Are we bought out?

Glenn Reynolds thinks so...

Meanwhile, I was at Target this morning and the aisles were clogged (literally!) with deeply discounted clearance merchandise, but not with shoppers. I was in and out in a trice, but this suggest to me that (1) they didn't sell all that stuff before Christmas; and (2) they still aren't selling it now. This -- plus the fact that everyone we know seems to have a lot of stuff, and complain more about lack of closet spacee than about lack of possessions -- suggests to me that consumers are bought-out. There just isn't new stuff to buy that people want enough to spend the money.

Makes a lot of sense. You have no idea how many people my age just don't want anything. There is always something but as our society becomes more affluent, we just have less needs and even we are realizing that we have a lot of stuff. That an 1.5% about the best year ever is not a bad year, just not as good as year as you have hoped.