https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/business/economy/christmas-holiday-spending-retail.html
While the pace of growth slowed, spending stayed strong because of robust job growth and strong wage gains.
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The holiday sales figures, driven by a healthy labor market and wage gains, suggests that the economy remains strong.
The Federal Reserve’s campaign to rein in high inflation by raising interest rates over the last few years has slowed the economy, but many economists believe a so-called soft landing is within reach.
Alexan Weir, a 30-year-old mother in Orlando, Fla., said she was pleased to find deals on toys when she bought Christmas gifts for her daughters this month.
Modi, an online retailer, sells plush toys and books based on Hindu culture and usually sees two sales bumps in the fourth quarter — one in the lead up to Diwali and another around Christmas.
As she wraps up the year and looks toward 2024, Ms. Sarkar is testing new digital marketing strategies, including sending personalized email newsletters to customers and closely monitoring discounts.
In November, Burlington, an off-price retailer, and the parent company of Marshalls and T.J. Maxx said they saw comparable store sales increase 6 percent.
The original article contains 1,094 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 85%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
This is all just taking correlation and applying causation. Right next to headlines about doom spending and people not being able to save in the first place. An extra thousand dollars a year won't do anything to really improve anyone's life situation, but it can buy a fun Christmas.
You know what would be a great Christmas? Being able to buy a house. Not having $800 a month in student loan payments. Being able e to do anything to actually advance in life.
But they don't measure anything related to improving quality if life, because they don't want you saving. They want you spending every penny and staying poor.