The recent Personal Income and Personal Spending figures provided two broad conclusions about the state of the American Consumer, American income making and spending behavior.
Also Initial Claims Say We’re in Something Deeper than the Tech or Housing Bubbles
First, Americans are still relatively frugal compared to recent past, although, there's some reason to believe that the credit card-financed American consumer may be coming back (or at least less of a savings-first consumer).
Second, taxes are eating into American spending, and by a lot. The tax-take of American income certainly has something to do with the weakness in spending. Taxes are at an all-time high.
Here's a look.
[drizzle]
Personal Income and Personal Spending
The top figure is Personal Income. The bottom is Personal Spending. Outside of...
