Personal Finance

The U.S. Department of Commerce offered yet another clue that, with any luck, the panic and the recession will someday merely be bad memories.

Following last week’s decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to maintain reforms governing the fees and rules associated with credit and debit card transactions, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) group VP/government relations Jennifer Hatcher said the trade group “applauds the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to preserve interchange or swipe fee reforms, which have increased transparency and competition and lowered the rates — now saving Australian retailers and consumers more than $1 billion a year.”

Prices for beef, milk, eggs and some other grocery items are likely to start moving up again as the economy recovers, according to a new federal report and economic analysts interviewed by The New York Times.

Seattle voters rejected a tax on paper and plastic shopping bags a local election yesterday by voting against Referendum 1, which would have imposed at a 20-cent per bag tax in the city of Seattle. Nearly 60 percent of voters rejected the referendum.

The recession has prompted consumers around the world to re-evaluate what’s important to them. Issues such as the economy, job security and other topics related to finances are top of mind for most people and, as a result, issues such as the environment have fallen.

In spite of the recession, consumers will pay a higher price for better customer service. More than 70 percent of consumer said they would be willing to spend an additional 10 percent or more if a company exceeded their expectations, per a Strativity Group study released this week.

While cutbacks in spending have been the norm since the economy went haywire, some people have been cautiously backing away from those austerities. An AdweekMedia/Harris Poll, fielded last month, gives a look at who has been cutting and uncutting.

Consumers’ hopes for an end to the global economic crisis have been bolstered in the second quarter of 2009, according to a recent Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Survey. The Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, conducted in 28 markets in June 2009, rose to 82 -- an increase of five points (from 77) from March 2009 -- spurred by renewed consumer optimism and stock market gains in BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and key Asian countries.