MUMBAI: The Obama Administration is focused on trying to stimulate the economy and is actively encouraging spending. Americans, however, are not that inclined to spend and are still decreasing the amount they will be spending on eating out and entertainment.
These are some of the results from The Harris Poll, a new study of 2,355 US adults surveyed online between 9 and 16 March, 2009 by Harris Interactive.
Americans are cutting back on their spending over the next six months. Specifically:
* Three quarters of Americans say it is likely that they will decrease spending on eating out in restaurants (74 per cent) and reduce their spending on entertainment (74 per cent). This is up from November when 65 per cent said they would decrease spending on eating out and 64 per cent would reduce entertainment spending;
* Two-thirds of Americans (65 per cent) say it is not likely they will take a vacation away from home lasting longer than a week while 35 per cent say they will vacation away from home. In November, three in ten (29 per cent) of Americans said they would be likely to take a trip;
* Large purchases will also suffer as more than three-quarters of Americans say it is not likely they will buy a new computer (78 per cent), move to a different residence (80 per cent), buy or lease a new car, truck or van (89 per cent), purchase a house or condo (90 per cent), start a new business (90 per cent) or buy a boat or recreational vehicle (95 per cent). These numbers are all very similar to November so people are still not ready to spend on the big-ticket items;
* Only one in five Americans (21 per cent) say it is likely they will have more money to spend the way they want in the next six months which is slightly down from 25 per cent in November; and,
* People are split on saving or investing as 50 per cent say it is likely they will save or invest more money while 50 per cent say it is not likely they will do so, almost unchanged from November when 49 per cent said they were likely to save or invest and 51 per cent said it was not likely.
