{"id":1149596,"date":"2021-12-24T08:19:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1149596"},"modified":"2021-12-24T08:19:42","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T13:19:42","slug":"omicron-fears-spook-consumers-slow-economic-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/omicron-fears-spook-consumers-slow-economic-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Omicron Fears Spook Consumers, Slow Economic Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fomicron-fears-spook-consumers-slow-economic-recovery%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1149596&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Early signs indicate that the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus could be slowing economic growth in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Key metrics, such as consumer spending and restaurant seating, saw declines in the past few weeks. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/consumer-spending-personal-income-inflation-november-2021-11640215420?mod=hp_lead_pos1\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a> summarized:<\/p>\n<p>The number of diners seated at restaurants nationwide was down 15% in the week ended Dec. 22 from the same period in 2019, a steeper decline than in late November, data from reservations site OpenTable show. U.S. hotel occupancy was at 53.8% for the week ended Dec. 18, slightly below the previous week\u2019s level, according to STR, a global hospitality data and analytics company.<\/p>\n<p>Rising case numbers are leading many businesses to close for a short period, entertainment venues to cancel shows, universities to shift classes online and offices to delay or reverse reopening plans\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Consumers boosted their spending by 0.6% last month, a slowdown from 1.4% growth in October, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Economists attributed part of the November slowdown to consumers shifting their holiday purchases a month earlier, amid warnings of potential shortages due to supply-chain problems.<\/p>\n<p>As Western consumers, businesses, and policymakers adjust their behavior in response to Omicron \u2014 which experts believe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/omicron-causes-milder-illness-than-delta-uk-government-report-says\">causes milder illness<\/a> than the Delta variant \u2014 economists are calling for an end to panic and government overreach.<\/p>\n<p>John Tamny \u2014 the director of FreedomWorks\u2019 Center for Economic Freedom, editor of RealClearMarket, and economic author \u2014 told The Daily Wire that politicians are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/economist-politicians-panicking-they-will-suddenly-lack-a-podium-from-which-to-grandstand-if-covid-becomes-endemic\">worried<\/a> about their political future if Omicron is indeed no cause for concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is surely evidence of politicians panicking, both about a virus that thinks so little of all that they do to mitigate its spread, but also panic that if and when the virus becomes endemic, politicians will suddenly lack a podium from which to grandstand,\u201d Tamny said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf war is the health of the State, then \u2018crises\u2019 are the State\u2019s oxygen,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe political classes need what they\u2019ve manufactured to lack an endpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cExcept that the joke\u2019s on them,\u201d Tamny added. \u201cIf the virus is really so threatening as to require responses as dramatic as \u2018papers\u2019 and child mandates, then that\u2019s the surest sign that political force is wholly superfluous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Bill Ackman \u2014 who leads the firm Pershing Square Capital Management \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/its-time-to-stop-forcing-vaccinations-living-in-fear-of-covid-hedge-fund-manager-says\">said<\/a> that people should stop living in \u201cfear of COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have reached the stage in the Covid crisis where our attention needs to focus on severity and protecting those who are vulnerable rather than case counts,\u201d Ackman said on social media. \u201cWhile unvaccinated Americans are still at risk, the vax decision is a personal one. We need to give the healthcare system the resources it needs, and we need to start living again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears that Omicron will \u2018vaccinate\u2019 everyone who isn\u2019t already vaccinated. Let\u2019s protect the vulnerable and continue to live our lives. The beginning of the end of living in fear of Covid is near,\u201d Ackman added in another post.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\">member<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Early signs indicate that the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus could be slowing economic growth in the United States. Key metrics, such as consumer spending and restaurant seating, saw declines in the past few weeks. The Wall Street Journal summarized: The number of diners seated at restaurants nationwide was down 15% in the week &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1149596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}