Is $4 milk and $3.60 gasoline affecting the way you spend money? For a lot of Americans, the answer is yes. Here is an excerpt from the International Herald Tribune.
In March, Americans spent less on women’s clothing (down 4.9 percent), furniture (3.1 percent), luxury goods (1.3 percent) and airline tickets (1.1 percent) compared with a year ago, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, a service of the credit card company that measures spending on 300 million of its cards and estimates purchases with other cards, cash and checks.
Wal-Mart reports stronger-than-usual sales of peanut butter and spaghetti, while restaurants like Domino’s Pizza and Ruby Tuesday have suffered a falloff in orders, suggesting that many Americans are sticking to low-cost, home-cooked meals.
Over the past year, purchases of brand name cookies and crackers have fallen, according to Information Resources, which tracks retail sales.
Sales of Nabisco graham crackers have dropped 7.5 percent, and Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies have slipped by 12.3 percent. Not even beer is immune. Sales of inexpensive domestic beers, like Keystone Light, are up; sales of higher-price imports, like Corona Extra, are down, the firm said.
While there is some debate over whether the U.S. has entered a recession or not, there is no debate that our economy is slowing way, way down. My advice is to invest your money where the economies are booming…not shrinking. That is across the Pacific Ocean.
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