Bob Fraser says consumer spending is booming, not collapsing as media suggests. Retail sales are 30% above pre-pandemic trend levels since 2020. He cites Federal Reserve data and everyday signs like packed airports and Amazon activity to show the economy is stronger than headlines claim.
headlines are saying right now in the media of all the consumers in, you know, bad shape, everything's getting really bad. And, you know, rates of change are maybe declining a little bit, but this is very, very shocking. And just as a point, I'm not inventing these stats. This is all from the Federal Reserve. This is all the data I use is from the Federal Reserve economic data. So this is not, you know, stuff I'm inventing, just FYI. Consumer spending. Now, this is a shocker. Here we are supposedly in recession or going to be or something, right? This is retail sales. Look at this. Here's the trend from 2010 and just trending up, up, up, up, up, up, up and away. And then since COVID it's up 30% off its uptrend, above its uptrend. I mean, people are spending like crazy. If you've gone shopping at Amazon, you, you try to go to an airport, you know, it's just nuts what is happening right now.
