Is it time to rejoice?

As a non-economist, I read a lot of different articles to research for this entry. I found myself mostly looking at blogs and news articles about consumer spending, something that our economy needs. As the recession comes to a close, consumer spending has risen 0.2% since December.

According to Planet Money’s Caitlin Kenney(www.npr.org/blogs/money):

Consumer spending rose just 0.2 percent in December, after increasing 0.7 percent in November. It was the third straight increase in as many months but significantly smaller than the increases in October and November.

While this increase is significantly smaller than in the past few months, it is still a rise. But should we rejoice? I think that we need to wait until the spring to look at these numbers with any real meaning.

Also, the Washington Post published an article stating that sales of cheap liquor have risen over the past few months. Apparently, liquor stores’ sales have risen while restaurants’ sales have lowered. This got me wondering about the sales of these establishments in Lexington. I can probably guess pretty accurately that these numbers would be around the same here. With snow days and formals coming up, college students will be flocking to the ABC Store to get some Burnett’s Sweet Tea Vodka (the cheap version of Firefly) instead of making a reservation for two at the Southern Inn. In Lexington, I wonder if this a boost to the local economy?

I have a lot of questions about the economy and hopefully, in my next entry, I will be able to have them answered.

-Claire McCandless