About half the country is running on fumes. This is not some blip. These are some quotes:
“It’s a red flag,” said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia. “If consumer spending starts to weaken, the overall outlook for economic growth will diminish.”
That, Wal-Mart executives said, is precisely what has begun to happen in its 4,000 United States stores over the last three months — even after the chain cut prices on 16,000 products this summer.
“Many customers are running out of money at the end of the month,” said H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of Wal-Mart.
Mr. Scott said Wal-Mart’s shoppers, who generally earn less than $40,000 a household, are “under difficult pressure economically.”
He added that “the paycheck cycle is more pronounced now than ever before,” meaning that customers are left with little cash by the end of the month.
