My sales are down about 52% this morning. Guessing the game of musical Straights isnât reflecting well on buyer confidence. Everything is fine.
Youâre not selling snacks on ânationalâ weed day.
This is true
You mean âNational Random Drug Test Eveâ.
Nope âŚ
Funnily, it is a perfect day for some THC
I heard the news today, oh boy
ORIGINAL DATA: https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/
(Home page. Use tabs for details.)
News round up. A wide source offering so that you canât get mad at all of them.
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U.S. Consumer Sentiment Tumbles Much More Than Previously Estimated In May
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Consumer sentiment hits fresh record low in May as Iran war fuels inflation worries
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https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/22/economy/consumer-sentiment-final-may
A screenshot of google search and current headlines
For me, this tells us what retailers are up against in mid-2026. This is unprecedented. Some old tricks might still work, might work with updating, or might have zero relevance. 
In this day and age, does it matter that people are disgruntled?
Across the entirety of the US there are plenty of people who have substantial excess income, those that have a bit more than enough, those that are living paycheck to paycheck, and those who are way behind.
Just because people would rather be spending less on gas, groceries, etc doesnât mean theyâre actually going to completely stop consuming.
It is nothing like when you actually had to have cash on hand to buy something.
Everything is almost truly a digital shell game at this point.
At any point in time, there are people who are winners and people who are losers.
Negative consumer sentiment is not limited to those who are economic losers. Nor does negative consumer sentiment tell us how those who are unhappy will show their unhappiness, other than in answering a survey question.
Will the winners behave differently than the losers will? Will they push for dramatic change which might make them losers?
Where is the data which quantifies how many winners there are today, from in the past, and how the winners are distributed.
My business is dependent on the winners being able to buy, and I have already had to adjust for the losers being unable to buy some merchandise they do not need.
Nothing new about not needing cash on hand to buy something. Layaway, payment plans and credit cards are not new and arenât a shell game.
True, but many of us here are not selling household necessities and staples. Itâs the âwantsâ that bow to the âneedsâ when money concerns enter the chat.
And between these headlines and these data, the fact that middle-income households and older shoppers are starting to lean more on payment strategies that have been previously perceived as riskier or the behaviors of less stable incomes is an interesting framework around how low consumer sentiment can affect Sellersâ bottom lines in 2026.
Which could impact a consumerâs credit score if payments are not made on time. Also, if a particular consumer has multiple BNPL loans active, there is the potential of actually lowering the credit score if the debt-to-credit ratio increases too much.
The scourge of BNPL is just as bad as private equity wanting to be in everyoneâs 401K. Neither should be allowed.
Are payments through Affirm or Klarna considered loans for the purposes of debt ratio?
And what about this thing?
Iâm asking you because I know you know the answers and will not be guessing or musing 
From Affirmâs help center https://helpcenter.affirm.com/s/article/affirm-credit-reporting-policy
From Klarna https://www.klarna.com/us/help/payments/what-happens-if-i-can-t-pay-on-time/
It is usually on a case-by-case basis which company will share what. What people forget is that if/when they donât pay, then those loans can be sold to debt collectors which are much more likely to report to the credit bureaus.
What I thought was strange is that a couple days ago, CNBC ranked the best BNPL apps
It offends me to say that I am strongly opposed to non-bank lending. As bad as the reputation of banks has been for over 200 years in the US, I have known more people who went broke due to non-bank lenders and their practices.
I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I made a lot of money, at one point in time buying inventory at auction which was being liquidated on the behalf of floor planners.
The private equity investments to consumers is just another sucker bet. Most of those âinvestmentsâ are just a more opaque version of another of our governmentâs attempts to offer us a tax advantage. The only difference is BDCs are more honestly valued because of the effects of markets. I have lost money on BDCs which is the same story as others who were not insiders.