So I was at the grocer's today and [View all]

although a week ago some beef prices had moderated they were back up to nearly the high of the year. Maybe price gouging for the holidays. I still saw few people around the meat case and the few that were just stared and weren't picking anything into their carts. When the public moves to belt tightening it is not something that changes back with a snap of the fingers and a "sale" or two.

I think people are well aware of the other costs in their lives going up. No amount of "creative" GDP or other numbers or proclamations from the fascists of price reductions that in the end are more aspirational than immediate are going to turn the herd back to spending as freely as before. Those of us who have lived through the general American public going into a belt tightening several times before know how this goes.

The bottom line is that people know what the ink on the paycheck says and elusive claims of "lower costs" down the road don't do squat to change that ink or the ink on the bills to be paid. Another one of the old tried and true signals of general belt tightening is when you see more and more vehicles sitting on front lawns and other areas with "For Sale" signs on them. I've seen that ramping up for the last few months. People are selling that 2nd or 3rd car. Getting rid of them not only brings in some cash but it also lowers costs for the household going forward.

We need to keep an eye on the foreclosure numbers, repo numbers, late credit card payment numbers, bankruptcies etc. The idea that the fascists are pushing the idea of a 50 year mortgage tells you how screwed up real estate valuations are compared to incomes. Good grief I remember when I first bought a house and most mortgages were 20 and 25 year and a healthy amount were 15 year. We have the same issues with vehicles. Pricing so out of whack to incomes that people are talking about pushing 10 year loans and more.

All of that is just digging the hole deeper. As most of us can attest there are many things that can happen to earning capacity, job availability, family health etc. and household income over a 10 year period let alone 50 years.

The hole is bad enough. Let's stop digging.