Prices Up...Personal Income Down...Personal Spending Up

Data released this morning shows that:

1. the price of goods and services (excluding food and energy) has increased
2. personal income has declined
3. personal spending has increased

as shown on the three graphs below.

This latest data confirms that the debt load of consumers is increasing, while their income decreases...resulting in a two-fold increase in debt-to-earnings ratio (and this does not even take into account the price of food and energy)...not a healthy and sustainable environment or prospect for consumers. It leads me to conclude that the reason consumer spending is up is because prices are up, not because consumers have more disposable income to spend. This does not support a sustainable economic growth scenario for the country, in my opinion.