Bloomberg News: Wal-Mart tea leaves suggest tax cuts.......

[Girlfriday]

....aren't helping much. Headline for this artical in the business section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It appears that Wal-Mart is a key indicator of whether US consumers are spending more as a result of shrub's $330 billion tax cut.

<snip>

"Any economist who does not pay attention to what Wal-Mart has to say is missing the boat," said Richard Yamarone and economist at Argus Research Corp. "A lot of people are postponing purchases until the job market improves and job creation begins."

The initial evidence: The tax cut won't spark a spending boom. Whilke sales at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores open at least a year climber 6.9% in August from a year earlier, the biggest rise in 14 months, Treasurer Jay Fitsimmons cautioned on Sept. 4 that the increase may be short-lived. The boost from the tax payments won't last he said.


<snip>


Sorry, not able to find the story on the Post-Gazette site, had to use another paper who carries Bloomberg news. The headline I used is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's and not the Charlotte Observer.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/2003/09/30/business/6894534.htm

[Cha]

1. Well, there ya go ..Walmart, our ol' national barometer!

If they ain't spendin' at walmart..they ain't spendin' enough to boost the ol' economy ..gb

[dkamin]

2. i said what about breakfast

at tiffany's.

i think that the people who received actual tax cuts (which weren't offset by increased state and local taxes) are not exactly Wal-Mart shoppers. I think Tiffany's is more the preferred destination.

why do people keep pushing trickle-down?

my new economic theory: give me $8 trillion, and the economy will improve dramatically.