Data for Thanksgiving weekend shows consumers shopped at encouraging levels, but underlying details about spending patterns suggest this may not have been the economic boon the administration believes.
According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. consumers spent $6.4 billion on Thanksgiving Day and $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, both record highs and up significantly compared to last year.
But Salesforce data, cited by Forbes, found that order volume fell by about 1% year over year, while average selling prices were up 7%—indicating that much of the growth was caused by inflation rather than any uptick in shopping enthusiasm.
So, creative accounting huh?
I’ve seen posts about buy now pay later services showing up on rent and utility sites. Creative must be a new word for ignoring the sinking ship.
We don’t have hoovervilles right now because most cities are hiding them or destroying them. The economy is effectively (increasingly) running on “off the books” credit while credit usage and defaults are running away.
If this were an old kung fu movie this is the part where you would hear “youre already dead”