June 13, 2023

"The nation witnessed two years of red-hot 'revenge spending,' the name economists and corporate executives gave to a spike in recreational spending..."

"... and vacation splurging that followed coronavirus lockdowns. As demand rose, so did prices for airfares, hotels and other sought-after services. But many of those price categories are now cooling. Hotel prices have recently climbed much more slowly on a year-over-year basis, and airfares fell in May, a report on Tuesday showed.... 'We see some slowing in so-called revenge categories,' said Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior U.S. economist at BNP Paribas...."

38 comments:

rhhardin said...

People spending and nobody producing. The fix is get people producing and don't accommodate wage increases to cover increased prices, otherwise you get actual inflation and not just prices rationing scarce goods.

Richard said...

It is not the Biden Administration that is responsible for inflation. It is your fault for spending too much money.

n.n said...

Revenge spending? Capital depletion? Credit/debt emission? [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] immigration reform (CAIR)? Springs without borders? Green energy? Sustainable progress through labor and environmental arbitrage? Shared responsibility/progressive prices?

Yancey Ward said...

And yet the CPI is still 4% higher than it was a year ago, at which time it was about 8% higher than it was at the same time in 2021. And this comes with oil at a relative minimum after a year and half of draining the SPR, which will need to be refilled at some point.

There are only two outcomes from this point- a recession that puts the knife in the heart of this bout of inflation, or no recession and inflation reaccelerates.

JK Brown said...

In the late 1960s, there was a high old time with spending as money was dumped into the economy, but those of us not over 65 only remember the 1970s hangover of inflation and economic decline.

William said...

I think the term "Revenge Spending" is pejorative and misleading. A much better term is repressed spending.

The overall demand for recreational services is the same; Covid simply shifted the timing of the satisfaction of this demand … and syphoned a large chunk of dollars over to COVID-proof things like RVs, boats, and backyard swimming pools.

Michael K said...

So it wasn't the Biden junta spending trillions to buy votes.

OK. I see now. Inflation is caused by "revenge spending."

Milton Friedman is no longer running things.

hombre said...

"Hotels, airlines, sought-after services...." Really? How about fine dining and fine wine?

The mediaswine at NYT simply have no connection to ordinary people. But never mind, inflation is transitory and caused by "revenge spending," Don'tcha know?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

No worries - Crook Biden is a revenge tax-hiking a-hole.

n.n said...

Is "revenge spending" sadistic like "revenge fucking" (... vaxxxinated transmission) or masochistic like self-abortion (... masking infection)?

Normal people volunteered for none of the above.

MB said...

Is this based on anything more than wishful thinking?

NKP said...

Prices may be inching downward (depends a lot on destination). Most of our clients are 50+ and a lot of them are saying. "F... the cheap seats, crappy flight itineraries and long lines.

Some of that based on extra $$$ not spent the past few years, some on the realization that the government can impose nonsense restrictions whenever the mood strikes and some because they've learned no port-of-call in the world is charming when shared with several thousand others enjoying a cheap three-or-four -day Carnival Booze Cruise.

mccullough said...

Here comes The Recession

TreeJoe said...

I would like to square this up with the current passport crisis whereby the state department is overwhelmed with demand for renewals/new passports.

I just personally dealt with this. It's real and profound.

Tom T. said...

This is a way of trying to shift blame for inflation off of Biden.

MadisonMan said...

"Revenge Spending" is a catchy name that means very very little. The Government Primed the pump. Of course people are going to spend it, and drive up demand, and cause inflation.
All those people spending all that money -- does the article even acknowledge the role that Government played in that, or is that source of available money just swept under the rug?

stlcdr said...

I wonder if the 'revenge spending' on eggs is going to die down, too.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

It’s revenge pricing not revenge spending in these two categories. Airlines and hotels do have ground to make up.

Kate said...

My revenge spending on TP, eggs, and milk isn't cooling at all. It's not as trendy, though, as the elites getting better prices on their non-essentials.

Big Mike said...

Well naturally the academics will use negative terminology to describe a perfectly natural human tendency. It’s as though those stinkin’ humans keep not acting in accordance with their mathematical models. How dare they!

planetgeo said...

Lately it appears I've been doing a lot of revenge spending on eggs.

Iman said...

“It is not the Biden Administration that is responsible for inflation. It is your fault for spending too much money.”

In a nutshell, Richard! Well said.

Quaestor said...

Revenge spending. Jebus Crisp on a stick, Nooyawk will embellish, exaggerate, or just plain invent any story or tall tale that obscures the actual cause of this nation's economic diseases, which has a name that starts with B.

And tell me, with all the hotels booked solid with illegal aliens housed at taxpayers' expense to the tune of $350 dollars a day, where are all these joyful vacationers going to sleep?... I know! Guatemala!

cubanbob said...

I think I will start my revenge spending by contributing to the most fiscally conservative Republicans running next year. Revenge spending on food, fuel and utilities and taxes is no revenge at all.

Original Mike said...

"I would like to square this up with the current passport crisis whereby the state department is overwhelmed with demand for renewals/new passports.

I just personally dealt with this. It's real and profound."


We just received my wife's renewed passport. It has someone else's photo on it.

Morons.

Static Ping said...

That sounds like what happened after WWII. People had been acquiring more and more money during the war, but due to rationing they did not have much to spend it on luxury wise. Once the war ended, there was a sudden burst of spending that drove up prices on things like cars. Not terribly surprising. People had to cancel vacations during COVID, and now that they can go on vacation they have more money to spend. The savings will get spent and we should get back to something resembling normal. Other than San Francisco. No one wants to visit homeless drug addicts taking a dump on the sidewalk.

The inflation we have suffered does not really have anything to do with this, other than in a minor way. The inflation was caused by overspending by the government increasing the money supply, along with all the "quantitative easing." Some of this was understandable due to COVID and the government causing harm to businesses and individuals that they need to make whole, but they just kept on spending and spending and spending. Our government is irresponsible and is courting disaster.

tim maguire said...

Kate said...My revenge spending on TP, eggs, and milk isn't cooling at all. It's not as trendy, though, as the elites getting better prices on their non-essentials.

Seems like a more likely explanation, even if it doesn't have a catchy name. People are spending less on luxuries because more of their discretionary income is being spent on necessities.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Revenge?

NOUN
the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands...

How's spending on overdue vacation "inflicting hurt or harm on someone"?

Besides, I thought everybody was all in on lockdowns, vaccines and booster chain.

Revenge makes it sound like most people were... harmed?

The word dis-mis-malinformation comes to mind.

Leland said...

I still recall listening to a few economists a year ago claim the inflation was because the velocity of money wasn't fast enough. People were not spending fast enough they claimed.

Big Mike said...

Lately it appears I've been doing a lot of revenge spending on eggs.

I’m so old I remember when you didn’t have to be rich to order a 3 egg omelet.

madAsHell said...

Revenge spending??

Is that what we call over $100 billion dollars being shipped to the Ukraine??.........or does it look more like the withdrawal from Afghanistan? I really thought the kid sliding off the airplane at 1000 feet was a clever touch!!

Narr said...

I'd rather get revenge by not paying money, but maybe that's just me.

Rocco said...

MadisonMan said...
" 'Revenge Spending' is a catchy name that means very very little."

If I ask a bunch of people to complete the phrase "red hot revenge...", I don't think "spending" will be in the top ten.

DanTheMan said...

Blaming inflation on consumers is like the abusive husband who beats his wife and then says "Now look what you made me do."

Jupiter said...

What the nation witnessed was two long years of college-educated young people not having to pay their student loans or their rent.

BudBrown said...

Revenge. How bout spending like drunken sailors on shore leave after being lost at sea for too long?

Birches said...

Eggs were $1.15 a dozen last time I went to the store. Very good for our family.

n.n said...

Blaming inflation on consumers is like the abusive husband who beats his wife

Sharing/shifting responsibility to the victim.