Guest Post: Personal Income And Spending Weigh On Economic Recovery Hopes

Via Lance Roberts of Street Talk Live, The personal income and spending report Friday morning left a lot to be desired for those expecting a stronger economic environment soon.  However, the report fell well in line with what I have been expecting over the past several months (see here, here and here) as the drag on real wages and incomes have weighed on the consumer.   As we discussed in yesterday's report on GDP - personal consumption makes up more the 70% of the economy therefore changes to employment, incomes or credit has an immediate and significant impact to growth. First, let me argue the claim that the impact to personal incomes was due to Hurricane Sandy.  While the storm is going to be the excuse for everything from economic reports to global warming the impact from Sandy on personal incomes was most likely very limited.  The storm did not occur unti...