Going For Broke

Might as well have a helluva Christmas. AP (12.21.07), via FirstDraft:

"Consumers put aside worries about slumping home sales and soaring gasoline prices and headed to the malls in November, pushing spending up by the largest amount in 3 1/2 years."

Consumer Spending Surges in November

Where did the money come from? Not income. That was down. Again. "After-tax incomes were up 0.3 percent in November, but after adjusting for inflation, incomes actually fell by 0.3 percent — on top of a 0.2 percent drop in October."

Ahhh! Here's how they did it. They financed it!! "With spending rising at a faster rate than savings, the nation's savings rate dipped into negative territory in November at 0.5 percent, the first negative savings rate in 15 months. That meant that households spent all of their incomes and either dipped into savings or borrowed to finance high spending last month."