James Cullen

Retail, Consumer Electronics Spending: No Signs Yet of a Bottom

Globalview is right, and I feel the need to add a couple points:

-Spending is spending. You really need to differentiate and examine discretionary spending, because odds are those people who think they are spending less are in reality buying fewer goods at higher prices (thanks, inflation) but the total dollar value is the same - it's just more heavily weighted toward food, energy, and the like. Another way to put it is to ask if their saving has gone up, which I doubt it has.

-I hate to say this, but I think the people you surveyed are delusional about their intent with the rebate check. We can mouth "save more, spend less" until our jaws hurt, but I'm not going to believe Americans as a whole are suddenly about to become fiscally responsible and actually do so. Maybe in six months you can do a follow up survey and see what actually happened with that money.