One of the arguments as to why the US economy has remained strong despite the “experts” continuously calling for an apocalypse has been consumer demand.However, the long-term uptrend in consumerism is starting to show some cracks, as indicates by a couple key market indicators of boxed beef and Starbucks.McDonald’s has become a hybrid between Starbucks and boxed beef, with the strategy to get away from a lower priced menu leading to a quarterly earnings miss as well.This week we are seeing the release of the latest round of US inflation numbers, with April’s Producer Price Index (PPI), release…