Crunch time?

Quiddity predicts downturn in consumer purchases. I'm inclined to agree, what with rising credit card minimums, and increasing food costs, and higher gasoline prices:

For people just getting by, this triple whammy (min payments, gas, food) will cause a lot of distress. Will it result in a significant downturn in consumer purchases? We think it will.

And yet, amid all aridity and disillusionment, I'm profoundly grateful that my drinking water remains free of worms and that my electricity is still on. If only the citizens of Baghdad were so fortunate.

Comments

[quisp]

Speaking of drinking water, I just got a hand-delivered message from the Los Angeles DWP telling me it is now no longer necessary to boil all drinking water, as the emergency is now over. Unfortunately, this was the first my neighbors or I had heard of it. (sink hole blah blah water main blah blah, I guess it was on the news...)

[Mandos]

This is not so bad. People buy too much in the US.

[pansauce]

This is not so bad. People buy too much in the US.

Having been without a job for two months, about to loose my car, and eating little more than potatos or beans and rice; I think you can eat my fucking shorts.

[Bob Koepp]

pansauce -
Perhaps you should consider eating your own shorts to introduce some variety to the potatos or beans and rice ;-)
Mandos' comment, framed at an appropriate level of generality, is absolutely on the mark. I sincerely wish you good luck in finding a means of support. And I won't assume that you have lived lavishly, or on credit -- as do far, far too many americans.

[pansauce]

When the economy tanks, it's not the people with a half-million dollar house and matching SUVs who are the first to suffer, it's those who are already living near the margins.

[mudkitty]

Anyone who thinks inflation isn't on the rise hasn't been to the grocery store in the last year or so.

[mercure160]

Crunch time is likely to come when short term rates move above long term rates. Bank lending becomes unprofitable for banks.