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The Federal Reserve’s actions against expected inflation and “an expectation that the Congress and the President will get serious enough to start reducing the budget deficit. . .will mean a slowdown in government spending activity,” Dr. Ahmed said.
“Therefore economists are predicting a slowdown in the economy and maybe a rise in the unemployment rate. Given that perspective, so far, the anticipation during Christmas time is that the consumers are not paying that much attention.” »
Consumers this year are responding to a resilient economy that has experienced the longest period of continuous growth in history, he said. A
Optimism created by the economy’s past performance is fueling the estimates of increased holiday spending, and if those estimates are confirmed by actual increases in spending, “people are not immediately worried about a recession,” he added.
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