A Wall Street Journal story on May 19th echoed a familiar conclusion:

• “Nobody is spending money right now”

Based on what?

One man, whose values were altered by a brush with cancer, tried to sell his entire ocean-front estate and most of his belongings in a single-day auction. Those belongings included a room full of hunting trophies, 8 rare parrots, antique road signs, pricey cars and more. 

One hundred bargain hunters and an online crowd walked away with 500 items including a wildebeest for $250, an elephant head for $6,750, a Pennzoil sign for $75, a Country Motor Coach for $150,000, a motorcycle for $9,500, and much more.

While Mr. Peacock is disappointed that he didn’t unload everything in one day that he has spent years accumulating and that he didn’t recoup his investments, I can’t see leaping to the conclusion that people aren’t spending any money right now. On the contrary, this strikes me as proof that people will spend money right now. Last I checked, elephant heads were not considered a necessity.