Thoughts on BC Politics and More

A wise person once said, one person’s spending is another person’s income. Households spending money means more potential revenue for suppliers and workers. That translates into higher wages, more jobs, and generally more opportunity. A contraction does the opposite—less money, lower wages, fewer jobs, less opportunity   Canada’s uneventful, but huge debt and frothy shelter costs, may finally come home to roost. Credit rating-giant Transunion released the results of its Q3 2023 Consumer Pulse Survey.    Amongst the insights was the share of households expecting to consume more, revealing how a country stacks up to its peers. When it comes to households spending more, Canada ranked dead last in most categories. This may mark the end of the spending boom, as households tighten budgets at a rate higher than our global peers ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Canadian retail spending growth remained listless in June with a 0.1-per-cent month-to-month gain to reach $65.9 billion.   Higher auto-related sales helped but year-over-year sales were down 0.6 per cent. Adjusted for retail prices, real sales fell 0.2 per cent, adding to evidence that the economy is indeed slowing.   That said, this was good news for households being pummelled by interest rate hikes, as softer economic data supports the case for an interest rate pause in September. Cumulative rate hikes continue to work through the economy to stifle excess demand. Nonetheless, it is still early in the slowdown as estimates provided by Statistics Canada for July suggest retail sales rebounded 0.4 per cent during the month ... CLICK HERE for the full story