Take A Vacation And Help The Economy!

Between 1976 and 2000, we Americans took an average of 20 vacation days.  Since then, we have averaged just 16 days a year.  These vacation days include national holidays so, when you factor out Christmas, New Year’s day, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans day, Martin Luther King day etc.,  most Americans no longer take a two week vacation.

This means that Americans, on average, do not take 169 million vacation days a year.  This lack of vacationing costs the U.S. economy $275 billion, annually, in lost spending.  This equates to 1.7% of the country’s GDP, proving that time is money!

Thanks to Dr. Elliot Eisenberg for this one.

GDP Growth

The economy is slowly and steadily improving.  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew a healthy 3.5% in the 3’d quarter while employment wages and benefits rose by .7% in both the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Wages and salaries rose by over 5% annually-adjusted in the 3rd quarter, as well.


The best news is that all these increases are not causing inflation to rise.  It’s been steady at 1.5% year over year, well within the Fed’s comfort level.

What does all this mean?

The economy is picking up steam without negatively affecting inflation … sooooo … no impetus for the Fed to raise interest rates.

Good news for us all.