“It’s very clear that consumers are running out of money. They’re increasingly stressed by inflation and the exhaustion of their pandemic-era savings. When you take a look over the last several years, what you see month after month, everyone talks about, the consumer’s still spending. They might be, but they’re spending less than the growth of inflation,” Storch Advisors CEO Gerald Storch told Fox Bussiness’ Maria Bartiromo on Thursday during an interview.

This chart sums up the consumer’s dire state.

We noted earlier this week that the National Retail Federation’s annual Prosper Insights & Analytics survey showed lower forecasted spending trends for Halloween among consumers nationwide. The last time this happened was just before the Covid crash. All eyes should be on upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday to gauge holiday shopping trends.

One last thing: perhaps mounting economic hardships are some of the drivers as to why US drinking rates have surged to the highest levels since the 1970s inflation storm.

Millions of Americans feel stressed in this disastrous Bidenomics era—it’s only a matter of time before something gives.