Timid Shoppers, Inflation Plague Economy

Fed Says Economy Lost Momentum As Shoppers Tightened Belts; Inflation Hits 17-Year High

(CBS/AP)  The economy lost momentum heading into the new year as shoppers tightened their belts and manufacturers were stung by weak demand for cars and housing-related goods.

The Federal Reserve's new snapshot of business conditions around the country, released Wednesday, suggested that the strains from a persistent housing slump and harder-to-get credit are affecting the behavior of individuals and businesses alike - making them more cautious.

The report comes as a recent string of economic indicators - ranging from a plunge in retail sales to a big jump in the unemployment rate - stokes worries that the country is heading for its first recession since 2001.

The Fed report said the economy in fact grew during the survey period - from the middle of November through December - "but at a slower pace" than the previous survey taken during the late fall. Credit problems intensified in December as did troubles in the housing market. That threw Wall Street into a fresh bout of turbulence.

There are growing signs many consumers are in trouble - not just cutting back, but falling behind on payments for credit cards and car loans, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason

"These delinquencies are rising much faster than we had anticipated," Standard & Poor's analyst Frank Braden told Mason.

In August a little more than 6 percent of credit card payments were 60 days overdue, reports Mason. By November, it was more than 7.5 percent - a nearly 20 percent rise in just three months.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a major speech last week, pledged to aggressively cut a key interest rate to prevent all these problems from plunging the economy into a recession.

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Financial guru Ray Martin on how to make your money recession-resistant.

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Many economists now predict the Fed will lower rates by a bold half-percentage point at the end of a two-day meeting on Jan. 30. The Fed started cutting rates in September, the first time in four years; it lowered rates three times last year. However, some critics on Wall Street and elsewhere criticized Bernanke for not taking action sooner and more forcefully.

Bernanke made clear last week that the chances of the economy seriously weakening was the biggest danger, and he sought to send a reassuring message to Wall Street and Main Street that the Fed will do all it can to bolster economic activity.

The recent leap in the nation's unemployment rate from 4.7 percent in November to 5 percent in December, a two-year high, rang a warning bell on the economy. It raised concerns that consumers, whose spending is vital to a healthy economy, would clamp down, sending the economy into a tailspin.

The Fed report observed that "holiday sales were generally disappointing" and pointed to "further weakness in auto sales."

A report, released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, showed that frugal shoppers cut back on their spending by 0.4 percent in December, wrapping up the weakest year for retailers since 2002. The gloomy report fanned fears of a recession and sent Wall Street in a nosedive.

Shoppers turned into penny-pinchers under the strains of a deteriorating job market, high energy bills and a persistent housing slump that has weakened home values and propelled foreclosures to record highs.

Looking ahead, the Fed report said that: "Overall, the outlook for 2008 among retail merchants was cautious."

Meanwhile, the picture of housing remained bleak.

"Residential real-estate conditions continued to be quite weak" in all Fed regions, the survey said. The pace of home sales continued to be sluggish and the inventories of unsold homes "persisted at historically high levels," the Fed found.

Reports on home prices varied. The Dallas Fed region observed that home prices were steady, while the regions of Atlanta, Cleveland, Kansas City, New York and Richmond reported that prices declined. The Boston and San Francisco regions said that changes in home prices were mixed.

Still, "overall contacts anticipate that housing markets will remain weak during the first part of 2008," the Fed survey concluded.

On the manufacturing front, activity varied around the country. But there was one common thread: Factories reported "pronounced weakness" in housing-related industries as well as the automobile industry.

Similarly, demand for construction workers and those in housing-related fields continued to drop, although the market for other types of skilled workers was solid, the Fed noted. "Increases in employment costs were generally described as moderate," the Fed said, suggesting that wages aren't growing so fast as to generate an inflation problem for the economy.

Still, higher costs for energy and food last year pushed inflation up by the largest amount in 17 years.

"Every time when I write a check, I thank God for that one day that I can say I have enough to pay this bill, but then the phone rings and it's a bill collector saying well you didn't pay that bill," Theresa Welsh-Davis of Chicago told CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

Meanwhile, industrial output was flat in December, more evidence of a significant slowdown in the economy.

Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990.

[gkc99]

Nice work Bushits!! Your Chimp in Chief has really flown us into the ground.

Mission accomplished!

[cbville72]

Nice work Bushits!! Your Chimp in Chief has really flown us into the ground.

Mission accomplished!


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Posted by gkc99 at 06:51 PM : Jan 16, 2008


"Shoppers turned into penny-pinchers under the strains of a deteriorating job market, high energy bills and a persistent housing slump that has weakened home values and propelled foreclosures to record highs."

The article explains it pretty well. For a few years now, mrtgage comanies were giving out mortgages to people who should have never gotten approved. They are now paying for it and dragging down the housing market with them. The correction going on now will run its course and hopefully a good lesson is learned from it. Don''t approve lower class citizens who don''t have the credit and/or ability to pay it off. The fact that you are painting this out to be a result of Bush being President speaks more towards your propensity to take any story and twist it to comply with your political beliefs than towards anything factual.
Thank You.

[joesrc1]

people shop most for things they really dont need anyway.So back to basics till we recover then spend again for greeds sake around christmas time.

[mediapreachr]

I have an idea-let''s cut interest rates some more...
That will just do the trick.

[mcv57]

Posted by cbville72 at 07:02 PM

You are so boring and ignorant. You need to go study economics. Don''t blame these spoiled yuppies who have little or no training on managing their income.

Since the birth of the industrial economy everything stem from basicially two things:

-Corporate development (small business has surviving since).
-Energy

From this economic stimuli, the government has created dependency to elements:
-CREDIT
-TRANSPORTATION

Nixon saw no relieve in debt, he took the U.S. off the Gold Standard. Giving banks around the country a license to create finance - CREDIT. You can say this country runs on credit.

The Bushwacker dynasty has exploited the transportation industry by rooting its power with oil corporation and Arab nations. Its part of the New World Order program, daddy Bush promoted.

Honestly folk, the U.S. had the technology for alternative power plants in the last 40 years. The Billionare oil club is not going to allow anyone to invest otherwise.

[standlee5]

Yes we could have had alternative energy if USA genius would have been left to solve the problem. Same with cures for disease. Corporations have stood in the way of progress more times than not.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by cbville72 at 07:02 PM : Jan 16, 2008

One thing that I''ve never heard much about in these economy articles is the fact that so many people are in trouble because they lost their JOBS!

They don''t tell you that! We can''t have people disbelieving Bush when he says unemployment rates are great!!!

This fall I had to lay off 15 employees, only 6 of those employees have been able to be re-employed in a like position. The rest of them are flipping burgers while they they job search. It''s going on three months now! They''re barely holding onto their cars...and praying they don''t get stopped because they had to give up their car insurance. They''re having to move in with others to be able to afford a place to live. And they''re having to apply for food stamps, housing assistance, WIC, and medicaide for health issues.

The government likes to evade the real issue by claiming mortgage fraud, and jiggling interest rates and such. The fact is, the sub-prime loans were a very small portion of the mortgage business.

They''ve outsourced our jobs!!! There''s very little left for the average worker except food service, and call center jobs. You can''t feed a family on those wages!

[joesrc1]

These technologies have been around for at least three decades at least,you don''t run economies of nations on good intentions people like the goodlife,and willing to sacrifice other peoples for it.Humanity for better or most often worse.

[inventagod]

I noticed there are no published reports on how many bought their xmas gifts on the internet...
I probably spent $700 without being assaulted in the malls this year, niiice!

[joyous88]

TAKE BACK YOUR COUNTRY DO NOT SPEND MONEY.

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING EXTRA UNTIL THE CHIMP BUSH IS GONE.

THE MONEY IS ALL THEY CARE ABOUT.

NATIONAL STRIKE!

[realtalk5950]

Some people would have had move money for shopping if they didn''t spend it all filling up their giant SUV''s....but then again, they did choose to buy that pile of cr*p.

[jerr11]

In the meantime, we continue to flush 2.5 BILLION A WEEK down that ******** Iraq.

Halliburton''s profits going through the roof!!

This war''s been great for the neocons but not the rest of us!

[antizion]

Timid Shoppers, Inflation Plague Economy

Yeah right... Blame the victim. A multi trillion dollar war and a capitol full of war profiteers are what plague the US economy.

[micma-2009]

This is clearly a problem of the rich not having enough money in their pockets. Just elect a Republican as President and he''ll lower their taxes and borrow the money from China to pay for it.

[smirk5]

The economy is fine. Bush Jr. and his buddy McCain told me so.

[rfcnj68]

Buy a bike, walk,carpool, take the bus or subway all ways to save on using fosil fuels. And heres a big one BRING OUR TROOPS HOME AND LET THE FLEAS IN THE SAND KILL EACH OTHER. Everyone beats up Clinton from for what he did in office you know, had a nice reserve builtup, lower taxes, good economy, yeah all the bad stuff you remember. Elect Obama and you will have another 4 years of Bush polictics and this country being owned by everyone else.

Solutions: RUN FOR OFFICE AND DO A BETTER JOB THEN WHAT IS IN THERE NOW AND QUIT BELLYACHEN.

[frb01]

I own a retail store, Christmas was awful in terms of sales. Gas is up almost a dollar a gallon from last year, food has risen, health insurance cost is up 40%, home heating is up. Wages are flat for middle class people so that adds up to falling sales. The recession is already.

[ssm9451]

Sure, consumer spending is down. America citizens do not have the money any more.

[pugster]

You know, I am kind of glad that Bush got re-elected. Bush''s borrow and spend economic policy will ignite the economy and put the economy to its fiery halt.

[incog-nito]

Of course it''s the people''s fault once again, for not spending themselves even deeper into debt. Gas prices, declining wages, soaring health care and other costs, etc., etc. have nothing to do with it.

[bm6005]

This is the fault of ALL of our gov''t officials. Repubs, Demos, Indies, CONgress, Bushit''s administration. It''s time to clean house. Vote out ALL incumbents. It''s time to introduce the arrogant B*stards to the unemployment line. These Bozo''s can''t fix jackshit of our tough problems yet yesterday they saw fit to lecture baseball officials for not doing anything about steroids! I could give a S H I T about baseball and steroids. Fix the disappearance of our mfg base you frickin'' IDIOTS!!!!!

[walt1944-2009]

The Federal Reserve is blaming the slowdown in the economy (in other words, RECESSION), on the average consumer not spending the money to keep the economy going!

Of course, the fact that consumers DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO SPEND, apparently is not a factor in their assesstment. Also, neither does the fact that prices on EVERYTHING have shot up so quickly and and so high that no one but the wealthy can afford them, seems to enter into their neocon economic method either.

Another factor that the Fed refuses to accept, is that companies have become GREEDY, thanks to the monopolies that the Great Emperor Bush II has helped create. Lastly, NONE of the excess wealth in the wealthy class has "trickled down" and been spent here. With the dollar as weak as it is, billionares can get more for their money overseas than spending it here.

So, the result: INFLATION AN RECESSION!!!!!

And the government is blaming US for it!!!!!!!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!

[bozworth4]

To cbville72,
A country is only as good as it''s leader. Its people are only as good as their enviroment. And last but not least, thanks to the minimum wage hike the government can collect more taxes, while the wages went up so did everything else including taxes. Don''t think we have any options about not paying them. But hostilities are over.

[ontheleft]

To cbville72,
I''m glad you think the economy is rosy and you have no worries about losing your job. For me that''s great news since it means you''ll be paying taxes so I can collect my welfare check every week. Thanks.

[goldesprit]

"Timid" shoppers?
So...if I apply myself and don''t buy a bunch of stuff I don''t necessarily need at the current prices... I am supposed to be..."timid"!!!

Now our news orgs. are calling the middle class names!!!

[sharncedar]

Our economy has benn "stimulated" so many times and for so many years, it is like a burned-out crack addict on its last legs. It will be a long, long way back to health and sanity for this nation. I don''t think the will is there yet, we are still looking for that next "fix" that quick fix, the new economc drug to stimulate activity where there are no fundamentals.

By the time we get our economy stable and sound again, nothing will be the same, we won''t even hardly be the same country we are today. It''s equally likely we won''t be able to make the transition, like the crack addict who never goes straight, and the US as a nation will dissolve perhaps Mexico will take a portion and the rest descend into internal civil wars and foreign-owned and occupied areas.

The time for change was years ago, but no one wanted to listen then.

[fairandbal]

I don''t know about you, but i''m watching high paying high tech jobs in my company shipped oversees as the ones left are being required to work more and more hours . My pay goes down as health care premiums go up and my guaranteed pension is taken away and ALL of my retirement is put into the high stakes high risk stock market.

You''ve done a heck of a job Bushie! (at destroying our economy and country!)

[incog-nito]

To a multination corporation it doesn''t matter if the U.S. economy goes straight to hell or not. They are the new emperors and are not accountable to any particular nation. Unfortunately they also exert a lot of influence on U.S. government. Take outsourcing, for example. As long as there are cheaper labor and more lax regulations elsewhere, U.S. jobs will continue to be lost. The U.S. is beholden to these corporations and have shown no interest in protecting U.S. workers. They tout the "free market" and "free trade" as a cure-all while other countries regularly erect trade barriers such as tariffs, quotes, and subsidies to protect their people. This is just the beginning.

[incog-nito]

Correction: quotas (not quotes)

[sharncedar]

The Fed cutting interest rates is what caused the current crisis, so how is the Fed cutting rates going to fix it? Easy money is a short-term stimulus that kills the economy in the long run. There are many ill effects of easy money, one of them for example is that business fundamentals can be ignored because investor capital (easy money) overwhelms actual profits. This allows for example a sleazy offshore-loving poorly managed enterpirse to buy and destroy their competitors, even while they are losing money the whole time. The situation at the end has the worst management in history in charge of every major corporation -what they were good at was raising capital in the capital markets but none of them has a clue how to operate a business or earn a profit or grow a business - they bought and merged and acquired the businesses they now "manage" (more like mis-manage). So it will take a very long, destructive period of destructive capitalism to shake these bad apples out of the trees. And for that to start, easy money has to stop. And it looks like these fools have no intention to slow down easy money, they only have one note to play, like idiots on the trumpet of death. Lower rates, lower rates, lower rates, lower rates, easier credit, easier credit, easier credit, like morons or crack addicts

[lochlan-2009]

Inflation Hits 17-Year High - Hell of a job the Fed Chairmen did on preventing this, like they said they were trying to do but doing everything to make the opposite happen.

After watching the news about the Supreme Courts decission on making it legal for corporations to be an accomplice in, and even show a company the strategy to, stealing from American empoyees and investors through blatant fraud, I think we''re seeing the end of what America used to mean.

Ever wonder what happens when the criminals infiltrate your government? Now you know.

[ssm9451]

If this country is ever straightened out, we won''t live to see if happen. It will never happen in our life time.

[bubba027]

I can''t agree with SharnCedar more. You''re right on the money.
You folks that blame Bush for everything...give it up. Congress is even worse and not gettting any better, the only difference is that they want to waste your money on different things. They cetainly don''t want to save you any money or get you a job. Conversely, you''re nuts if you give Clinton much credit. He spent all his time dodging attention for all his mis-deeds and strange behavior. Oh yeah, he helped reduce the budget by slashing the military budget. I didn''t just read about it I lived it. For several years, the military didn''t have money to even change the oil in their vehciles let alone buy tires, maintain equigment, recruit, or train. That''s one reason why so much had to be spent on the wars after 9/11 despite whether the wars were appropriate or not. Everything is the military was is disrepair due to neglect. Clinton didn''t even want to blow money on the single missle it would have taken to take binladen out when he had the chance.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by bubba027 at 10:21 PM : Jan 16, 2008

Hahahahahaha! Now another one wants to blame all of Bush''s problems on Clinton!

This is really getting to be a joke!

[rowdytexan2]

Well, not sure what the game playing with interest rates is all about. But, in fact, the sub-prime loans was only a small percentage of the mortgage business. So I don''t know what they''re trying to cover up with all the fall de rahl about those mortgages. Those banks weren''t losing money on those loans at all, either. However, they were losing the potential for earning money when the interest rates when up.

Frankly, I think that was just an excuse to steal these homes back and re-sell them for more down payment money and make a fast buck. Today is all about making the fast money. Just went through this krap with a company I work for. Transferred the money to another company, then filed bankruptcy, took the money a ran!

I don''t know, but I think this administration just wants us to live in fear of everything...terrorists, bombs, war, our living, jobs, health.

I was born after the second big war, and recession, so all I''ve ever known was security until now. I did live through Viet Nam and that was a great trembling in our force and hard times on our families. But even then it didn''t feel like somebody was trying to destroy us.

[cbville72]

To cbville72,
I''''m glad you think the economy is rosy and you have no worries about losing your job. For me that''''s great news since it means you''''ll be paying taxes so I can collect my welfare check every week. Thanks.


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Posted by ontheleft at 09:36 PM : Jan 16, 2008

Okay "ontheleft" (of the welfare line) I was brought up to seek a job and work for a living. I am sorry to hear that you were brought up to be a parasite and seem to be proud of that fact. What point were your comments trying to buttress. You really made no sense and i think that you only openly advertised why you don''t have a job.
Have fun with my crumbs at the handout table $lob!

[radiob-2009]

The figures as released:
In August a little more than 6 percent of credit card payments were 60 days overdue, reports Mason. By November, it was more than 7.5 percent - a nearly 20 percent rise in just three months.


This is actually a 25% increase simple math and troubling.

The recent leap in the nation''s unemployment rate from 4.7 percent in November to 5 percent in December, a two-year high, rang a warning bell on the economy. It raised concerns that consumers, whose spending is vital to a healthy economy, would clamp down, sending the economy into a tailspin.


This is a 9.1% increase also troubling and the nation unemployment figures are not accurate they are not counting the number of people whose benefits have been exhausted. Again troubling.


Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990.

This is a 61% increase in prices!

The housing sector which is noted here but is absent from remarks from the Realtors Association has stated in a conference that I attended in Oct. that the housing market would remain weak until at least 2009.

PT 1

[radiob-2009]

We have exported to many of our high paying jobs and are not creating new high paying jobs with which to replace them. This we can thank congress and the presidents dating back to Ford for all of the trade agreements that had no teeth in them. Where are the visionaries and entrepreneurs that our nation was built on where is their patriotism or is their patriotism limited soley to their own wallets. America needs bold leadership to end our dependence on foreign energy and cheap third world slave labour unless America wants to become a third world nation.
Pt 2

[ananar]

I noticed that Capital One was crying crocodile tears over claims of delinquency payments. Here is where part of their problem may lie. In January of 2007, I had mailed in a 62.00 payment to Capital One, they claimed afterwards that it had been credited to my account on the 17 of January. But guess what? The February statement showed no such payment had been credited. After that, when I wrote to them to complain about it, the claim was made in writing that the January payment plus the February payment would be reflected on the March statement. It never happened. What did happen was that Capital One insisted on keeping the balance due on the account above limit with additional fees tacked on each month. This was factual even though they had received in payments over 700 dollars by the end of the year. Capital One has engaged in rip off practices. How many of their "delinquencies" are factually bad business practices where they are exploiting their customers? Something to be looked into by CBS.

[shanev137]

What?

There is no inflation.

When are all you people going to stop with the lies.

[goldesprit]

These *** shoppers have become "timid"!

They don''t want to spend all their money on overpriced goods!

Who knew?

[watcher269-2009]

"timid shoppers" - This is Bushit! People are loosing their jobs! Working for minimum wages under this republican regime. Economy going down the drain.

People don''t have the Cash to shop and the credit cards are all maxed out - that''s why they cannot shop.

This is the republican way - re-write the Truth.

[skyk-2009]

Okay "ontheleft" (of the welfare line) I was brought up to seek a job and work for a living. I am sorry to hear that you were brought up to be a parasite and seem to be proud of that fact. What point were your comments trying to buttress. You really made no sense and i think that you only openly advertised why you don''''t have a job.
Have fun with my crumbs at the handout table $lob!


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Posted by cbville72 at 12:07 AM : Jan 17, 2008
+ report abuse

What makes you people so superior to the rest of us? I have sat back for years now and listened as you few make the rest of us out to be nothing but a drain on the American Dream. Thing''s are bad and getting worse. The Economic System Trashed in the 90''s was brought back and we are seeing the same results. Trying to make it something it isn''t will not help you this time.

[trillion1]

Personally we are okay at the moment but I''m not stupid enough to think we are the rule and not the exception. The right wing can keep on saying if you''re not doing well it''s your own fault. The fact is that after at least 6 years of total GOP control this nation is totally s@rewed up.

[pollroller1]

OH NO!!! Does this mean no more instant gratification?

[glossypan]

The truthful headline:
Shipping Jobs To China & Burying A Quarter Of Our GDP In The Sands Of The Middle East Plague Economny

[underdogus]

life in the US going to change so drastically that it makes the depression and the soup lines and the bread lines of 1929 look like a walk in the park.....cheers!

[slim1h2o]

How many of their "delinquencies" are factually bad business practices where they are exploiting their customers? Something to be looked into by CBS.

Posted by ananar at 12:46 AM : Jan 17, 2008

I agree,, and thats why I got rid of all my credit cards. They are nothing ,but rip off artists!

[lvdragonlady-2009]

I have read all the posts and many of them have valid points. My question to the masses is, what the h*ll are we going to do about it???? (1) Stop believing everything our government tells us. (2)Tell corporate America to bring our jobs home! (3)Tax ALL corporations the move jobs overseas(I like this one)!(4)Tell Congress if they do not get their act together, they will be OUT. We do not need a bunch for kiss*$$ people *** with us anymore.(5) IMPEACH the shrub that is in office right now and his henchmen(really like this one)!!

[oleander8]

Today it''s "consumers need to spend more" - tomorrow it will be "Americans don''t save enough". People can''t spend or save what they don''t have anymore.