Marty

American Express Drops a Bomb on Consumer Spending

Great post Kunst. I think you hit the nail on the head. Now that makes complete sense to me. I wish people that understand these things would be discussing them in the media so people can be educated as to what is really going on. From my point of view , the great reset to the world standard of living has begun. The few things that dont make sense to me are 1- With monetary inflation shouldnt real estate as a hard asset also eventually increase (like gold and metals?) 2- It seems like the only smart move would be to downsize lifestyle immediately and cash in on any inflationary gains you might have left in property etc. This would put people in a debt free safer position given the changes coming.

Honestly I think the majority of people just dont "Get it" yet. Our personal plan B is to see how things go by mid year and downsize pay off every bill, debt we have and sit with income higher than our housing needs with room for downside stability if things get worse.

Marty

American Express Drops a Bomb on Consumer Spending

Again I think people miss the forest for the trees. Inflation is not 2.6%. People are struggling with double digit price increases in almost everthing they buy at a time when incomes are strained and benefits are being cut. Sub-prime has been a scapegoat. Just watch what unfolds over the next 6 months. I cannot believe there are not people to stand up and understand 3rd grade math .

In the last 8 years the Govt stated CPI increased about 25%. This is what Social security recipients received.

In my world , here are some increases in that 8 year period..

Gas 150%
Real Estate taxes 86%
Electriciy 74%
Milk 100%
Beef 60%
Health insurance 200%

The bottom line is its unannounced inflation that is the root cause of all the payment problems. If all these other things didnt go up people could afford their "subprime resets" . They were just the first domino to fall.

Honestly I have lost faith in almost all financial commentators as they seem to be in their own world. How anyone can stand up there and mouth such B.S. statistics as 2.6% inflation and surging job markets is beyond me.

Any idiot with a calculator can figure out price increases and everyone knows high paying quality jobs are leaving and being replaced by low paying jobs with fewer benefits. All you need to do is add up all the chain hires for the top 100 retail and franchise chains over the last 10 years and compare that to the "jobs added" figures. In the meantime we lose engineers, auto-workers, technicians, software engineers etc etc.

What the heck is wrong with people! I am a CPA in Wallingford, CT and these problems have been telegraphed for the last few years at least.

Id love to share ideas with anyone here, and talk to someone at CNBC to set them straight but you cant reach these people in wonderland...

Marty
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