Word: consumerized
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Figures released this week indicated Japan may be climbing out of its worst recession in decades. Third quarter GDP growth came in at an annualized rate of 4.8%. But other statistics painted a more troubling picture. The price of goods and services slid by 2.6% in the third quarter, the...
While a little inflation is considered normal and healthy for growing economies, a prolonged deflationary period is a recipe for economic misery. Falling prices drag down corporate earnings, wages, consumer spending and investment by businesses, and can lead to a deflationary spiral like the one the world experienced during the...
But Jesper Koll, president and CEO of Tantallon Research Japan, argues that when falling prices are factored in, the country's nascent recovery is weaker than recent positive GDP growth numbers suggest. "We've got the consumer price index falling by 2.5%, wages falling by about 2.0%, winter bonuses falling...
William Dunkelberg, chief economist with the NFIB, says it's all about consumer spending, not credit. "The biggest problem is there's no sales - that's the real killer here," he says. Only 4% of those surveyed [by the NFIB] named credit as the problem. "Capital-spending plans are at...
Dunkelberg believes the U.S. government needs to focus on ways to increase consumer spending and, therefore, demand for products. He'd like to see the government suspend the FICA (or social security) withholding tax and extend the Bush tax cuts that are slated to sunset within the next two years...