Largest Drop in US Retail Sales In 2 Years

[uponit7771]

Remember people, the inflation rate went **UP** .5% for Jan at the same time the consumer spending fell 1%

If February shows ANYTHING close to Jan we're proper fucked ... look at the comments in the vid ... people are waking up and not spending

People are going out with friends and family to non corp bars etc ... Some Florida Uber drivers are reporting Covid like vacancy in travel (anecdote)

[Baitball Blogger]

1. The boycotts haven't even started.

[uponit7771]

2. RIGHT !!! and neither have the 10% tariff on Chinese imports. We have another 2 weeks of M$M telling people are losing

... fed jobs in February too.

We know we're saving like no tomorrow ... things are going to get rough

[Johonny]

3. Companies are laying off all around me

And if the Pentagon gets an 8 percent cut, look out below!

[newdeal2]

5. All of the research and construction in limbo due to the idiot's chaos

Plus state governments are also starting to cut back spending to balance their own budgets as things like COVID stimulus wind down.

Things are going to slow down significantly.

[pinkstarburst]

43. Boycotts have started, and they're impacting the wrong people

in many cases. A lot of the random calls to boycott this or that on social media are having impacts that aren't really hurting billionaires at all. Musk, Bezos, Zuck are all rich as sin. In many cases, the boycotts are actually hurting small business owners and independents who sell on Amazon (small indie authors, for example, who are being hurt by the boycott of kindle unlimited and audible.)

[usonian]

4. Daily tally of economic disasters, in Economy Forum

https://www.democraticunderground.com/111699331

It's going to hit magats real hard.

If you care to remind them how much, FAFO flags.
Make nice calling cards to leave behind.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219770873

Please give them a kick. (magats and my posts)

[uponit7771]

7. Thx, didn't know this forum existed ..

[usonian]

10. I also posted about the planned boycott of sales on Feb 28.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/13242032

The wrecking crew is doing plenty of damage on its own.

This may bring things into closer focus (so that the media can't ignore it)

[PortTack]

6. Sad...not sad....the gqp and their oligarch friends need to brought to their knees.

[elocs]

32. And if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. n/t

[dalton99a]

8. And Elon Musk is singlehandedly adding tens of thousands of government employees to the unemployment roll

[Demobrat]

14. They won't be counted

Count on it.

[Rebl2]

21. It will

be felt in cities that have large numbers of government employees like where I live. It will be reported on by the local news stations I believe. Unemployment numbers will rise sharply and it’s not reported by federal government, it will be reported on locally. When there are large layoffs in my state, the employers have to be reported to our state government.

[Demobrat]

23. Oh it will definitely be felt and maybe even reported on locally.

But is the same person who said Covid testing should be halted to keep the numbers down going to stand for real unemployment numbers being disseminated? I don’t see it.

He will “direct” the reporting agency not to include these firings.

[Rebl2]

35. We have a

couple of local stations that are very good about following local layoffs at different businesses in our area. In fact there was one reported just last week. Layoff of 400 people. It wasn’t government jobs. Now I don’t know if the government will report large layoffs or unemployment numbers, but the national media might start reporting on large layoffs in big cities when or if it becomes very obvious large numbers of people are losing their jobs.

[Demobrat]

37. Local layoffs get reported here too. Silicone valley

layoffs in particular. Layoffs that hit private industry will certainly be reported as usual. I’m just skeptical that the civil servants getting laid off by Musk will be included in unemployment figures.

[Rebl2]

42. Probably not

but local news stations will. Locally they have covered federal government employees who have been protesting as well as protests against ICE.

[bdamomma]

44. Ketamine is

rotting his brain. Send him back to South Africa.

[roamer65]

9. Inflation was up due to companies and individuals stocking up before the tariffs hit.

In 2-3 months, we will be talking about deflation…just like they are right now in China and Europe.

[uponit7771]

12. Even with TFGs 10% China tariffs? They were announced beginning of Feb, they haven't really kicked in or has ...

... TFG punked out on those too.

Also, there's the March CA / MX tariffs coming ....

Trump is a walking Dunning Kruger study, I don't trust him to make things worse

[Strelnikov_]

39. What is driving deflation in these countries?

Any macro-economic/finance transients?

Or price slipping down to reflect a structural problem of over production by the under paid, in that the masses cannot afford what is produced. The credit line has maxed out.

If the latter, scary, as this was one of the leading drivers of the Great Depression.

I have been wondering when the dollar will start to tank due to the world losing faith in US macro economic policy. Considering most consumer goods are imported, the dreaded ‘S’ word, Stagflation?

[W_HAMILTON]

41. Please cite your source re: businesses stocking up on inventory in advance of expected tariffs.

Because inventories were not up during 2024 Q4 and January 2025's numbers haven't been released yet.

My source: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/business-inventories#:~:text=Year%2Don%2Dyear%2C%20business%20inventories%20advanced%20by%202%25.,-2025%2D02%2D14&text=U.S.%20business%20inventories%20rose%20by,October%20and%20matching%20market%20expectations.

[A Brand New World]

11. I know we are cutting back. Just buying the necessities.

We don’t like where the country is heading and want to conserve our cash. We planned on residing our house this spring but that is on a definite hold and may never happen.

[SWBTATTReg]

17. A lot of us have cut back. I won't spend money in this tRUMP admin. No way. I'm not going to support this POS

and his crap. All of his crap. And I wonder how long will it take the pissant to realize this? Or, is he still locked into some twilight zone that he alone, lives in?

[Baron2024]

13. Will MAGA Revolt?

Will MAGA rank and file revolt when the economy craters? Or are they just so dumb they have not realized what they voted for? A small billionaire class and tech elite and the rest of us as wage slaves or dead?

[stage left]

15. Maga is

revolting already. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Baron2024]

16. We Need More Laughs

It is mostly gallows humor these days though.

[MissouriDem47]

18. When The Economy Craters

Trump and Republicans will blame Biden and his Slingblade supporters will believe him.

[Baron2024]

19. Probably

You are probably right. It is the Triumph of Stupidity. These people do not understand their own self interest. It is stunning.

[AZJonnie]

36. The dismantling of public education and the $$$ put into charter schools and homeschooling

that's happened over the past few decades will be a major cause of its inevitable descent into fascist dictatorship

[uponit7771]

20. If Enron telling the to screw their own faces didn't separate them nothing will

[Ken Mosul]

22. The MAGA is a simple being. It will take more.

MUCH more.

[Demobrat]

24. They will never hold Trump accountable

or admit they were suckered. When the economy craters they will blame everyone but him.

[Takket]

25. i made several major purchases before drumpf was sworn is

i'm not paying a 25% tariff for no reason. i won't be making any purchases anytime soon. sticking to essentials.

seriously thinking about cancelling our vacation we planned for may as well. pretty concerned about airline safety and the lack of CDC response to the measles outbreak.

[kimbutgar]

33. Same here brought a new refrigerator and a spare tv for when my older ones dies

I had some reward points on my credit card that I used to get 2 free IPADs as backups. Only will buy what I need and only buy from companies that are blue and still have DEI. And put my September London vacation on hold until I see how things play out.

[surfered]

26. Recessions usually bring inflation down. Maybe laying all this people off was his strategy to reduce inflation

[Lovie777]

27. Americans are starting to only buy...

the essentials. Can’t afford going out to dinner nor sport events.

[Deuxcents]

28. My birthday is next week..mine is the first for the year and my friends and I usually go out for lunch

I’ve asked each of them to reconsider this tradition for a while as we’re all older now, don’t need any trinkets and the best thing to give would be our time with each other. So..we’re having sandwiches at one of my friend’s house and we’re gonna be just fine. We’ll see how things are when a next birthday comes around in April.

[MichMan]

31. I already told the Girl Scouts I won't be buying any cookies

[sakabatou]

29. Welcome to another round of the repuke recession games

[yardwork]

30. I think a lot of people may have counted on Trump "halving prices."

I'm guessing that a lot of Trump voters may have taken on more debt after the election, because they assumed that they would be able to pay off that debt when "prices are halved" and "jobs and housing are plentiful once the illegals are deported and China starts paying those tariffs."

As angry as I am at Trump voters, I'm even angrier with the so-called news media for allowing Trump to tell so many outrageous lies while they fact-checked every little stutter Biden made. Journalism deeply failed the US.

[Danascot]

34. Another factor at work

is that retailers and others in the supply chain have already started to raise prices just because they have the excuse of additional costs due to trumps tariffs and other nonsense. Not that the tariffs won't raise prices. It's that buyers will have the expectation of higher prices so corporations are taking advantage of that environment to raise prices, or raise them higher than necessary, in an environment of rising costs. Prices will go up quickly but will be very resistent to come down.

It's like when inflation was on the rise not long ago but at the same time corporations were raising prices beyond what inflation would cause in order to increase profits.

[alarimer]

38. And all of those newly unemployed Feds will have even less money to spend.

Maybe we should try and tank the economy by only buying essentials from here on out.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

40. Went shopping at Costco yesterday...

Super busy for a Saturday.

I trust Costco will do what it can to keep prices reasonable. The Kirkland Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil I buy has gone up $4 a bottle since the Summer of 2023. I am not complaining. I buy what items I use and not much in snacky stuff. Non-grocery stuff lasts for months.