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Chart of the day: Consumers are buying and buying and buying

Published on 9 Comments on Chart of the day: Consumers are buying and buying and buying

Here's yet another indication of how energetic the economy is right now:

Retail sales are so strong that they've not only made up the decline from the pandemic, they've made up the decline from the entire housing bubble. We may be "missing" 5 or 9 or 10 million workers, and supply chain problems may be restricting the supply of goods, but that sure hasn't stopped consumers from buying stuff.

9 thoughts on “Chart of the day: Consumers are buying and buying and buying”

  1. Doctor Jay

    This is what happens when fiscal and monetary policy are lined up to keep things running. When the other issues resolve, we will need a lot of tightening on both sides. The Fed will be only too glad to tighten, I think. But there's going to be a lot of pain on the fiscal side. Neither tax cuts nor big spending programs are gonna be welcome. Seems like a perfect moment for a divided government.

  2. Salamander

    Ah, still trying to cheer us up with actual data! Ya can't buck The Narrative, though: Everything is bad and getting worse.

  3. KenSchulz

    So people are working less/have more leisure, and are acquiring more stuff. So why is everybody so damn grouchy?
    TechRadar headline: “Microsoft angers Windows 11 users because of… emojis?”

  4. philipkoop

    You can use "retail sales" to proxy "the economy" when all else is equal. But the whole point is that all else is not equal! In particular spending has shifted from services to goods, since the latter are easier to deliver from Amazon. That still leaves a pretty big hole in the economy!

  5. rick_jones

    Retail sales are so strong that they've not only made up the decline from the pandemic, they've made up the decline from the entire housing bubble.

    Made up implies it’s has made up the area under the curve rather than simply returning to the trend line.
    That said, is returning to a time described as a bubble really a good thing?? Perhaps there has been a succumbing to irrational exuberance in the pundit world after all …

  6. Dana Decker

    If there's inflation, then retail sales as dollar amounts will rise sharply. What are retail sales in terms of number of items purchased?

  7. KenSchulz

    Ah, good point. Sales computed in ‘constant’ (inflation-adjusted) dollars should be close approximation. Though the Covid-19 market basket is undoubtedly different from the pre-pandemic one.

  8. golack

    And this is going on with out a large increase in housing. Right???
    KenShultz makes a great point. Vacation travel out--so more money spent at home?

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