Via @gaypatriot, consumer spending is the weakest in six months.
Consumer spending stalled in May as stagnant wages and slackening employment held back the biggest part of the U.S. economy.Purchases were little changed after a 0.1 percent rise the prior month that was smaller than initially reported, according to Commerce Department figures issued today in Washington.Another report showed household sentiment dropped this month to the lowest level of the year.
In some possibly good news, Europe says it’s had a “breakthrough” on its finance crisis.
Before quoting it, I’ll just mention the old truism that diplomatsonly announce success, because a diplomat defines “success” as “an agreement.” They’re not in the business of solutions, they’re in the business of agreement.
And yes, this is a negotiation among sovereigns, so it is a diplomatic effort.
And they’ve struck an agreement.
But I don’t see how any agreement changes the basic math: Most of Europe is spending more than it is willing to pay, backstopped byGerman wealth, and the Germans, for obvious reasons, don’t want to continue subsidizing the rest of Europe.
But they have an “agreement.”
