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June
15
2022

Surveys: Consumers are saving less and acquiring more debts due to inflation
Belle Carter

Multiple surveys reveal that consumers are saving less, depending on debts to stay away from financial troubles, and starting to lose confidence in the economy due to the out-of-hand price inflation these days.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows that in April, the household savings rate went down to 4.4 percent from the 6.2 percent in March. This is the lowest rate since the 2008-2009 Great Recession.

Also, the Federal Reserve’s monthly credit report indicated that consumer credit raised by $38.07 billion in April, which is higher than the market estimate of $35 billion. The numbers dropped from the $47.34 billion increase in consumer credit in March.

The central bank noted that revolving credits, which include credit card debt, hiked by $17.77 billion. Non-revolving debts like auto and student loans increased by $20.3 billion. Consumer credits increased by a total of 10.1 percent year over year.

Revolving credits increased close to 20 percent in April to $1.103 trillion, topping the pre-pandemic record of $1.1 trillion. This has been driven by credit card balances rising to $841 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, a recent survey by WalletHub, a personal finance website, revealed that about 33 million Americans think they will have more credit card debts by the end of the year.

“We project an increase of at least $100 billion in credit card debt during the year. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, considering the increased prices consumers are being confronted with and their increased appetite to spend,” Jill Gonzalez, the website’s analyst, said in a statement.

Another Fed research revealed that household wealth plummeted for the first time in two years in the first quarter. During the January-to-March period, households’ net worth fell 0.4 percent to $149.3 trillion, driven by a $3 trillion collapse in equities.

Also, Brookings Institution warned that interest payments could start to be present in families’ personal finances. In 2021, half of the total households with revolving credit card debts paid $111 billion in fees and interests.

Increasing debt and interest rates caused about one-third of Americans to expect their finances to mess up over the next year, the Fed Bank of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations found. “More than half also believe that it will be harder to obtain credit next year,” the survey added.

Consumer sentiment drops to an all-time low

The University of Michigan‘s Consumer Sentiment Index plunged deeper to a record-breaking 50.2 in June from 58.4 in May. Consumer expectations dropped to 46.8, while current conditions plummeted to 55.4. (Related: Consumer sentiment dropped further in May, survey reveals.)

“Consumer sentiment declined by 14 percent from May, spiraling a downward trend over the last year and reaching its lowest recorded value, comparable to the trough reached in the middle of the 1980 recession,” said Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.

More financial pressure may be felt by consumers as the consumer price index (CPI) skyrocketed than what the market expected in May.

“In May, the annual inflation rate went up to 8.6 percent, higher than the market forecast of 8.3 percent. This is the highest reading in 41 years,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

Workers can’t enjoy wage gains amid soaring inflation

Average hourly earnings raised 0.3 percent month-over-month in May to $31.95. But because of the soaring inflation, workers are struggling to enjoy their wage gains.

“The essential components of the CPI report are showing zero indicators that prices are slowing down,” Christian Hoffman, portfolio manager and managing director at Thornburg Investment Management explained.

He said in the research note that the key drivers of inflation, such as food, energy and housing show no signs of subsiding, Even used vehicle prices, which had softened in recent months, came in with engines revving.

“With the expectations index weakening further, consumers also do not foresee the economy picking up steam in the months ahead,” Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators of The Conference Board, mentioned in a statement.

In addition to this, 81 percent of adults think the economy is headed for a recession this year, a CNBC Plus Acorns Invest in You survey in April disclosed.

Visit Collapse.news for more news related to the looming economic collapse.

Watch this video as experts break down the consumer price index.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

About the author: Mike Adams (aka the “Health Ranger“) is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com called “Food Forensics“), an environmental scientist, a patent holder for a cesium radioactive isotope elimination invention, a multiple award winner for outstanding journalism, a science news publisher and influential commentator on topics ranging from science and medicine to culture and politics. Follow his videos, podcasts, websites and science projects at the links below.

Mike Adams serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation. He has also achieved numerous laboratory breakthroughs in the programming of automated liquid handling robots for sample preparation and external standards prep.

The U.S. patent office has awarded Mike Adams patent NO. US 9526751 B2for the invention of “Cesium Eliminator,” a lifesaving invention that removes up to 95% of radioactive cesium from the human digestive tract. Adams has pledged to donate full patent licensing rights to any state or national government that needs to manufacture the product to save human lives in the aftermath of a nuclear accident, disaster, act of war or act of terrorism. He has also stockpiled 10,000 kg of raw material to manufacture Cesium Eliminator in a Texas warehouse, and plans to donate the finished product to help save lives in Texas when the next nuclear event occurs. No independent scientist in the world has done more research on the removal of radioactive elements from the human digestive tract.

Adams is a person of color whose ancestors include Africans and American Indians. He is of Native American heritage, which he credits as inspiring his “Health Ranger” passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution.

Adams is the founder and publisher of the open source science journal Natural Science Journal, the author of numerous peer-reviewed science papers published by the journal, and the author of the world’s first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books.

In his laboratory research, Adams has made numerous food safety breakthroughs such as revealing rice protein products imported from Asia to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tungsten. Adams was the first food science researcher to document high levels of tungsten in superfoods. He also discovered over 11 ppm lead in imported mangosteen powder, and led an industry-wide voluntary agreement to limit heavy metals in rice protein products.

In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center(CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.

With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies.

Adams is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed “strange fibers” found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health “gurus,” dangerous “detox” products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.

Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.

In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released over fifteen popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.

Click here to read a more detailed bio on Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, at HealthRanger.com.

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