70% of GDP Linked to Comsumer Spending.......

[FinanceDude]

On PBS last night, they had a panel of local investment folks, including an economics professor from Marquette and a few others. They were talking about the economy of course. The professor presented a few interesting facts:

1)70% of the US GDP can be tied directly to consumer spending.

2)The retail sector as a whole was only down 3 PERCENT in 2008 versus 2007, yet many in that industry are filing bankruptcy.

3) He predicted an unemployment rate bottoming out at 9 percent.......

4)He thought "recovery" would be in 2010, and that 2009 will have further erosion in the economy........

What a cheery guy........

 

[ziggy29]

Retail is often a very low-margin operation. It doesn't take too much of a drop in sales to put some in dire straits.

I hate feeding the "hoard-the-cash" beast that leads to this economic death spiral, but with the single point of failure that is my paycheck, I have to be a lot more careful than I'd otherwise be. At least my megacorp just reported a very strong quarter; that helps a bit...

 

[Dawg52]

Hey, I'm just glad the doomster's do see a recovery at some point. You still see a few that say we are at the beginning of a depression.

Enough of this........time to get ready for golf.

 

[kumquat]

3) He predicted an unemployment rate bottoming out at 9 percent.......

As in maximum or minimum?