Americans Buy New Fridges. Economy Is Saved!

Katherine Mangu-Ward | June 24, 2009

Americans, God bless us, love buying stuff. After a brief fit of saving and general personal restraint, it looks like we might be jumping back in and making major purchases. Real GDP may be down 5.7 percent in the first quarter, but gosh darn it, we can only wait so longer before our (foreign-made) durable good stop...durring:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An unexpected jump in U.S. durable goods orders last month backed hopes that the economy was healing, but news from the hard-hit housing market remained mixed.

As David Weinberger put it "In case you were wondering how long Americans could put off buying that new fridge, we now have the answer: About ten months."

Yesterday, The Washington Post ran a story about how Americans were still holding their spending in check, reminding us yet again how hard it is to read the recovery tea leaves. Let's hope Obama means it when he says we're going to hold off on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) fondly hoped-for Stimulus: The Revenge.

Comments

Paul|6.24.09 @ 4:02PM|#

Actual quote from former Fed economist on NPR this morning: "Fed officials have to watch that we don't have too much recovery"

Russ 2000|6.24.09 @ 4:08PM|#

I've been putting off buying a new refrigerator for two years. The efficient ones cost an arm and a leg, defeating the purpose.

Anyway, my electrical utility started their own cash-for-clunkers deal with refrigerators a few months back, so I'm sure there were some takers that otherwise wouldn't have bought.

Went into a local Sears Outlet store a while back. They must have had at least 800 scratch-and-dent specials there, just refrigerators. Didn't have the time to estimate how many washers, dryers, and dishwashers there were. How does so much stuff get damaged?

Shannon Love|6.24.09 @ 4:12PM|#

Russ,

How does so much stuff get damaged?

Rental properties. People don't take as much care and landlords are more sensitive to minor dents and dings when it comes time to rent a property.

You also have upper income people who buy new stuff on a schedule or who buy new units for aesthetic reasons. A neighbor of mine installs hardwood flooring and a client of his gave him a brand new dishwasher because he wanted one of a different color.

Russ 2000|6.24.09 @ 4:20PM|#

Shannon, these are brand-new appliances I'm talking about.

|6.24.09 @ 4:22PM|#

Is that some mickey's in the middle row on the door? Damn! and who keeps their liquor in the fridge? freezer, maybe...

Alan Vanneman|6.24.09 @ 4:23PM|#

I bought two new refrigerators. I need the space to hold all my fancy fromage.

|6.24.09 @ 4:23PM|#

Shannon, these are brand-new appliances I'm talking about.

Those bastards are heavy, awkward, and easily marked.

I've bought a few scratch 'n' dents in my day. Always a hell of a deal, especially of the mark is where it won't show.

|6.24.09 @ 4:37PM|#

I prefer:

Stimulus II: Electric Boogaloo

syskill|6.24.09 @ 4:45PM|#

Mmm... Double Chocolate Stout...

|6.24.09 @ 4:54PM|#

Is that some mickey's in the middle row on the door? Damn! and who keeps their liquor in the fridge? freezer, maybe...

I can attest that those are indeed 6 hand grenades nestled snugly in the door.

Also, I keep liquor in the refrigerated part as well as in the freezer, because I don't have enough room in my freezer for all my bottles and I want to keep everything together. And cold.

|6.24.09 @ 5:00PM|#

Looks sort of like my garage fridge. Except for the Mickeys. That stuff gives me the shivering trots.

creech|6.24.09 @ 5:30PM|#

If you have seven handbags, twenty five blouses and thirty pairs of shoes, you can get all frugal and not buy when one gets ratty, torn, scuffed, etc. But if you have one refrig and it reaches the end of its lifetime, I think you'll buy another regardless.

NeonCat|6.24.09 @ 5:48PM|#

I don't know about the rest of America but I made a major (for me) purchase last month paid for mostly with my income tax refund. I would not be surprised if a lot of people did the same thing - took the (interest free) overpayment and bought something. Or, to put it another way, don't expect the same thing to happen this month.

|6.24.09 @ 5:59PM|#

Okay, I see Mickey's, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Kelly's Irish, Woodchuck Cider, Shiner Bock (or possibly some other Shiner product) and an unidentified Dogfish Head beer. Can anybody figure out the bottles on the top shelf? They've got me stumped...

|6.24.09 @ 6:08PM|#

Do not store the bourbon in the fridge.

|6.24.09 @ 7:07PM|#

Can anybody figure out the bottles on the top shelf? They've got me stumped...

Killian's Irish Red.

Craig|6.24.09 @ 7:39PM|#

I think it's more freezers than refrigerators -- people are becoming more frugal, and you can buy cheap cuts of meat in bulk and freeze them for later.

Either that or it's all the deadbeat "homeowners" who've stopped paying their mortgages, are living essentially rent-free, and are yet to be evicted by the banks (who are too scared to book the losses), and are now starting to charge up their credit cards with no intent of ever repaying them, since their credit is shot anyway.

Seer|6.24.09 @ 10:45PM|#

Hey, I have that same fridge.

wingnutx|6.24.09 @ 11:42PM|#

I'm buying durable goods now before inflation kicks in.

GILMORE|6.24.09 @ 11:43PM|#

Mickey's is awesome.

Killians sucks bulls.

That is all.

|6.25.09 @ 12:09PM|#

I bought a new fridge last weekend. I paid for it with the property tax refund I got from the county after they finally agreed that the house I bought 2 years ago was only worth what I actually paid for it and not twice that. The electric utility sent a guy out to pick up the old fridge and I got $50 for replacing the old clunker with an energy star appliance.