Relentless increases in gas prices have taken a huge bite out of consumer pocketbooks. Annual expenditures on gas and motor oil have increased by well over $1,300 in the past five years.
AP | MARTIN CRUTSINGER | Posted 12.01.2008 | Business
WASHINGTON — Evidence of a recession piled ever higher Friday, with new figures showing Americans are spending less and gloomy about the economy...
AP | JEANNINE AVERSA | Posted 11.30.2008 | Business
WASHINGTON — Scared and out of money, Americans stopped buying everything from cars to corn flakes in the July-September quarter, ratcheting bac...
Wendy Wanderman | Posted 11.28.2008 | Business
It would seem very difficult for McCain to get elected if the country has absolutely no confidence in spending money because they fear that business conditions are worsening.
Danny Schechter | Posted 11.25.2008 | Business
In what was for many an unbelievable chain of events, markets started melting down, confidence shattered and believers in unregulated transactions realized something was very, very wrong.
Irene Rubaum-Keller | Posted 11.22.2008 | Living
I read somewhere lately that we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. Maybe we only need that 20%.
Michael Pento | Posted 11.17.2008 | Business
It now takes about 10 cents on every tax dollar collected just to pay the interest on the debt. As bad as that is, it's only because interest rates are at record lows that the debt is still manageable.
Maura Judkis | Posted 11.14.2008 | Green
Right now, consumers across the country are looking for ways to cut back. Luckily, some of the best ways to save money are also simple steps toward living a little greener.
Irene Rubaum-Keller | Posted 11.07.2008 | Style
One of my clients recently labeled herself a bulimic shopper. She buys clothes, brings them home, and then returns them. She says it is exactly like a food binge.
AP | JESSICA MINTZ | Posted 10.02.2008 | Business
Slashing computer prices helped Dell Inc. boost sales in its fiscal second quarter, but the No. 2 PC maker's bottom line took a hit when efforts to cu...
AP | MARTIN CRUTSINGER | Posted 09.29.2008 | Business
WASHINGTON — Consumer spending slowed to a crawl and personal incomes plunged in July, reflecting the waning impact of $93 billion in economic s...
AP | ASHLEY M. HEHER | Posted 09.19.2008 | Business
CHICAGO — The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit sank 24 percent and reiterated its downbeat outlook for the year amid ...
New York Times | CATHERINE RAMPELL | Posted 08.12.2008 | Business
Consumers spent more in June, but only because the things they bought cost more. Driven primarily by energy and food prices, inflation grew 0.8 perce...
AP | JEANNINE AVERSA | Posted 08.09.2008 | Business
WASHINGTON — Stores, factories and other businesses large and small showed workers the door last month, sending unemployment to its highest rate...
Morgan Warners | Posted 08.05.2008 | Living
How disgustingly coincidental is it that the good girl icon got blown sky high by sex, drugs, and anorexia at the same time that the economy has gone bust?
The Los Angeles Times | Richard Fausset, P.J. Huffstutter and Stephen Braun | Posted 08.05.2008 | Business
ATLANTA -- It is better than nothing. That has been the subdued mantra repeated by working Americans in recent weeks as they spend the Bush administr...
Robyn Blumner | Posted 07.09.2008 | Politics
We now live in a country where there is no financial margin for most families to fall back on in case someone gets sick or a job is lost: life is far riskier than during the 1970s' economic crisis.
AP | ELLEN SIMON | Posted 07.02.2008 | Business
NEW YORK — U.S. consumers are the gloomiest they've been since the tail end of the last prolonged recession. Inflation, sinking home values and ...
Jared Bernstein | Posted 06.30.2008 | Politics
I know, "infrastructure" sounds really unexciting, not nearly as cool as a Mars probe or as obviously essential as health care reform. But investing in roads, bridges, water systems, schools, and other public goods is a critical need, and one that won't be met by the private sector. What's more, it's got some real political currency right now. In the short run, infrastructure investment could offset the cyclical downturn we're in immediately, and replace the demand lost to the coming downturn in consumer spending.
Reuters | Pedro Nicolaci da Costa | Posted 06.04.2008 | Business
Consumer confidence plunged unexpectedly to its lowest in 16 years in May as rising gasoline costs and falling home prices made Americans nervous abou...
AP | MARTIN CRUTSINGER | Posted 05.09.2008 | Business
WASHINGTON — Don't be fooled by a larger-than-expected increase in consumer spending. People aren't buying more _ they're just paying more for w...
New York Times | PETER S. GOODMAN | Posted 05.08.2008 | Business
For months, beleaguered American consumers have defied expert forecasts that they would soon succumb to the pressures of falling home prices, fewer jo...
New York Times | PETER S. GOODMAN and MICHAEL GRYNBAUM | Posted 05.08.2008 | Business
The American economy remained stuck in the slow lane over the first three months of the year, expanding by a modest 0.6 percent annualized rate, the C...
Harry Fuller | Posted 03.28.2008 | Business
It's time for Americans, myself, included to go on a twelve-step program. For spending.
Reuters | Posted 03.28.2008 | Business
At U.S. warehouse club stores, a growing number of shoppers are giving up steak for cheaper chicken. Coffee sales are soaring at McDonald's, while hig...
Mark Cooper | Posted 12.03.2008 | Business