We read this and regardless of the statistics regarding consumer spending and sentiment disseminated, this stat signals a sea change in consumer behavior to us. For a very long time, USA consumers supported a financial ecosystem fueled by purchasing non essential items with their discretionary spending. But we are seeing major realignments in the perception and most importantly the value of “stuff’ in the eyes of the masses. If markets are defined by categories of goods and services then general merchandise described as pure impulse buying is now the area of consumer retrenchment and if pawn shops are target destinations all of a sudden then we are seeing a huge migration away from that type of future spending. The economic ramifications of this are enormous long term.Certainly something to keep your eye on moving forward.