This will be an incredibly expensive Christmas. Shoppers don’t care
That means 2021 will be among the most expensive holiday shopping seasons ever. But shoppers aren’t holding back just yet. Companies are confident you’ll keep paying higher prices, especially during the holidays. They’d better be right: If consumers get sticker shock and decide to pull back spending, the US economy could be in big trouble.Despite a global supply chain crisis, a resurgence of Covid cases and high inflation, America’s economy remains in pretty decent shape. Consumers aren’t spending as much as they did in the spring, when they still had gobs of money to blow from their stimulus checks, but they continue to open up their wallets — albeit for some smaller purchases.
Consumer spending rose a healthy 0.6% in September after growing 1% in August, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. But the report came with some red flags: Large, durable goods purchases (think cars and appliances) were down 0.2%, while…
