It can't be the pickup trucks and EVs. The lots are almost empty. We went shopping with my MIL for a new car and the Hyundai dealer did not have a single new Kona or the one that's a step down from that in size. The Buick salesman said he had 185 slots for new cars, 8 of which were filled.
On the other hand, my tiny window into vacation spending seems to suggest that people are simply not price-sensitive, or at least not nearly as price-sensitive as they were in 2019. I have mixed feelings about that. For people with, oh let's say a vacation rental and some consulting work in tourism marketing, this is a rising tide that raises our boats :-)
On the other hand, if people completely ignore price signals and charge ahead into debt, we get high debt and secular inflation, which is not going to end well for us when the raise the ghost of Paul Volcker to ride again.
>>The price index tracking intermediate demand -- that's goods and services sold to businesses -- for processed goods jumped 2.1%, its biggest advance since May, mostly driven by higher energy costs.
Over the 12-month period ended October, the index has climbed 25.4%, the biggest increase since January 1975.
Really? Most of that has to be transitory based on supply-chain issues
