Credit keeps consumers consuming
Marketplace
Marketplace
4.6 • 8.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 January 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Retail sales ended last year strong, despite a somewhat uneasy economic mood. Today, we dig into a tool many spenders used to keep up: credit. Non-housing debt just hit a record high, according to the New York Federal Reserve — that includes credit card and buy now, pay later purchasing. Also in this episode: Activist legal groups strategize in anticipation of Trump’s second term, history-themed media is having a moment and housing starts leapt up from November to December.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're |
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| 0:24.8 | Unlimited and guarantee of price of two years in your plan. No, don't expect. Cogne. Require Cogne, limited, guarantee of price, no include, impuces and cargos, velocity of data, mobile, is reduced after 20 gigas a month. On the program today, the week that was, of course, and the four years to come in this economy. |
| 0:42.5 | From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. |
| 0:53.7 | In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizzdahl. |
| 1:10.2 | It is Friday. Today, this one is the 17th of January. It is always to have you along, everybody. We will get to the next four years in this economy in a minute or two. But before we do, there is this week's business to attend to. Catherine Rampel is at the Washington Post. Jordan Holman is at the New York Times. Hey, you too. |
| 1:17.5 | Hey, Kai. Jordan, let me start with you and retail sales. The American consumer keeps on buying. |
| 1:21.6 | Here's what I want to know from you. In your conversations with the people who are running retail in this economy, how do they keep us hooked? How do they keep us spending? Because, I mean, we've been |
| 1:28.7 | saying this for years now. The consumers driving this economy. And how long can it last? And, oh, look, |
| 1:33.3 | it still does. Okay. I talked to several retail executives this week. And some of them said they were |
| 1:40.3 | even surprised by how much people were spent in November and December. But I think it's a few |
| 1:47.0 | things. It is actually becoming harder to sell people on necklaces or something higher, you know, |
| 1:53.2 | priced. But they're using a lot of personalized data or like at very specific ads. They're figuring out ways how to entice people. |
| 2:03.3 | And also the other thing you think of a Walmart or a Costco, this kind of one-stop shop |
| 2:08.7 | retailer, they're the ones who are really gaining market share. |
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