With encouraging COVID-19 vaccine approvals tantalizingly close, a milestone or a turning-of-the-corner moment feels near. Such moments are often a good time to look back, and to also peer forward. As we do that in the context of the consumer economy, interestingly, a key theme in both the post-mortem of the last nine months and […]

Target continues to top the lists of major retailers thriving during the pandemic, even as many businesses struggle. CEO Brian Cornell recently pointed to one factor that has allowed Target to make the best out of an unprecedentedly bad situation — the fact that at Target you can buy most anything. The retailer has been […]

Last week I received an email from my town’s alert system: “The Health Department and City are advising any persons spending time in the bar area at [Restaurant]…between November 3 and November 12, 2020 to obtain a COVID-19 test. If dining in another part of the restaurant or outdoors, patrons are advised to consult a […]

With a new administration on the horizon in January, we review what President-Elect Joseph Biden has said about the tariffs the Trump administration imposed on China beginning in January 2018.  As a reminder, the U.S. has cited several precipitating factors for the tariffs, including economic issues, such as China’s unwillingness to protect American intellectual property […]

Watching the election play out last week, many of us were reminded of and saddened by the deep divides that have become a defining feature of modern American politics. Many of us were left wondering what, if anything, can ever bring Americans closer together again. As specialists in the consumer economy, we at Consensus often […]