So two days ago was a lie, huh?
(Sigh)
Americans sought out more bargains and cheaper goods in July, leaving the nation's biggest retailers bracing for a painful back-to-school shopping season.
Retail sales reports released yesterday revealed a country that is rapidly ratcheting back its spending habits, and abandoning midtier and discount shopping mall mainstays that were booming a year ago.
"August is going to continue to be tough; I don't think anybody made any bones about that," Todd D. Slater, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, said.
The back-to-school months are traditionally a major selling season for retailers. But Slater predicted that this year, "back to school is not going to happen."
"Most kids will be returning to school in last year's duds," he said.
And that sucks!!!
That used to be one of the best parts of being a kid -- new threads!!!
But then again, we got war looters and state looters to fund, so WTF?
Consumer spending, which has slowed considerably, actually declined in June. The weak labor market, which has played a big role in the cutback in consumer spending, has shown few signs of improvement. The Labor Department said yesterday that new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to their highest level in six years. New applications rose by a seasonally adjusted 7,000 to 455,000 for the week.
