Retail Spending Trend United States

Retail spending in the United States continues to increase, 1992-2017

Eric Garland DataLab

Courtesy of Calculated Risk, fine purveyors of macroeconomic data charts, we have the 25 year trend for retail spending in the United States. Retail is shifting in myriad other ways other than total spending, but the quarter-century trend is an incremental, constant increase. Not pictured: the bifurcation of “Dollar Stores” and luxury “experience” retail, consolidation of big box “category killers,” …

US Total Vehicle Miles Traveled 1970-2015

US total vehicle miles traveled is increasing again

Eric Garland DataLab

Forecasts for the end of the car in the United States have their basis in trends of total vehicle miles traveled, which seemed to peak around 2007 and which failed to recover with “The Recovery.” Right along with the plummeting price of oil, total miles have been increasing, as shown in this chart from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. More …