Kai Risdahl

Equipment is being used.

And Kate says companies like the chipmaker NVIDIA are making revenue from sales, not just relying on investment.

Looking ahead, Shannon Grein of Wells Fargo says she'll be watching consumer spending for hints of where GDP might be headed later this year.

Today's report showed a slowdown in consumer spending on goods.

If it continues, Grein says that could be a drag on economic growth.

I'm Daniel Ackerman for Marketplace.

As we are wont to do when we get a whole lot of macroeconomic data, as we did today, the micro is where we turn.

We've called two of our retail regulars to get their take on things from the other side of the cash register.

First up, Kalina Bruce.

She runs Noir Lux Candle Bar up in Seattle, Washington.

While the flying public is dealing with airline ticket prices 20% or more above where they were not all that long ago, airlines are dealing with a different problem.

Old planes and old people fixing those planes.

Alison Pohle wrote about the shortage of aircraft technicians and mechanics in the Wall Street Journal the other day.

Welcome to the program.

How did we get here with aircraft mechanics being in such short supply?

All right.

So what's the industry doing?

All right.

So we'll get to the retirement thing in a minute, but let's go to the other end of that pipeline.

If I'm a 20-year-old kid in a vocational program someplace studying, you know, airframes and power plants, how much am I looking to make if I get hired at, you know, United or whatever?