As I’ve said and continue to say — and I wish I had some numbers, like REAL percentage of the population — but if you don’t have to pay your mortgage, that’s a lot of discretionary and extra income every month.
That retail sales are up is no surprise to me. People are big on consuming and I question whether they even understand the concept of saving. I see people who are collecting unemployment going on vacation (my cousin is one of them). Even people who are unemployed just stop paying their mortgage and use it to go out or whatever. They have a lifestyle they are accustomed to and that’s not about to change.
Banks are doing nothing if you don’t pay your mortgage and more and more paying are not paying and that means more and more people have extra money to shop. I expect sales to really be up this holiday season. Pretty much banks not foreclosing is the biggest stimulus and extra money that can be given to people individually. It’s like giving people a minimum of an extra 2k a month. Not for free, of course. Your kids, grandkids and great-grandkids will be paying for it and will be cursing us when we are long gone.
