Any More Good Economic News Like This, And We'll All Be Wearing Pickle Barrels

Or, why you need to read past any headline which purports good economic news:

U.S. consumer spending jumps in August


Sounds good, right?  The recovery must be under way!  Vote Obama, baby  -all is proceeding as He has foreseen!


Actually...no:

The Commerce Department announced a 0.5% growth in consumer spending in August from July, the biggest boost since February, reports The Associated Press. But while that was going on, gas prices were also rising by 50 cents per gallon during that time. If you take into account people digging deeper in wallets for fuel, spending was only up 0.1% last month.

Income grew a tiny bit, by 0.1% as well — which actually turns into a decrease of 0.3% when taking into consideration inflation and taxes. That’s the worst rate it’s been since last November.


The AP(!):

“The US personal income and spending data for August are worse than the headline figures suggest and indicate that subdued jobs growth is hitting incomes,” said [one economist].

Incredibly, the MarketWatch article linked on top suggests that earnings are so low and taxes are so high and the prices of survival staples (food, electricity) are rising so fast that many Americans had to dip into their savings just to be able to afford basic necessities.

Four more years of this type of recovery and, well...you saw my headline, right?