I was interviewed by AP this past week about how consumer spending is stuck in neutral at just 0.1 percent and how retail stores of all sizes are feeling the pain.
I said that the act of buying is a sign of a customer’s hopefulness.
When oil prices plummet and the stock market wavers, when election politics are combative and terrorist attacks are relentlessly thrown up in shoppers’ faces, it makes everyone nervous.
People don’t buy when they are worried.
