From Floyd Norris in NYT last Friday:
Have you been eating more at restaurants with waiters rather than fast-food joints? If so, you are not alone, and that in fact is an indication that the American economy is improving.
Over the 12 months through January, sales at what the government calls full-service restaurants were 8.7 percent higher than in the previous 12 months. That was the fastest pace of growth since the late 1990s, when the economy was booming. Moreover, as is seen in the chart above, that rate was much greater than the rate of growth in sales at limited-service restaurants.
Since those numbers became available 20 years ago, that difference has been a reliable indicator of how the economy is going. In tough times, people may still eat out, but they cut back.The manipulated boom continues to spread throughout the economy. I have noticed others who are finally catching on to the turnaround, but they all fail to acknowledge the Fed's primary role in the turnaround and they have no clue as to the price inflation acceleration that is about to occur.
(htMarkPerry)
...or it could just be the unprecedented good weather making people horny i mean hungry.
ReplyDeleteI imagine People not paying their mortgages might have some effect? Frees up some disposable income.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my mailbox has been flooded lately with zero interest rate credit cards, suppose everyone else's has too? Whoo-hoo, party time! Like it was 1999!