Keep in mind as you review this article from the Wall Street Journal that every corporate (think Wall St) media outlet, has claimed for well over a year, that inflation was predominantly a demand side issue. In essence, consumer demand was so strong that prices were rising because of it.
The demand side argument/justification for inflation was always false. However, it was/is still the claim made by members of the Biden administration and almost every board member of the federal reserve.
All of them, almost universally, dismissed the supply side inflation argument which is the reality at the epicenter of inflation causation.
Inflation was/is an exclusive outcome of three supply side aspects which merged simultaneously: (1) the Joe Biden energy policy, (2) the Joe Biden promoted covid response via legislative spending, and (3) the promoted Biden administration monetary policy.
While the legislative spending did create artificial economic activity, all of these inflationary sources are supply side impacts.
The demand side claim for the origin of inflation was always a ruse, a con, a complete farce intended to backstop the claim that inflation would be “transitory” once consumer spending moderated. From that perspective every approach from government toward controlling inflation was wrong. Not wrong by accident, wrong as a matter of deceit and purposeful media manipulation in order to maintain the “Build Back Better” or “Green New Deal” agenda….. which, I might add, benefitted from the advanced Wall Street investment in both constructs, globally and domestically.
In short, a collaboration of purposeful ignorance and pretending not to know has culminated in the collapse of much of the global economy. Now, with that result visibly and unavoidably surfacing, the controllers of policy, both here and aboard, need to shift and start making admissions. Thus:…
Wall Street Journal – Factories around the world are reporting weakening demand for their products, a sign that the consumer-goods boom that kick-started the postpandemic economic recovery could turn into a bust as surging prices and interest rates erode spending power.
Surveys of manufacturers released Friday told a similar story whether the factory was in South Korea, Italy or the U.S.: Output is falling or is rising at a slower pace, driven by declines in new orders, and particularly those from overseas buyers.
When prices began to rise rapidly early last year, central bankers thought the surge would be short-lived because supply would increase to match higher demand. As higher inflation persisted, they stopped waiting and began raising borrowing costs to reduce demand.
Now it seems higher prices themselves appear to be having the same effect, weighing on purchases even in places such as the eurozone, where interest rates have yet to rise.
“Demand is now weakening as firms report customers to be growing more cautious in relation to spending due to rising prices and the uncertain economic outlook,” said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
U.S. factory activity grew in June at the slowest pace in two years, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s measure of U.S. manufacturing activity known as the purchasing managers index.
New orders fell for the first time in two years as customer demand weakened. Employment in the manufacturing sector also fell for the second straight month, the survey found.
A separate measure of U.S. manufacturing PMIs produced by S&P Global indicated that output stagnated in June as sales fell for the first time since May 2020. Expectations for future output dropped to the lowest level since October 2020. (read more)
U.S. inflation was/is driven -in the vast majority- by supply side impacts as a result of policy (Build Back Better). The U.S. recession was/is now going to be driven by demand side impacts that are the result of increased supply side costs. This is the natural economic truth being denied by all levels of political leadership.
Joe Biden policy makers, specifically the U.S. treasury secretary and the federal reserve chairman, have claimed -falsely- that current inflation was/is being driven by demand. In essence, and ironically, their position means consumers are to blame for high prices. This has been their story and they have stuck to it. However, remember monetary policy can only impact the demand side of the economy. Monetary policy cannot impact the supply side, that aspect is led by Joe Biden policy.
The Federal reserve, having denied (pretended) the supply side causation, has effectively raised interest rates (0.75%) into an economic environment where consumer demand was already contracting. CTH has been asserting this fundamental position all year. Here is the evidence:
US Manufacturing PMI fell dramatically to 52.4 in June 2022 from 57 in May. This drop is well below the market and economic expectations of 56, and now points to the slowest growth and steepest drop in factory activity in almost two years. Contractions in output and new orders are pushing the index down.
Production and new sales declined for the first time since the depths of the pandemic in mid-2020 driven by weak consumer demand. Inflation and a drop in wholesale and retail purchases have lowered purchase orders. The gears inside the economy are slowing to a halt.
Look at the PMI trendline and you can clearly see what we have been discussing on these pages since March of 2021. Consumer demand has been dropping in direct proportion to the dramatic rise in inflation (consumer prices).
At the exact moment that U.S. inflation began spiking in housing, energy, fuel and food, consumer demand for non-essential purchases, durable goods, started dropping. This is a natural outcome that mirrors your own experience in checkbook economics.
When food, fuel and energy cost you more, you stop buying stuff and start prioritizing.
Following the path of the “build back better” agenda, the U.S. version called “Green New Deal,” meant the Biden administration had to continue denying that any demand side contraction was taking place. However, it is clear from the indexes under the control of purchasing managers that orders for factory goods have been dropping.
The same is true on the services side of the PMI. Demand for services are being prioritized, and demand for non-essential services are dropping.
The U.S. economy is contracting. Denial abounds.
Infuriating does not adequately describe my sentiments toward these intentional liars.
We are in an abusive relationship with all levels of government and their media spokespeople.
Independent and honest journalism, the sharing of information that can empower people to intercede events with political liars, is quite literally the only thing that might save us from the catastrophic consequences of all this pretending.
Knowledge is power, and we need to build our arsenal with an urgency unlike any before in our lifetime.
There is a reason why Putin chose this time to escalate Russias currency war against US. Putin/Russia have been removing themselves from the dollar reserve system for some time. And they are showing the world how it’s done. How come nobody is asking why now?
Someday Sundance will put it all together.
This is not about Ukraine or inflation or production. They are symptoms of what’s to come. It’s about US losing dollar reserve system.
There is also a reason for the term “insurrection” used by powerful politicians on both sides to describe a protest which included shepherded protestors into our nations Capitol.
Prepare by studying (perhaps Sundance will provide) info regarding faultering economies, high inflation ( caused by printing of money) and government control of populations in bad economies including food.
Yes, they mortgaged your child and grandchild’s future while they and their families profited.
All the signs were there,
China and Russia have been buying more gold, and keeping more
of there own mined gold.
Selling off treasuries.
Belt and road.
BRICS
Developing their own financial vehicles that eliminate SWIFT has been a priority.
The petro dollar has been dying a slow death.
pits only a matter of time until the dollar is just a part of a basket (SDR)
What’s really a nuts and bolts weakness for China,
is the failure to develop a bonds infrastructure that rivals US treasuries.
Once China has the equivalent of US treasuries, it’s over
38:48 WHAT MAKES THE DOLLAR THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY (since 1974)??In February 1965, French President Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to exchange its U.S. dollar reserves for gold at the official exchange rate. He sent the French Navy across the Atlantic to pick up the French reserve of gold and was followed by several countries. As it resulted in considerably reducing U.S. gold stock and U.S. economic influence, it led U.S. President Richard Nixon to end the convertibility of the dollar to gold on August 15, 1971. This was meant to be a temporary measure but the dollar became permanently a floating fiat money and in October 1976, the U.S. government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. (“The 8300 or so metric tons of gold that we hold supposedly in Fort Knox–which has never been audited since 1956– is supposedly the largest stockpile of gold in the world. Alasdair Macleod surmises that China has over 38,000 metric tons of gold.”) Three years after 1971, Henry Kissinger went to Saudi Arabia and offered them our military protection in exchange for them–through OPEC–forcing the entire world to buy and sell oil denominated in U.S. DOLLARS (petrodollars)!
SEPTEMBER, 2021: The day AFTER the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, RUSSIA made a joint military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia!! The day after that they announced the same thing with Nigeria!! The day after that they announced that all their nuclear submarines are outfitted with hypersonic ICBMs. (We don’t have that technology yet, but China does.) And now, for the first time since 1974, an OPEC-producing country (NIGERIA) is selling oil to China in YUAN. (On March 26, 2018, the Chinese government issued the first long-term oil trading contracts denominated in Petroyuans.)
Linda Starr, nice summary. Things are getting dicey for fiat backed currencies.
Thank you for posting. I often wonder about those people with the 12 Ukraine 🇺🇦 in their bio if they can explain what the petrodollar is. Probably not, because it’s easier to parrot a lie:” it’s Putin’s fault”.
Russia has the GDP of Spain and somebody like Soros with a little help could crash the Russian currency. Nobody is going to replace the United States Currency with the Ruble. In times of uncertainty the United States is the world’s safe haven!
Things are good until they are not.
How do you know what Russia GDP is, Lol.
Russia is leading the world off the dollar reserve system. It’s not alone in it’s actions.
That’s the goal.
Beware of the intent within the US to crash the currency and the country.
Russia’s revenge for the Bushies duplicity..
Someone once said that “Reality is that which still exists after you stop believing in it.”
The problem the regime has is that no matter how much they lie about it, the reality remains. They can put the Vegetable on TV to claim all-is-well all they want, but it’s not going to stop the job losses and housing collapse that are coming.
I’ve noticed houses in my neighborhood have stopped selling. For Sale signs have come down and aren’t as numerous. We bought a car last week out of necessity and we could tell from all the dealers we visited that there is a little bit more than the usual desperation as people pull back spending. Restaurants aren’t full. Up in the mountain towns, they’re simply not busy at all (no summer crowds). Several of the towns usually put out a lot of summer decorations, flowers, banners, etc…and this year they’re doing really nothing. You can just feel things slipping away. I would feel bad for the mountain towns, but they were obnoxiously Leftist about masks and terrorizing visitors during COVID, so I’m glad they’re being punished.
The reality of the economy is that which exists after the Government stops lying about it.
Well said. The normal working people do not need those fancy charts and graphs from the Elites to know what the hell is really going on. If people do not go out and vote in HISTORIC numbers this November, then the Country will be gone forever.
This country is already beyond redemption in it’s past existence. People need to stop pretending that voting can change anything and learn how to fight.
Exactly.
“Reality is that which still exists after you stop believing in it.”
There are people out there (libs mostly) that actually believe they can manifest a brighter reality by thinking positive thoughts. Nevermind that their idea of positive might be 180 degrees from my own. This has been one of the points of the subversive campaign that was waged on Western Civ. But no joke, they honestly believe they can conjure up their own reality. Will be interesting to see if they have changed in 6 months. If I could wager a guess it would be yes as they learn that reality “IS” and no amount of wishing or pretend is going to change it.
Being cold and hungry may break the liberals. One may only hope. I can’t wait for the articles telling us how to keep warm when the thermostat is turned down or how to turn a can of tuna fish into a gourmet meal for 4.
Corporate marketing and advertising are good, but if you want to know what something is really worth…take it to a pawn shop. Our economy, like our dollar runs on faith and credit, smoke and mirrors. The smoke is about to clear and the mirrors will break.
Crashing: Atlanta Fed GDP Tracker Plunges to -2.1%
A century in the making and everyone wants to say Biden Biden Biden… The federal government has been building this forever.
Time to stop pretending there is an alternative because there isn’t!
“You stop buying stuff.” And who produces a big, big chunk of the “stuff” that we buy?
China.
Beset with crises in both banking and real estate, China has been using a zero COVID policy to mask the contraction of demand for its goods. As its overseas markets collapse, the punches to China’s urban/industrial economy are going to start coming faster and faster.
Next up?
The invasion of Taiwan, as XI morphs into Galtieri right before our eyes.
Excerpt:
Meta isn’t the only large company to brace itself for an economic downturn.
Amazon said in a leaked memo in May that it would cut hiring targets in its retail business.
Microsoft is also slashing hiring targets, according to an internal June email seen by Insider.
And Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in June that Tesla would cut about 3% of its total workforce over the next three months.
Source:
https://news.yahoo.com/mark-zuckerberg-told-meta-staff-090235785.html
Yet people out there think the DelawareDoofus is doing a great job.
As demand decreases don’t see it making any difference to consumer staples. They are not going to decrease much in price because it is indeed created by supply or lack thereof. I think major assets (stocks, bonds, crypto, Real Estate, etc) are going to take some major hits. I bought some precious metals the other day. I am really just hoping the prices hold or even lose a bit. Any significant increases in price of PM come at a terrible cost. Of course if they go to utter worthless the situation is completely FUBAR. I guess we should listen to the Gold & Silver when they speak. There are excellent ETF Metals Trusts (Sprott & VanEck) where they actually keep gold/silver in vault relative to their number of shares. Stay away from paper only funds like GLD. Those funds have been used to suppress the price of metals over the years. I am very skeptical of the reserves for funds like that. The danger for the trusts is our thieving government might decide to raid those vaults in tumultuous times. Lol and there’s a better than average chance those times are heading our direction.
yeah, they “keep it in a vault”
and promise to pay you
when the SHTF do you think they will?
For everyone who is buying gold for a “safe haven” please remember that there is precedence for the government confiscating gold. Please remember that Rosevelt did this and made it illegal for US citizens to own gold during the Great Depression. People were ordered to turn in their gold to the government in exchange for pennies on the dollar. Much of the record of this historic action has been removed from the internet, but you can still find it. Just say’in.
They never really confiscated it to my knowledge. They threatened but in those days only way to catch it was to witness a large transaction. It’s same as cash in the idea you have it in your hand. You can do whatever you please with it. I will move it out of the house quickly. Hell think of pirates lol. Maybe they buried it to keep from the governments (funny) of course they did. If you are going to do crypto make sure you have your own wallet…..PERIOD. The reason to buy both is to gain assets outside the system. NEVER trade for liquidity unless it makes sense. I am pulling for like minded people thru this. If you can’t that’s ok. But for those who can you must and we will help those like us however we may. They’ll help us.
Financial Markets Report Worst Opening In Fifty Years
https://yournews.com/2022/07/01/2370665/financial-markets-report-worst-opening-in-fifty-years/
Local paper here just announcing natural gas supplier to raise costs 40 percent. Article states average bill to increase $38 per month. FJB
Makes you want to sell cocaine or traffic humans just to make ends meet.
Just remember to send 10% to the Big Guy and your business will be left alone to prosper.
Yeah, and too old to stand on a street corner.
Just heard on the radio 30 minute news break….
”The US may be heading towards a recession”
This is a networked/corp radio station, same as every one hears.
But that was the headline.
We “may” be heading towards recession, even though technically it is a recession.
The propaganda is non-stop. Of course we are already in a recession. Next up, a bona fide depression. If this doesn’t give the citizens a clue to who they need to elect in November, nothing will. Then it’s truly bye bye USA and all she stood for.
Doesn’t matter who is elected. The CAT is out of the bag. Brace for impact!!
Yep and this is the loss of reserve currency status, not just a regular recession cycle. What will we buy with when the dollar is unwanted? It is no longer needed to buy oil anywhere. Sanctions vs Russia back fired BIGLY!
I drove by car dealerships today, no new vehicles, lots of asphalt with a few used vehicles scattered around. Good beer is 11 dollars a sixer. They are printing money like crazy, they are restricting oil. Roadside and grocery economics paint an obvious picture that the imbeciles at the Fed shield their eyes from. Imagine if you were on Wall Street and in on the fix. They are short. This is a massive pump and dump operation. Then they crash the market, then use the profits From closing the shorts to buy up everything on the cheap. They cannot possible be as terrible at monetary policy as they appear.
“Imagine if you were on Wall Street and in on the fix. They are short.”
Truer words never spoken
I BET they are
German Chancellor: We’re Now Making ‘Real Investments’ in ‘Pipelines’
Fed Chairman Powell blames unvaccinated for inflation:
“What did we get wrong? — Believing everyone would get vaccinated and the millions of people who dropped out of the labor force would come back and the wages wouldn’t be under such pressure.”
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/fed-chairman-blames-inflation-on-the-unvaccinated/
You just cannot make this sh¡t up.
You really can’t. I’m unvaccinated kept working and paying my taxes. Two words for juvenile Jerome eff &%!
This is beyond belief. It is beyond rationale thinking. Duh! Because it is – it is NWO WEF propaganda. Hard to believe they’re still pushing/blaming the faux vax for the problems…. Wake the eff up citizens!
I just spent 4 days down Ocean City MD. The stores, restaurants and hotels were so understaffed that it was a topic talked about by beach goers. People were complaining about wait times using this same excuse as to why no one wants to work. It may be true it may not be true. Who’s to say what is or isn’t someone’s reason for working or not working.
Back in the day when I graduated high school 1983. Summer jobs down the beach were a rite of passage for many young people. I worked two jobs that summer. Not now. I don’t like it, but I see why so many seasonal jobs are going to the seasonal visas.
So, in this tool’s mind the fault lies with the people who refused to be forced to take a vaccine and were either treated to an hostile work environment (and then quit) or were fired for refusing to comply. Really, this guy believes that should government imposes their will on you and then punishes you for not allowing them to impose their will on you then it is your fault for the outcome. Who would go back to an abusive situation? I left my career of 40 years due to being a second class employee at my job. Vaccinated vs unvaccinated. I hate these people.
You should have stuck it out as long as possible, unless you are financially set.
They lie because the media allows them to lie.
38:48 WHAT MAKES THE DOLLAR THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY (since 1974)??In February 1965, French President Charles de Gaulle announced his intention to exchange its U.S. dollar reserves for gold at the official exchange rate. He sent the French Navy across the Atlantic to pick up the French reserve of gold and was followed by several countries. As it resulted in considerably reducing U.S. gold stock and U.S. economic influence, it led U.S. President Richard Nixon to end the convertibility of the dollar to gold on August 15, 1971. This was meant to be a temporary measure but the dollar became permanently a floating fiat money and in October 1976, the U.S. government officially changed the definition of the dollar; references to gold were removed from statutes. (“The 8300 or so metric tons of gold that we hold supposedly in Fort Knox–which has never been audited since 1956– is supposedly the largest stockpile of gold in the world. Alasdair Macleod surmises that China has over 38,000 metric tons of gold.”) Three years after 1971, Henry Kissinger went to Saudi Arabia and offered them our military protection in exchange for them–through OPEC–forcing the entire world to buy and sell oil denominated in U.S. DOLLARS (petrodollars)!
SEPTEMBER, 2021: The day AFTER the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, RUSSIA made a joint military cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia!! The day after that they announced the same thing with Nigeria!! The day after that they announced that all their nuclear submarines are outfitted with hypersonic ICBMs. (We don’t have that technology yet, but China does.) And now, for the first time since 1974, an OPEC-producing country (NIGERIA) is selling oil to China in YUAN. (On March 26, 2018, the Chinese government issued the first long-term oil trading contracts denominated in Petroyuans.)
BRICS
Excellent video. Great summary of the dollar’s path from good as gold to this year’s Russia sanctions and other actions.
Good explanation of what it means to you. Just matter of fact, no Alex Jones type stuff (even if correct, always over the top).
Thank you! Yes–excellent interview, the man knows his stuff. “Good explanation of what it means to you” — I think you meant you could tell that I wrote all the stuff as my summary of the video (which I did). I had to play it a second time and take notes. I didn’t think the people I send stuff to would necessarily watch it, but I wanted to make sure they had at least some of this information! I agree about Alex Jones–I’ve hardly ever watched his videos or followed him and your reason is so well-stated: “even if correct, always over the top”.
I sent a follow-up to the same people of this “massive implications” article from Sundance right afterwards – https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/07/02/massive-implications-saudi-arabia-in-discussion-to-join-brics-coalition-the-outcome-would-be-global-energy-and-economic-cleaving/
I got a couple of responses from some very smart people saying they’re not worried!! WHAT? How could they NOT be?? (I’m not sure either of them watched the video though.) Oh well, I guess there is not much we can do anyway. But I’m scared. I never actually knew much about why we got off the gold standard (I was about 26) or that Kissinger had made a deal with the Saudi’s. (No wonder Bush treated them so well.) Our future is in their hands now. And the Fifth Column in this country who’ve played the very long game are STILL at it! I won’t say here what should happen to them.
God bless America and enjoy the remaining days of Independence!
Milton Friedman – Understanding Inflation
The professor provides an explanation of the origins of money as well as the cause and cure for inflation.
Liberal World Order ?
Enough of this Ukraine propaganda. Seems like we are paying the illegitimate Zelensky in order to keep him silent on the Biden Family’s crimes there.
What is Biden’s end game for the Ukraine?
Ukraine Leaders; Thank you America…keep it coming!
High-Ranking Ukrainian Officials Caught Splurging On Luxury Real Estate In Switzerland
https://newspunch.com/high-ranking-ukrainian-officials-caught-splurging-on-luxury-real-estate-in-switzerland/
BIG mistake made by the destroyers of all that is good in America. They prominently gave their policies a name–the Liberal World Order.
It has always been a vague, incoherent, dystopian collection of objectives…but now it has a name, and that name needs to be mocked and ridiculed mercilessly. Inflation, stupid energy policy, wokeism, multi-pronoun, drag queen-promoting transgenderism, open borders, defunding the police…everything that is bad and stupid needs to be associated with the Liberal World Order.
Release the hounds, the memes, the puns, the screeds…verbally carpet bomb the Liberal World Order until it is completely and utterly despised.
“Infuriating does not adequately describe my sentiments toward these intentional liars.” Sundance
Anyone, who at this point, is not taking prudent action to get through what could turn out to be the worse economic downturn in this century is just plain brain-dead.
Today the NIH, under Fauci, admited they funded the “Gain of Function” research into the Wuhan lab virus. The United States of America actually paid to develop this deadly biological weapon. We, the tax payers, are the devlopers of this weapon. It’s called ‘DEMOCIDE’.
Someday, when the fools who lined up for these vaccines realize what their government did to them there will be a massive and violent uprising. Interestingly, this will come from the vaccinated NOT the un-vaccinated. The killing and maiming of family members will not play out well for Anthony Fauci, the CDC and the FDA.
Many would do well to adapt the principle of the grey man to everyday activities.
There is a certain value in possessing a measure of anonymity.
I don’t know if these brain dead libs will ever wake up. I went to a comedy show in the city and there was one… count it one person with N95 mask on sitting in the front row. WTF why go out? These people are mentally ill.
The real comedy was sitting in the front row. Many Americans ARE the joke!
Because of world wide weakness the US dollar has been gaining strength against other currencies. This is raising havoc with countries who do business with the US and are trying to pay for goods and services with their own devalued currency.
Amazingly, the Russian ruble has been the fastest growing go-to currency for many countries doing trade with Russia. Countries that want Russian energy must pay in rubles. China, India, Brazil all are cooperating.
Something has got to give. The American left has crated a totally and utterly failed economic scenario for the US. This is a train wreck…..
And Americans are not allowed to trade it. The ruble is doing really well.
Wall Street makes money when people sell or buy. Ding ding they could care less about your 401k and IRA. You will sell and buy another thing they sell.
The Elites are in Control…they have the Money—–Stop Buying…….make your own
Inflation is really just a hidden tax. When viewed thusly it becomes obvious that when you jack up taxes on people, they have less money to spend and the economy contracts because government needs a bigger slice of the pie and that always kills economic activity since the multiplier effect of government spending is always less than one, often substantially so. It simply gets redistributed, often to friends and family. The important thing to those inhabiting the swamp is that this cash flow continues because it is also the source of their campaign funds and junkets and all the legal built in corruption besides the illegal stuff like ol Joe is so fond of. It funds gigantic bureaucracies filled with loyal party members doing mostly worthless stuff and being overpaid for it. Why else does one get into politics? Nancy D’Alessandro learned it from her father’s knee. Now, it’s all completely beyond her control but she probably only has a few ice cream eating years left anyhow. She was the boss of the country whenever a republican was in the oval office and usually part of a tag team when one of her own held the chair. She just made a trip to the Vatican to get communion from the Pope to apparently try to make a point to her own archbishop. The boss says it’s okay, ya hear.
I am a newbie to this site.
Can someone send me a link describing the Build Back Better relationship to increasing inflation.
Thanks
Back in 55 we were making THUNDERBIRDS
WE were strong and proud now your lucky if you work !
The parasitic nature of leftist politicians owned by the wealthy elites are the cause of our nations failure !
Their time to answer for their crimes of treason and Plandemic murder is coming
But I wouldn’t hold my breath , there are thousands of ways to make it worse for Americans !
The Jan 6 trials are merely a starting point for these parasites
I have been amused by the expert claims regarding the demand.
I am a suburban female and while I am cheap (my friends say I am so tight my money squeaks), I do know shoppers and shopping. Among my friends, are people who would walk into TJ Maxx and drop $2000 on a miniature purse after buying a similar one the day before.
My observation is those days are gone; no one is buying much of anything. Not in the West and not in the East, with the exception of people who are hoarding food or other items or building gardens.
Even at the grocery store, I see mostly half empty carts, and sadly, as much liquor as food.
All of this has to affect demand. Who is buying large appliances? Computers? New iphones? You have to have somewhere to go and people to see you to be interested in styling. If you work from home to whom do you show off your latest gizmo?
Personally, I took inventory and realized I used a large number of different products that might not be necessary. With the cost of gas going up, I decided to make up the difference by eliminating products. Can I live without them? Can I make them at home? Can I dilute them and make them last longer?
I followed Sundance’s recipe and have made my own laundry detergent (its great). I bought dryer balls so no more dryer sheets (at$9 per box are they kidding?). I made my own face cream and lotion from recipes I found online. I am eliminating and diluting dish liquid, hair conditioner, and a lot of makeup. I have taught myself how to cut hair (from online videos- I bought an expensive scissor and practiced on my husband until I got it right. Now I am branching out and doing others.
So, of course demand is down. People all over the country are doing similar things and more. We are in recession and spiraling towards depression no matter how they play with the numbers.