Like there’s no tomorrow

A visit to a Tennessee gun store owner reveals a business shifting from half online, half in-store sales to almost entirely smaller in-store purchases, as online fraud pushes buyers toward big retailers like Walmart. Customers who once spent six or seven hundred dollars per visit now spend a couple hundred.

Meanwhile the piece notes Houthi forces advancing toward a key strait at the bottom of the Arabian peninsula, threatening oil shipments, alongside reports that Iran may be acquiring hypersonic missiles. Diesel prices, meanwhile, jumped fifty cents in a single day outside Salt Lake City.

The juxtaposition — falling small-business receipts, rising war risk, and a spiking fuel price — reads as a snapshot of consumer spending holding up even as the future looks increasingly uncertain.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.