Consumer Economy is Starting to Dwindle

By: Kathy Wu

This past Saturday, people have alerted to an advancing decrease of profit in many stores due to concern of the economic future.

In packed shopping stores such as Walmart, they say that report earnings will be better. Tech companies like Google and Apple warn it will be worse. All of this news that leads to the same cause- -poor consumer habits. This is seen in mixed perspectives; “We’re seeing strong growth,” said Brian Olsavsky, an Amazon Financial Officer. “But we’re cognizant things could change quickly.”

Companies use a four-year system to report the amount of money made, whether they’re making or losing. This year’s data is an interesting calculation. A small dip in gross domestic products and consumer spending prove that money is going more to gas and necessities and less to clothing and electronics, all due to inflation. “As high inflation has continued and consumer sentiment has deteriorated, customer demand within the consumer electronics industry has softened,” Corie Barry, chief executive of Best Buy, said Wednesday. Barry expressed how food and fuel prices are cutting into people’s buying of clothing and other merchandise.

Many Americans are now beginning to show caution of what they spend their money on. Thomas Combs, a 52-year-old small-business Dallas owner said he has “completely changed” the way he spends money, particularly since car repairs have gotten more expensive. “I don’t like seeing corporations having record earnings the last couple of quarters then to be told of supply chain problems or refining or whatever is to blame for higher consumer prices,” Combs complained. “You grow pessimistic but realize you have to roll with it if you want to survive in today’s America.”

Until now, companies have started to take action by hiring and planning as a way to stop this from progressing. On the other hand, consumers have no choice but to follow. “I can’t control the price of eggs or milk. [If] it goes up it just goes up. I still need it for family,” Shannon Villa, a 32-year-old Amazon warehouse worker, said. “Gas goes up, I still need it. I can’t afford to complain. I just got to adjust.”

Link:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659260658010x372290339911993200/Corporations%20on%20the%20front%20lines%20of%20the%20economy%20say%20cracks%20are%20forming%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf