Cuddling and Egg McMuffins Show Economic Slowdown Underway

What do escorts and McDonald’s have in common? Both are responding to the end of economic growth, says Andrew Zatlin of Moneyball Economics.
When times get tough and people are less willing to part with their money, businesses get creative. Zatlin tracks consumer spending and business trends not just in food and dining, but also on economically-sensitive vices – alcohol, gambling, escorts, and the like – and says a pattern is emerging: ‘organic business growth has stopped and new approaches are needed,’ he writes.
In this case, after seeing sales decline for multiple quarters, fast-food giant McDonald’s decided to reach out to new customers by launching an all-day breakfast menu, which generally sells at lower prices than non-breakfast food items.
Like any other business facing a protracted decline in sales, escorts have taken a similar approach by expanding their menu to a larger array of discount items – in this case, by offering “professional cudding.”
It’s all about packaging and positioning, says Zatlin. Organic growth just isn’t there anymore so businesses across the board are resorting to new marketing fads, discounts, extra services, or whatever they need to do in order to maintain revenues, which are increasingly coming under pressure.
Here’s what Zatlin told Financial Sense in a recent podcast:

This post was published at FinancialSense on 05/25/2016.