, but you see if you read the article you see the contradictions in between the lines.

Still states are borrowing money from the fed to keep feeding the unemployment benefits and the economy is still in the crapper.

But hey if you tell yourself that everything is good over and over again you will probably believe it eventually.

Yeah. The jobless rate is still just as high. They're acting like everything is recovering... when that's not true. Businesses are still going out of business. There are companies still unable to sustain themselves. I'm starting to believe that if this financial collapse was orchestrated it was to get rid of the smaller businesses not on par with the globalist agenda and let only the globalists remain.

Also, the article headline is confusing. It says that sales surge- yet- only it talks about savings vaulting. It only says sales rose a modest amount in May.

[edit on 27-6-2009 by Frankidealist35]

Do they really expect us to believe this crap ?

Disposable personal income -- income less personal taxes -- increased 1.6 percent May after a rise of 1.3 percent in April.

Excluding the special factors of the huge economic stimulus, which lowers personal taxes and boosts government social benefit payments, disposable personal income increased 0.2 percent, following a 0.9 percent rise in April.

And what happens next year when new tax laws go into effect and many people have to pay much of this money back ?

And this "rise in personal income" sure isn't helping the millions of peole that are out of a job.

It's also normal to see an increase in personal spending after people recieve their tax refunds.


rawstory.com...

What a bunch of bunk. The US savings rate is the highest it has been in 15 years. All of the government pork that was supposed to generate consumer spending has been juxtaposed against massive levels of uncertainty about what these jokers are going to do.

Everything is getting jammed down out throats at once because presidential popularity is dropping a point a day and by the fall will be well less than 50%. When that happens, democrats will begin to distance themselves so that they can remain competitive in the '10 elections.

From my perspective, the media is in the tank for the administration and will publish this feel good crap to keep the momentum on his side. Its already beginning to breakdown and I'm guessing that by this time next time, we'll have a lame duck and democrats lining up to float trial balloons for a run at the big job in a couple of years.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


If everything is fine, then I'd like a job and the unemployment below 7% in my state. But in reallity unemployment is probably twice that... But Im doing fine. Just going to spend my non income with my non surge.

Ok this is a joke right, do they really expect most of the population to listen to this bull? Have they realy got this much control over the majority or is this just the last big push before the SHTF?

Excluding the special factors of the huge economic stimulus, which lowers personal taxes and boosts government social benefit payments

That's a funny joke since the cap and trade legislation which already passed congress will kill 2.5 million jobs every year for 10 years, transforming private jobs into government jobs and of course INCREASING taxes on EVERYTHING by at least 50%... this is not the biggest tax bill in the history of the US for nothing.

in this new math the government specializes in, they probably only look at certain sectors from certain angles. for example, it's entirely possible that bailed out bankers incomes rose and they are spending. the al gorians who are building businesses around the crime and fine (cap and trade) industry are probably spending more because they will soon be billionaires. I just saw an article that if the decide to tax health benefits you get from your employers, unions members will be exempt, so they might well be spending more. it's all in the way you look at it.

OK where the heck have I been lately? I dont' see any magic increase in my disposable income, in fact I see a drop in it..

Does this mean I'm entitled to some bailout monies? I really could use a new apartment....

I think people are breaking down and shopping because of how hot it is outside.

They didn't spend anything during the winter time and now can't stand being outside in jeans and are having to purchase new summer wear.

105 here and I'm still wearing jeans. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to stand sitting at the dog park for a few hours while my dog has a blast.

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

Just believe…unless you’re a terrorist deserving of preventative and prolonged detention. And you better go spend all that cash you're suddenly flush with as well...unless you're a hoarder.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Exactly so Obama can say that he is creating jobs, all those private contractor jobs that Rumsfeld privatization of the military created with higher incomes will be converted again back to government jobs with a high lost, lower salaries o else.

I would say that their number (.3%) is about right. The reason I say this is that in the last 45-60 days I have noticed that almost every item in the grocery store has increased by 50 cents. For example; for the last 15 years it has cost me $1.00 for a can of Pringles potato chips. Last month they all of a sudden went up to $1.49. This is only one example out of possibly 50 I could give.

Under this premise I can see where it would appear as though consumer spending has increased. In fact it has increased, the only problem is the amount of goods we have gotten with that increase has decreased exponentially in the process. So basically we are spending more and getting less; therefore, we have actually cut back in the amount of goods we purchase and still spend a greater amount for what's left.

This is just a smoke and mirrors technique to hide the real truth from the population. Hyper-inflation is starting.

[edit on 6/27/2009 by DarrylGalasso]

reply to post by DarrylGalasso


first of all, i must say i love that avatar! great view of obama may need to become a poster.

i wish there was an smiley for smacking my head! because of course that is what accounts for the "surge" in spending. they raised the prices. we are buying exactly the same things we bought last month, only we paid more for them so we are in fact spending more and in obamath that is reported as a sign of improvement. only didn't the article say there was a surge in income? that's just simply a lie. people continue to lose jobs and have hours cut back. i return to my previous assertion that it might apply to the new financial elite created by bailouts, stimulus jobs... that reminds me. right now those government jobs created by the stimulus money are paid for by washington but when that runs out the states have to come up with the money to pay by raising taxes, so not so good.

I have seen some great posts here! Wow! Glad to see that I'm not the lone guy portending this false information. It just goes to show you, financial math is subjective.

I took a couple of econ courses and college. There were several finance majors in the class. When I told one of them I was a chemistry major, he got a funny look on his face and said, "can you explain this equation to me?" It rudimentary algebraic expression.

I'm know math whiz, but I do understand the chemistry and physics of the economy. Garbage in equals garbage out.

Yeah I wonder where they got those figures from. I spent the first 3.5 months of the year with no work. No since I am back to work I have been harping at the old lady to save every penny. I am now pulling out about 2k a month and pigeon holing it inside my house somewhere. I told her when I get back I'll save that money instead of spending it. Now when next year rolls around if I am still working i'll dump about 10k on silver which will not be going into the economy. So I am sorry people I am not going to go out spending to save Your jobs but I'll think of saving my family instead. I will also be paying off my two cars when my income tax checks come in which once again will not help the economy. So if You are in the retail or the service sector I feel sorry for You because I think many people in the middle class are doing the same thing and if not shame on them.

reply to post by traderjack


Yeah, me too.

It used to be when these types of threads were posted, there would always be a couple of folks that would jump on them DEFENDING the numbers and propaganda, and saying that "we're all being doom and gloom". It it appears that even the naysayers have a hard time believing in the spin-artists blatant propaganda anymore. You can only fool the populace for so long, before REALITY starts to tell the true story all around them. Then, even the biggest defenders have to at least scratch their heads...