Carl Steidtmann Quotations

The process is slow in happening. The level at which the consumer starts making changes is pretty inelastic, In other words, it takes a high threshold of pain before they start making changes.

I think we'll continue to see a lot of foreign investment in the United States, simply because this is the best place in the world to invest money.

At the end of a long economic expansion, consumers tend to be overconfident relative to their spending; raising false hopes about the ability of consumers to continue spending. At the beginning of a recovery, consumers remain in a funk even as they accelerate their pace of spending.

Continued job and real wage growth is needed to increase a household's pool of cash and to strengthen discount retailers' sales, ... An improved labor market would make consumer spending more self-reinforcing and less dependent on tax and interest rate-related stimulus.

Far from being a leading indicator of consumer spending, consumer confidence has consistently missed important changes in consumer spending trends.

So what did this deeply depressed consumer do? She went out spent like there was no tomorrow.

In seven of the last eight election cycles, real consumer spending growth has decelerated in the holiday season in the year following the election. This is the first reason why consumer spending is expected to slow this holiday season.

It has literally turned your house into an A.T.M. in the last couple of years. That will virtually go away.

Christmas just isn't as important anymore. Americans, especially baby boomers, have started realizing that they don't need more stuff.

The Japanese economy for the first time in 15 years is getting up off the mat. They've gotten their banking system back in shape. Europe will probably muddle along, but China's growth will still be quite strong.