In recent months, a variety of economic data has shown that consumer spending and the economy haven’t been what you call ‘healthy.’
But, while one of Hedgeye’s macro themes for 2014 has been #GrowthSlowing, we wanted to hear what you had to say. So, we asked in today’s poll: Do you think economic growth in the United States is accelerating or slowing?
At the time of this post, an overwhelming 84% voted YES; 16% said NO.
(Voters sharply swung so much in one way, that we didn’t receive any comments on why people voted NO.)
Here’s a sampling of some of the responses we received:
- “As a business owner dealing with across the board demographic households buying homes, purchasing groceries, and basically living…growth is definitely slowing. This is only the beginning.”
- “I believe [Hedgeye’s] thesis on the impact of commodity inflation on the consumer. A good example is natural gas. If you missed a trip to the mall because of a blizzard, you might WANT to go when the weather improves but you CAN'T because your utility bill was 3X last February.”
- “This is a joke, right? A sad, silly joke, but still a joke. Growth? Where? Inflation is not growth. Main Street is being milked dry; real prices are outpacing real wages by a few hundred furlongs; the stock market is not the supermarket; questionable economic data anesthetizes the masses while Ben and Janet gorge on way too much Ben and Jerry's...Genuine growth? Pfft.”
- “Just as previously articulated, March and April are nicely set up with weather adjustments and the late Easter. May and beyond get tough comps for the real economy.”
- “Lying Keynesians are always looking in the rear view mirror, and then they have to lie about it to try to cover up for the massive failure of their B.S. policies.”
And, as Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough put it: “#InflationAccelerating slows growth. Period.”