https://citizenwatchreport.com/american-consumers-spending-more-getting-less/

American Consumers Spending More, Getting Less

Retail sales beat expectations in August, rising by 0.1 percent month- on- month. You might assume this means American consumers did better this month than last month. A deeper look into the context of these numbers offers another perspective. The retail sales data only tells us that Americans spent more last month than they did the month before. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they got more stuff. In fact, when factoring in price inflation, we find that while Americans spent more in August, they got fewer goods and services for their money.