Coffee Break: Contentment slows retail growth

I'm beginning to think that it's not a lack of consumer "confidence" that has put the brakes on the economy in the last year, particularly in terms of retail spending. For many of us, I think it began as a matter of consumer contentment.

Don't get me wrong. The cost of utilities and fuel have definitely taken a bite out of everyone's ability to buy in recent months. And those living right up to their income have been hit hard. They're not concerned with buying durable goods; they're concerned with feeding their families, heating their homes and getting where they need to go.

But even before natural gas prices gave everyone indigestion, spending had clearly and measurably slowed.

I have my own theory.

To be sure, I'm no economist, and I don't claim any special insight into the workings of commerce, but I am one heck of a consumer. And where I found myself in the last 12 months utility bill aside is a place I wouldn't mind staying for a while.

In recent years, a lot of people have made good money. Wages have been high, unemployment low and the price of goods reasonable. Most of us have been able to buy the things we needed. Many of us also bought a lot of things we merely wanted the optional accessories of living.

Perhaps we slowed our buying because, on some level, we were satisfied or we just ran out of space to store it all.

I am not rich. I earn enough to pay the bills, buy the groceries and go out for the occasional meal.

However, I am one of the many Americans who bought their own homes in the last decade. If mortgage rates drop low enough, I'll definitely refinance. Meanwhile, my current rate is good, and my payments are reasonable. I am content to rest on my asset.

I drive a 12-year-old truck. I just had some engine and transmission work done, and it's running like a dream. I'm not looking to impress anybody by what I drive, I'm just looking to get where I'm going. Don't count on me to bolster the new-car industry I am content to keep on trucking.

In the last five years I acquired a home computer, a house, a few items of new furniture, a truck, minor appliances and a second dog. With the possible exception of the now outdated computer, I will not need to purchase any of these items again for several years. I am launching a focused campaign to pay off MasterCard for what I already have. I am content to catch up and get ahead.

From here on out, my expenditures are going to be for necessities and to maintain and improve what I have a new stove, new roof, central air and a paint job for the house; new tires for the truck; maybe a new bathtub. But none of these items are so pressing that I have to go out and buy them tomorrow. I will wait for the best deal and the best rate.

And before I go out and spend, I also plan to heed the loud and continuous exhortations of the financial services industry to pay off my debts, save as much money as I can and to invest as much as I can for my retirement.

The problem with our economy is that it has become dependent on people spending money they don't have for things they don't need fill in the blank.

Welcome to my new economy: If it isn't durable, functional and available at a great price, I'm not buying.

(Clarissa French is the editor of the Springfield Business Journal.)