People Don’t Have Any Money

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Consumer spending continues to suck:

Most stores reported significant declines — with the worst coming from chains that specialize in teenage clothing and gear.

Over all, the industry posted a 2.9 percent sales decline compared with a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters, making August the 12th consecutive month of negative growth. The August decline comes on top of a 5 percent drop in July.

Despite signs that the economy is stabilizing, consumers remain reluctant to spend. That does not augur for a good holiday shopping season, a crucial time for retailers. As analysts at AT Kearney noted in a recent back-to-school report: “thrift is settling in as a habit for consumers across the board.”

Look: thrift is not “settling in as a habit.”  People are spending less because they don’t have any money.  Some are unemployed.  Some have had their hours cut.  Some are paying down credit card balances.  Some are desperately trying to make ends meet after their ARMs reset.  Some are paying off home equity loans they thought they’d be able to refinance forever.  Habit has nothing to do with it.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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