Bushonomics 1
Making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Must be nice to one of the five . . .
But the second source is the bigger story, and it is, of course, borrowing. As incomes stagnated for many yet consumption soared, we made up the difference with borrowing. Household debt, including mortgages, just about doubled in seven short years (2000-07), from $7.4 trillion to $14.4 trillion.
But not to be a working stiff . . .
For some, there is even a growing recognition that American consumers have been living too large, spending too fast, borrowing too much. Whether today’s circumstantial thriftiness gives rise to a more frugal culture remains to be seen, but some experts hope the current crisis will at least encourage more rational spending habits.
“In past years, we’ve seen people talking the talk, but now they’re walking the walk,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research.
It’s certainly achieving it for the time being. A study of middle-class Americans last month by the Pew Foundation found that more than half have had to reduce their spending in the past year. A quarter expect to have trouble paying bills. Within the course of the past year, heating oil has leapt more than 50 percent nationally, and gasoline is up 25 percent.
(snip)
In just a year, prices of many kitchen essentials have seen double-digit price spikes, including flour (18.3 percent), bread (14.1), eggs (30.5) and milk (13.5).
October 7, 2010 at 1:14 pm
i’m quite new to book marketing and i don’t have any experience about it,.~