Consumer reports
February 27, 2004--The International Council of Shopping Centers indicates the slight drop in sales does not take away statistics showing the healthiest consumer spending in years. The statistics, based on a year-on-year comparison, shows the highest level of consumer spending in nearly five years. Part of that high consumer spending can be attributed to the Presidents Day holiday that boosted sales 5.6 percent over the year-on-year comparison according to the research group Redbook.
But the Conference Board cites statistics reflecting consumer fears. Franco notes "Consumers began the year on a high note, but their optimism has quickly given way to caution." That caution is correlated primarily with the American view of a worsening economy as jobs become more difficult to find. While economists were forecasting a drop to 92.5 percent in an index of consumer confidence the Conference Boards own index showed a more ominous drop to 87.3 percent.
Gene Jolley, President of Kingdom Financial Principles (KFP) and creator of the Rapid Debt Reducer software, is concerned over the recent statistics but for a different reason. Much of what Americans do reveals they do not really know who to believe. That's because Americans have been misled when it comes to consumer spending and a good deal of what Jolley does in his seminars is to reeducate families in the truths of personal financial spending.
Big businesses spend billions on marketing aimed directly at the wallet of the consumer. Jolley thinks about "the love of money" and knows the ‘buy now—pay later' mentality is being shoved down the throat of America. Consult a dictionary, Jolley says, and you'll see consume means to "squander, waste, [and use up." Being called one who wastes or squanders is not what we ought to be calling ourselves yet who shows concern in our name and pride as consumers?
Consumers we are. Eat, drink, and be merry echo the voice of the Ecclesiastical writer and later resonated in the words of the Physician Luke. Today, Eat, drink, and be merry resonates in the attitude of a nation of consumers. No nation can continue to consume without eventually paying a high price. Jolley knows you can't ‘sow the wind without reaping the whirlwind' and unless the spending habits of America changes this nation is approaching a fearful and cataclysmic financial storm.
If the family unit is the backbone of America then personal family finances ought to be the foundation of American economy. In other words, Jolley's message points out, a strong national economy must begin with a strong family economy. Consumer spending must change before it's too late.
Contact:
Gene Jolley
Kingdom Financial Principles
877-584-0536
http://www.rapiddebtreducer.com
