By James Rickards
It’s official — good times are here again!
Black Friday’s sales set a new record this year, up 2.3% over 2021. Thanksgiving online sales were also up 2.9%. So don’t listen to any gloom and doom talk about a recession. Just look at the numbers.
That’s what they’ll tell you. Well, here’s what they won’t tell you:
All of those sales figures are nominal. In other words, they don’t account for inflation.
If an item costs 10% more this year than it did last year, even a decrease in sales numbers can still yield a nominal increase in final sales numbers.
But the actual number of sales would be down from the previous year. The final figures are simply masked because of the inflation.
If you adjust this year’s nominal sales numbers for inflation, you’ll discover that real sales are down about 5%.