The invisible tax that is inflation effects consumer spending, Chief Economist Joseph Brusuelas tells The Wall Street Journal:

"Inside these data is a vivid example of just debilitating even a moderate rise in inflation can be on personal expenditures. For the second straight month personal disposable income saw no increase and real expenditures strongly implied that the consumer has capsized. Even the one bright note inside the data - the 0.7% rise in savings - does not shine as bright as it might have given the continuing rise n headline costs... That effort to save more over time will be reduced in real terms by inflation... The invisible tax that is inflation will continue to erode the real income and expenditures of consumers at a time when the economy ex fiscal stimulus is stagnant." - Joseph Brusuelas, Merk Investments