Exactly. Inflation raises prices, people spend more just to buy the same stuff. The government says “retail spending is up! Everything is cool!” Oh and btw, when they take out spending for gas the “spike” was all of .9%.
Right you are.
1.009^12 = 11.4% annual inflation which is close to the real inflation rate. So that 0.9% month-over-month gain is just inflation! There is NO gain in REAL terms.
The good news is that REAL spending is not going down.
That and people are “pre-buying” in the knowledge that everything is continuing to skyrocket.