The Blog

2021-

2021-07-19 e
MONETARY MADNESS IV

Americans Pay More to Get Less: Retail Sales Outrun by Inflation

Welcome to Fed’s New World of Inflation.

Retail sales rose by 0.6% in June from May, according to the Commerce Department on Friday. But over the same period, prices for food bought at the store rose by 0.8%; prices at restaurants, delis, cafeterias, etc. rose by 0.7%; for gasoline by 2.5%, and for durable goods such as appliances, electronics, furniture, cars, etc., by 3.5% in just one month! These are the categories that make up retail sales.

And these whopping price increases in June outran the increase in retail sales in June, and they outran retail sales for the entire second quarter, indicating that consumers paid more to get less. Welcome to the Fed’s New World of inflation.

Retail sales in June rose to $621 billion (seasonally [mal-]adjusted), but after the 1.7% drop in May, remain below March and April: (read much more and see graphs)

See also: Plunge of Retail Inventories, Collapse of New & Used Vehicle Inventories: The Shortages Depicted in Charts

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