A problem with stats….
They can be easily manipulated to show whatever one wants.
Case in point, "Black Friday" sales.
What is "Black Friday"?
Is it just the Friday after Thanksgiving?
Or has it been extended to "Black Friday" weekend, even "Black Friday" week?
Most every major retailer I've seen have extended their "Black Friday" sales through the weekend, and most often extending into the week after.
So, it seems the Statisticians may be comparing apples to oranges….
I.e. one single day "Black Friday" sales of the past to "Black Friday" week-long sales this year.
Much like those continuing to claim that "unemployment" is at historic lows, failing to recognize & point out the fact that the BLS has revised & redefined the term "unemployment" to systematically exclude those long-term unemployed persons (i.e. "discouraged" worker), whom have been out of work for up to 12 months.
And after 12 months become defined as "long term discouraged", in order to shuffle them off into yer another oft-ignored column.
"In economics, a discouraged worker is a person of legal employment age….who has not found employment after long-term unemployment, but who would prefer to be working."
"In the United States, a discouraged worker is defined as a person not in the labor force who wants and is available for a job and who has looked for work sometime in the past 12 months (or since the end of his or her last job if a job was held within the past 12 months), but who is not currently looking because of real or perceived poor employment prospects."
(source = BLS Glossary)
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not count discouraged workers as unemployed"
(Source = BLS)
Never mind the fact that any "increase" in spending is being fueled by higher prices, not increased activity.
BEWARE OF HIGHLY MANIPULATIVE NARRATIVES & STATS.