Some people are buying items at inflated prices before the supply chain issues creep up in the lead up to the Holidays. Much of the rise resulted from the food, gas, and used automobiles sharply jumping.
I don't like how some media outlets are spinning it as if people are consuming more products, and I suspect that the top 25% of Americans are spending most of the money.
The Consumer Sentiment index has fallen to it's lowest level of the past decade, and standard of living has dropped for many Americans.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-up-umich-consumer-sentiment-survey-11637765079“Consumers expressed less optimism in the November 2021 survey than any other time in the past decade about prospects for their own finances as well as for the overall economy,” Richard Curtin, chief economist for the UMich survey said in the report. “The decline was due to a combination of rapidly escalating inflation combined with the absence of federal policies that would effectively redress the inflationary damage to household budgets.”
We're heading towards a recession.
