Consumer Spending in 2006

University of Maryland business professor predicts that consumers will buy less in the upcoming year. Gas prices have declined after post-Katrina, but it is still up 5 % over last year's. He doesn't expect people to buckle over the holidays, but he says, "watch out for the post-holiday blues when people realize that they're poorer in the new year that they were a year ago."

With that in mind, mortgage rates are starting to increase once again. It is said that the nation's housing market has made consumers feel wealthier, acting as a bulwark agaisnt the summer's rising energy prices.

Do you think UM business professor Peter Morici is going to be right? Will consumers spend less in 2006 and cause the economy to suffer?