The rising cost of food and fuel is adding to the pinch, curbing the spending power of millions and delaying a meaningful recovery in consumer spending for the forthcoming Christmas in the US, MSNBC reported.

Many poor have decided not to buy gifts in Christmas. In contrast, sales at luxury stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom Inc. have soared all year and their November sales -- Saks' same-store sales rose 9.3 percent -- show holiday sales are off to a strong starts.

The wealthy don't pull back much on luxury even when markets are rough because their "spending money" is not tied up in the stock market, said Jonathan Bergman, a vice president at Palisades Hudson Financial Group.

Millionaires, who account for nearly half of U.S. luxury sales, have enough cash to keep up their spending habits even if their income droops for a year.

(China.org.cn December 12, 2011)

據MSNBC報道，在美國，食物、燃料價格的上漲使窮人更加苦惱，上百萬人的消費力下降，而且面對即將到來的圣誕節，似乎沒有恢復的可能性。

許多窮人已經決定不買圣誕節的禮物。而相反，奢侈品商店，如薩克斯第五大道及諾德斯特龍的銷量卻全年飄紅，薩克斯11月份的銷量還增長了9.3%，顯示出節日消費的強勢勁頭。

帕利塞茲胡森金融集團的副總裁喬納森·伯格曼稱，富人在市場情況不好的時候，也不會減少奢侈品的消費，因為他們的“零花錢”沒有陷在股市里。

占美國奢侈品銷售近一半的客戶都是百萬富翁，即使他們的收入一年內都在下降，他們還是有足夠的現金來保持他們的消費習慣。