“What does it mean when we have booming employment and massive tax cuts….and household buying plans take a deep dive? Here’s what it means — the consumer is debt-strapped and tapped out. Pent-up demand is a relic of the past.”
David Rosenberg
RELIC OF THE PAST
I’m still waiting for the green shoots.
True statement right there!
And everyone has ruined their credit.
NOBODY has disposible income anymore, except maybe those living at the top 1%. Every single cost of ownership for items necessary in today’s “modern” society, like automobiles, insurance, homes/rent, food, medical costs, et al., have exploded to levels never seen before. The next REAL reset will be horrendous, when it happens. ’08 was to the ‘real reset’ as a hand grenade is to a thermonuclear weapon. ‘They’ caught it in ’08, I don’t think they’ll be able to ‘catch’ it next time around, debt is too big and there’s not enough resources, that and I think people are ‘tired’.
Personally, I hope it happens in my lifetime, but it scares me a lot.
How ’bout an obvious and more sensible answer: higher quality products simply last longer, so cars, lawnmowers, washing machines, everything mechanical needs replacing less often. We should be celebrating the increase in quality and the deflationary effect from that. Demand is less ‘pent-up’ partly because great quality items have come down in price and partly due to less frequent replacement.