Biden’s America: More Americans to Skip Buying Christmas Gifts Due to Inflation
Almost two-thirds who are skipping christmas earned less than $50,000 per year
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According to a record number of Americans, Christmas will not be about buying gifts this year due to supply chain disruptions and inflation concerns.
According to a new survey, around 11% of Americans said they don't expect to spend any money on presents during the festive season, a holiday retail survey by Deloitte revealed.
The number of Americans skipping gifts is the highest since Deloitte started its survey in the 1980s and more than double the share of shoppers in 2020.
Out of those not buying gifts, almost two-thirds earned less than $50,000 per year.
Those in the $100,000 income bracket expected to spend $2,624 on gifts, which is a 15% increase from last year.
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Those earning less than $50,000 expected to spend $536 on gifts, which decreased 22% compared to last year.
“This tale of two holidays is a pretty good reflection of the tale of two pandemics, right?” Stephen Rogers, managing director of Deloitte’s consumer industry center, told CNBC in an interview.
“What starts off as a health crisis turns into a financial crisis if you’re in the lower-income.”
Biden’s Approval Hits New Low as Inflation, Gas Prices, and Unemployment Soar
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Americans cited concerns about inflation as the reason not to buy gifts, as 39% said they expected to spend more on gifts because “things cost more this year in general."
“It’s just going to be tough on a fair number of folks,” Rod Sides, vice chairman of retail and distribution at Deloitte, told CNBC.
“When gas prices, food prices and those kinds of normal things continue to rise at the pace that we’re seeing, there’s this uncertainty that says, ‘I probably don’t need to splurge on that particular item, because now I have to cover my rent, and maybe I didn’t before.’”
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The news comes weeks after the American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs warned that soaring inflation was the United States' greatest threat.
According to a new analysis from the bank, inflation will eclipse anything else, such as pandemic-induced lockdowns, as the primary threat to economic growth.
The report from Goldman Sachs states that the Federal Reserve will soon start hiking up interest rates as inflation continues to throttle America.
"Higher-than-expected US inflation recently prompted us to pull forward our forecast for Fed liftoff by a full year to July 2022," the report reveals.
