Sales tumble, fanning US recession fears

[rodeodance]

Source: ap



Sales tumble, fanning US recession fears

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer 1 hour, 21 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Frugal shoppers cut back on their spending at the nation's retailers by 0.4 percent in December, the most in six months, in a gloomy report that fanned fears of a recession.
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Shoppers turned into penny-pinchers under the strains of a deteriorating job market, expensive energy bills and a persistent housing slump that has weakened home values and propelled foreclosures to record highs.

"Consumers held tight to their wallets in December, raising questions about whether household spending will be enough to keep us out of a recession," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

In another report, the Labor Department said wholesale prices dipped 0.1 percent in December, but were up 6.3 percent for all of 2007, the biggest annual gain in 26 years, mostly reflecting higher energy costs.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080115/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/retail_sales;_ylt=AihaRcM_Dx1xqs6Mom7N8qus0NUE

[ursi]

1. aren't we already in a recession?

[Hellenic_Pagan]

5. Never fear, Bush-o is here!

And he says "its all good! Heh heh!"
http://vn.kominet.ru:8101/Pic/bush-chimp.jpg

fucktard. argh.

I am sick of hearing how "good" the economy is... its been bad for years, its just finally getting to the point that they cant ignore it or hide it.

[Xenotime]

19. Depression is next

[tanyev]

2. It's OK, Bush is having a good time and "feeling feisty" in Saudi Arabia.

All is well.

[CoffeeCat]

3. The 'perfect economic storm'...

...is coming our way.

Unless you're lucky enough to be a multimillionaire, it will detrimentally affect
you.

Are you prepared?

[Orsino]

6. Multimillionaires will be detrimentally affected, too, I think.

They'll be less rich, anyway, as the dollar loses value. If the economy collapses, they won't be rich no matter how many dollars they own on paper.

[Lorien]

7. Oh, there are many multimillionaires and billionaires who will still be

sitting pretty. They'll have less, but they'll never be reduced to the kind of hard times that most Americans will suffer.

[Orsino]

8. Unless the money becomes worthless.

That's their challenge: how to squeeze every last drop out of us without endangering the value of what they steal.

[Lorien]

12. It'll never become "worthless". Besides, they'll still have assets like

homes, cars, personal aircraft, etc. Most of the Uber Rich have already moved their assets into Euros, Yen and Gold anyway. They could care less if the dollar collapses; they're just looking at all the cheap labor they'll get from us if it does. :-(

[Orsino]

14. I'm worried about a greater catastrophe...

...in which the concept of ownership itself will be endangered, insofar as property you can't occupy and things you can't watch over. In such a collapse, even most of the very rich will not be safe; only the ones with loyal personal security forces will hold onto leadership.

It sounds farfetched, but the longer we keep pretending that unfettered capitalism is the ideal, the worse the eventual crash will be. And our current leadership seems dug in for a good, long spell of pretending.

[Lorien]

16. I think about that in relation to Peak Oil

the only ones who will be safe are the ones with their own Blackwater security force.

[Javaman]

10. I've taught myself how to eat dry wall and like it. nt

[AngryAmish]

4. Stagflation

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagflation>

You may not like it, but you will learn to love it.

I thought that the current oil shock would have created an inflationary spiral before now.

[fasttense]

20. Well, since some prices have gone down,

I wonder if we are not in a Depression. Real Estate, stocks and labor have come down in price so I'm wondering if we are not in a Depression. I always thought a Depression was when prices deflated. But then I looked up the definition of a Depression versus a recession and it seems there is not clear boundary between the two.

So I'm going with this definition:

A recession is when your neighbor loses his job.

A depression is when you lose your job.

[humbled_opinion]

9. Booming Economy Alert

:eyes: :sarcasm:

[underpants]

11. No disposable income No disposable income -sing along-No disposable income

Or at least people are saving what they can for when the levy breaks

[Lorien]

13. Which really impacts all of us whose jobs depend on Americans having

disposable income to spend (which is a significant part of the economy). I think my step sister, who owns an organic farm, will be one of the few still employed if this keeps up!

[NuttyFluffers]

15. mwa ha ha ha! welcome to my wrath of frugal budgeting!

i, one shopper, am bringing this system to its knees! bwa ha ha ha!

either that or dipshit GOP economics is doing it all by itself...

naaah, it's all because of me! i destroy america's economy like Godzilla does Tokyo! i am tremendous!

[sendero]

17. "Recession fears"..

... please spare me. The recession is HERE. It is not going away any time soon, no matter how much the MSM acts like it's still some kind of horse race.

It's HERE. It is going to be DEEP. No amount of happy talk will get rid of it. Deal.

[Zorra]

18. In December? Xmas time? Wow, that's serious. n/t