US consumers keep buying, and incomes are rising.

[Swamp Fox]

Hmm, so consumers are buying, eh? That must mean they're not afraid of the future.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050802.wusecon0802/BNStory/Business/

And look ...

Incomes, the fuel for future spending, grew at a nice clip of 0.5 per cent in June, better than the 0.2 per cent gain registered in the previous month. The pickup in income growth dovetailed with an improvement in the jobs climate in June, when the unemployment rate fell to 5 per cent, a nearly four-year low.

Incomes are rising, just as unemployment is falling.

I guess free trade hasn't destroyed America after all. :cool:

[jimeez]

But unfortunately, we're not saving any money.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The savings of U.S. consumers are:

a) at the lowest rate since the Depression.

b) at peaks not seen even during the stock market boom of the late 1990s.

c) all of the above.

If you're wondering how "all of the above" could be the correct answer -- and it is -- walk outside your front door and look around.


Even as a government report Tuesday showed the national savings rate at zero -- that's right nada -- the rise in the value of homes has given the average U.S. household a net worth of greater than $400,000, according to a separate report from the Federal Reserve.

http://tinyurl.com/dr4e8

[Copzilla]

I was listening to Money Talk two days ago, and the numbers on the average income vs. the inflation rate was a 2.4% rise of wages and a 2.5% rise in inflation, and this INCLUDES the price of energy/gas. Basically a wash. We're not getting poorer, we're not getting richer. The economy is just plodding right along.

[Swamp Fox]

Copzilla - do you have the link for that Money Talk program? A wash is better than falling behind, though I think the world is productive enough so that real incomes should rise everywhere over time, as it has been.

[Copzilla]

Sure, the host is Bob Brinker. http://www.bobbrinker.com/

Now his politics leans left, although he claims he's a centrist, I've heard him pop off some stupid biased stuff against conservatives - like blaming the imminent domain issue on the SC right wingers. But his money advice and economics advice are pretty solid, and he's not an A-typical left winger with doom and gloom economic predictions. He says there's a lot of indications everything is just fine, with hiccups here and there, but strong enough.