that consumer spending was up last month and isn t that great? we really have to go behind all these numbers and take a look and really personal disposable income dropped. so what s happening is exactly what we were just talking about, where people aren t spending money. people that are comfortable are hoarding cash just like to charlie s point, like u.s. businesses are hoarding cash. i can end this or get close to ending it on a happy note. first of all, auto sales are up. that s a good thing. nobody can argue with that. one of the reasons consumers neil: they re giving away cars. but they re not. there is plenty of incentives to buy car. you can buy a car with the worst credit rating in the world right now. and by the way, kristen, as far as the consumer spending, the one thing to your point, savings dropped a lot. so people are dipping into savings to buy stuff, that might be a false sense of security that might not last. the bottom line is somehow the white house has to
adding workers. it is the combination of things that is a diversion from what we have seen in the past. it is not playing out that way because businesses don t have that confidence to go out and take that new worker on. well, as much as we are talking right now about 9.2%, jim, the so-called real unemployment rate is up to 16.2% in june. that s the figure that includes the unemployed, those discouraged workers out there and people working part-time because they can t find full-time work. what does this mean for the economy overall? well, there s a couple of things that play in here, also, alex, that are really troubling. that is higher food and fuel cost, even though people aren t spending money. how do you fix these things? you were talking about inflation in china. that s impacting us here because what happened is we have a lot of things in china, their wage costs are going up and they are passing along the cost here. the chinese people are eating more food and driving up food co
grocery stores down here. and right now, you know, people aren t spending money. george, we have eaten we re looking at the water behind you. it still looks very high even though the river crested several days ago. how long before you can get back open and be in business? short answer as soon as possible. we are cleaning up right now. emergency plans we put in place worked. as of right now. we are pleased to say that the different technologies we deployed here at gold strike worked. george and george thank you very much. i appreciate you telling the story in tunica. devastating to look at. days away from its worse. turn to rebekah cox. your business is not even close to the mississippi or the arkansas or the white rivers.
grocery stores down here. and right now, you know, people aren t spending money. george, we have eaten we re looking at the water behind you. it still looks very high even though the river crested several days ago. how long before you can get back open and be in business? short answer as soon as possible. we are cleaning up right now. emergency plans we put in place worked. as of right now. we are pleased to say that the different technologies we deployed here at gold strike worked. george and george thank you very much. i appreciate you telling the story in tunica. devastating to look at. days away from its worse. turn to rebekah cox. your business is not even close to the mississippi or the arkansas or the white rivers.
and all the different shops and cafes and gas stations and grocery stores down here. and right now, you know, people aren t spending money. george, we have eaten we re looking at the water behind you. it still looks very high even though the river crested several days ago. how long before you can get back open and be in business? short answer as soon as possible. we are cleaning up right now. emergency plans we put in place worked. as of right now. we are pleased to say that the different technologies we deployed here at gold strike worked. george and george thank you very much. i appreciate you telling the story in tunica. devastating to look at. days away from its worse. turn to rebekah cox. your business is not even close