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Retail Disaster: Holiday Sales Crater by 11%, Online Spend Declines: NRF Blames Shopping Fiasco On "Stronger Economy"
Last year was bad. This year is an outright disaster.
As we reported earlier using ShopperTrak data, the first two days of the holiday shopping season were already showing a -0.5% decline across bricks-and-mortar stores, following a "cash for clunkers"-like jump in early promotions which pulled demand forward with little follow through in the remaining shopping days. However, not even we predicted the shocker just released from the National Retail Federation, the traditionally cheery industry organization, which just reported absolutely abysmal numbers: sales during the four-day Thanksgiving holiday period crashed by a whopping 11% from $57.4 billion to $50.9 billion, confirming what everyone but the Fed knows by now: the US middle class is being obliterated, and that key driver of 70% of US economic growth is in the worst shape it has been since the Lehman collapse, courtesy of 6 years of Fed's ruinous central planning.
Demonstrating the sad state of America's "economic dynamo", shoppers spent an average only $380.95, down 6.4% from $407.02 a year earlier. In fact, as the NRF charts below demonstrate, there was a decline across virtually every tracked spending category (source):
As the WSJ reports, NRF's CEO Matt Shay attributed the drop to a combination of factors, including the fact that retailers moved promotions earlier this year in attempt to get people out sooner and avoid what happened last year when people didn’t finish their shopping because of bad weather.
Also did we mention the NRF is perpetually cheery and always desperate to put a metric ton of lipstick on a pig? Well, hold on to your hats folks:
He also attributed the declines to better online offerings and an improving economy where “people don’t feel the same psychological need to rush out and get the great deal that weekend, particularly if they expected to be more deals,” he said.
And of course the sprint vs marathon comparisons, such as this one: "The holiday season and the weekend are a marathon not a sprint,” NRF Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shay said on a conference call. Odd how that metaphor is never used when the (seasonally-adjusted) sprint beats the marathoners.
So there you have it: a 11% collapse in retail spending has just been spun as super bullish for the US economy, whereby US consumers aren't spending because the economy is simply too strong, and the only reason they don't spend is because they will spend much more later. Or something.
Apparently the plunge in Americans who even care about bargains is also an indication of an economic resurgence:
The retail trade group said the number of people who went shopping over the four-day weekend declined by 5.2% to 134 million, from 141 million last year.
Finally, what we said earlier about a surge in online sales, well forget it - it was a lie based on the now traditional skewed perspectives from a few self-servcing industry organizations:
Despite many retailers offering the same discounts on the Web as they offered in stores, the Internet didn’t attract more shoppers or more spending than last year. Online sales accounted for 42% of sales racked up over the four-day period, the same percentage as last year, though up from 26% in 2006, the trade group said.
In fact, it was worse: "Shoppers spent an average $159.55 online, down 10.2% from $177.67 last year."
But the propaganda piece de resistance is without doubt the following:
“A highly competitive environment, early promotions and the ability to shop 24/7 online all contributed to the shift witnessed this weekend,” Mr. Shay said.
So to summarize: holiday sales plunged, and Americans refused to shop because the economy is "stronger than ever" and because Americans have the option of shopping whenever, which is why they didn't shop in the first place. That, and of course plunging gasoline prices leading to... plunging retail sales, just as all the economists "correctly" predicted.
Goebbels approves.
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Keep saying Recovery... it will stick eventually
Layoff / Closing List: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
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WOW! Sounds like just out of Supermans BIZZARO WORLD
Gas was too cheap and consumers had to much money so their wallets couldn't fit in their pockets to go out into the polar vortex
The stronger ecojomy led to weaker sales.
You can keep your insurance if you like your insurance
You can keep your doctor if you like your doctor
Several years ago when I brought all the troops home from...
The sanctions are working
Racial harmony has never been as good as...
Yup
Gettin' kinda propaganda weary, "folks"
The article:
“…the US middle class is being obliterated, and that key driver (consumption) of 70% of US economic growth is in the worst shape
Consumption? Duhh!
"A man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers; he grows poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants" -- Adam Smith
Americas middle class is waiting for Fergusen like sales. That's when the merchandise really moves off the shelfs. Stay tuned, coming soon to your neighborhood.
Escrava
ZH is referring to the fact that 68% of the GDP calculation, GDP = Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + (Exports – Imports), is consumption for the USA economy.
Y = C + I + G+ NX
Japan and other countries save more and spend less, Japan 55%.
The reason is debt, we are maxed out, tapped out, and the only way out is default for many consumers. The only question being asked is when the deleveraging happens. Most ZH’ers time it at 5 years to 6.6 years in the latest boom cycle. We are at year 6 now.
I was in a TJ Maxx with my kid and his friend. We were talking to one of their friends that worked there at the checkout counter. I asked him how to make an announcement over the PA with the phone.
I said,
The manager called the cops on me. True.
You are a gentleman and a scholar. That's the best Thanksgiving story I heard this year. Who woulda thunk that reminding others to not buy things with debt would be civil disobedience.
Thankfully it hasn't impacted the markets. Oh, wait a minute...the markets are Fawked!
11.30 Deflationary Deathburger Freak Out Hitting US Futures Markets Tonight (Gold down over $50!)Economic Climate Change
This is why we cant have nice things.
Do the ologarchs know this?
If they just let the line go slack a little they could steal far far more from us.
I haven't been in a store for a week.
I bought some gasoline today, using a card at the pump.
Didn't go in the store though.
When I get the urge to spend money I go to the lcs.
Stack On
I don't consider 6.4% down "a disaster". If the average shopper spent less than $100, yeah that would be a disaster. $380 is a nice chunk of change for a weekend shopping trip to department stores.
The brick and mortar format has been dying since the early 2000s, and many people have been going online. Target.com had its best online day ever, and walmart.com had its second best day ever, only behind last year's cyber monday.
I'm not a doomer as everyone knows by now, I just see shopping habits evolve and hedge accordingly. Giant regional indoor malls died in the 1980s, Big Box stores in strip malls replaced them in the 90s, but they too are dying in the late 2000s, and eCommerce is the latest trend.
Fuck The9thDoctor.
Tyler, please fix the voting glitch.
View page source, search by comment number, click link indicated as down vote or copy link location and paste in address bar.
http://www.zerohedge.com/vote/comment/5503525/-1/vote/upanddown/5c7a4bdc....
Debt is the only spending but even that dies eventually.
I was at a car dealership Saturday about noon and there was no one there. Huge dealership advertising $12K off new pickup trucks. One of the top volume dealerships in the Dallas metro area and two people shopping.
I was at a large gun show the same day. Talking to some regular vendors there and same story. There was a lot of people there but slow sales. I suggested to one that they are suffering a deflationary period. When prices were rising, sales were brisk. But now that ammo prices have declined and there is no new gun emergency, people are waiting to see how low prices will go.
Went to Gander mountain this morning around 11am and there were maybe twenty cars in the lot (new mega store) and fewer people inside.
All anecdotal but just didn't see a lot to tell me anything good. I'm sure Walmart was kicking it but it takes a lot of Walmart sales to move the needle.
Dallas has been blessed compared to many other areas (wish my business could claim the same, but could always be worse) and I must say I see lots of new cars on the road, but how long can it last? We know energy has been one of the players here and that is now under pressure (I have several contracts with oil companies right now), but a second one is road construction. I must say after living here for 35 years I have NEVER seen so much road construction. Huge major projects everywhere. I don't know where the money is coming from, but it surely can't last.
I can't help but think that with Texas making as much noise against Obama, that funds will start coming up short. While the government enjoys any claim to positive economic news, if things start turning undeniably bad, how long will they allow Texas to be the outlier? Ideology ultimate rules and if, as I believe is true, they are ultimately out to bring this sucker to its knees, Highway, education, border security funds not to mention healthcare will find itself under pressure in Texas.
Last time I checked an FRN was a debt obligation.
I keep waiting for deflation to hit the pre-owned firearm market. . .
Been itching for a nice 4" Coly Python for basically my whole life - damn things never seem to go on sale though.
>=[
Here in Houston, there are gadzillions of new pick up trucks on empty lots a half mile from the dealerships pocketed here and there. I wish we could post photos on zerohedge. It's quite the site here in west houston.
On the new car bit...took an unscientific survey this weekend myself. Was making a note on the number of new cars on the road...so I did an impromptu survey on a 2 lane road with heavy traffic in a mid-size town in the decent neighborhood (mid-class part of town). Past 73 vehicles in 3 mile stretch. 71 appeared to be newer than 5 years (most newer than 2-3). Only 1 old beater and 1 10+ year toyota.
Recovery, yes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emdzsz_XvfA
He is a terrerist.
"You get the max for the minimum, minimum price"...if you buy nothing!
I don't know about y'all but I'm selling stuff and minimizing.
My goal is to get it down to what fits in the bed and cap of my little pick up truck.
While I'm all for keeping debt levels down, ultimately preparedness will be the most valuable as a state of mind. The ability to function under pressure, adapt and respond to changing circumstances...dealing with chaos will rule the day. Will the currency of the day be dollars, gold, lead, bread or a gallon of gas? There are lots of reasons we are where we are today but principally I think we have got here simply because we (collectively) have failed to respond properly to our challenges. Debt illustrates this perfectly in that we have chosen debt to living on our wages. Those who have resisted this temptation will be best prepared to deal with what comes, not just because of a lack of financial burden, but because they can make hard choices, show restraint, embrace austerity. Do what others will not.
The masses will stream into the streets demanding justice and find nothing but violence and a bitter end.
I am ready to go at a moments notice...what we haven't gotten rid of I can leave behind.
I hope you guys plan on going to Mexico,
It is very cold if you go the opposite direction.
-40F saturday morning here.
20 above
north of the alaskan range
very slow start on an Arctic winter
Yeah, but it's a dry cold....
And that's when a high fat diet helps.
And +20 is balmy weather you can still golf in.
Tell me you just didn't do that!!! +100. Thats awesome!! Apart from the cops showing up (a part of the story I would love to hear more about), did you get any reaction from the shoppers?
HH: So you mean it's all your fault!!!!!!!!
;)
How come all these reasons get rolled out but no-one ever says, "No-one has any money"?
I have this bizarre problem where the cheaper things are, the less money I have and I can NEVER take advantage of any bargains! Bloddy maths - it makes me poooooor!
Heads I win, tails you lose...
economics9698
+ Hedonics and - substitutions
Or something like that.
Anyway, not a mathematician because can't remember well.
Tell you "folks" what I have seen for years.
Food is being redesigned and repackaged at smaller weights/ SAME PRICE or higher....
Beef is through the roof in price...so guess the Futures were right. Other than that next time you are at a grocery store take note. Most items as be being shrunk while prices go up. Discounts for toilet paper etc. draw people in to buy the new downsized/price increased food.
ONLY deals( if you are an idiot) still are the fire sales on chips and dips. Frozen pizza. Kraft Dinner. It is the gift of obesity and diabetes that keeps on drawing people in. Eggs/meat/veggies are going through the roof. ONLY thing anyone can do is use knowledge. And grow as much as you can yourself.
Oil may be going down but the price of a healthy diet is going sky high.
AND I emphasize...major food companies are redesigning their outward packaging...and disguising the shrunken size and increase in price. Coming to a Planet near you.
If the Fergers don't pay for shit. Why should we????????
Can't wait for GTA - Ferguson Edition!!
I wanna play Holder!!!
(...Where are the Molotovs?...They gotta be a free unlock)
"A man grows rich by employing a multitude of manufacturers; he grows poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants" -- Adam Smith
In other words: ? 85% of the USA economy.
Wait until Feb, 2015, when Americans don't shop enough, and we head into that third iteration of a triple-dip depressio -- Oops, I mean recession.
Yup I've so much extra cash in my wallet I was simply unable to leverage myself out of the LayZBoy and get out to the mall.
Were it not for pizza delivery, I'd be dead from starvation by now. Everybody I know laments our common problem: Business is good and we've got so much currency we just are at a loss to spend it.
In reality we're on reduced turns - 12-15 per week, had a shutdown week, and I took another week off on VLO ... Layoffs are rumored.
No orders. Slack operations.
Just curious, what's a vlo? What's a reduced turn?
I am my own employer, my customers decide whether I live or die. Thing is, your customers (owners) decide whether you die or not as well, but you don't know your customers on a first-name basis, do you?
Did I say I don't wanna hurt you?
I will say this; If you ain't hung out your own shingle and made stuff happen with your ass and your face, you don't know shit.
VLO=voluntary lay off. time off no pay...
VLOA = Voluntary Leave Of Absence
Thought I'd live large today and get the croissant at Dunkin. Nay, veerily! All out!
Did some Hedging (yeah, that was me laughing hysterically in the corner all by my lonesome) and ..say what again!..."yes, mam. No problem getting you your croissant."
BASTARDS!
A Turn is an 8 hour shift. 3 shifts in a day, 7 days a week - full throttle thus is a 21 turn schedule. If your business is scheduled 15 turns, it means just working 5 days. 3X5.
A Short Turn is working an 8 or 16 and having to be back at work in 8 hours.
A Force is thinking you're going home, but sadly, they need more bodies or somebody called off, so you get forced to work another 8.
VLO Voluntary Lay Off
Off hand, if you'd like a pretty good read check out Rivethead by Hamper.
Employment is another delusion supported by our government that allows people to feel secure in their existence, while actually removing ever more of their ability to self sustain. People can feel secure in their job up until the day of their firing. In an economy based completely on "confidence" it is the only workable solution. For those of us self employed, we can afford no delusions, unless we are a fictional start up using venture capital from heaven, or a crony corporation on the government tit.
Its simply fantastical that so many employees will rail against their evil corrupt employers for years yet NEVER venture out on their own. Of course it is an appendage of the liberal mindset that tells them that to do so would be to engage into the corruption they despise, but never hesitate to milk dry any benefits coming from it.
Wow you sound like such a smart guy, like you have it all figured out.
Have you considered that some people just arent' very good at doing that like you probably can't design a rocket engine for crap? What would you do if you had to design a rocket engine? Would you HIRE someone? By your definition there is nobody out there who would be hireable and worth a damn. Funny that doesn't make any sense at all on your theory.
PS - I think you are being a douche in case the inference isn't clear enough.
Yes it is obvious that you are not a rocket scientist, but I do think you may be selling yourself and many others short.
My point is that historically people have been largely self employed. Now we have jobs. Jobs protected by law. Jobs that not only provide employment with a paycheck but also healthcare and retirement and vacation and holiday pay plus unemployment if you happen to lose your job.
I believe anything that creates a false sense of security damages us and this damage leaves us prey to those who would do us harm. Why would anyone WANT to be dependent upon an employer? Why would they want to be in debt? Why would they want to be reliant on welfare and government entitlements rather than dependent upon themselves?
Our governments love the concept of employment because it supports their love of dependency but it also furthers their concentration of power. What power would government have if employers were not forced to be their tax collectors? What chance would they have if they had to chase down each and every one of us for our taxes. The best part is that government charges employers with these responsibilities while also demonizing them, just as they do with police, banks, insurance companies and just about everyone else. The genius is to derive self serving policies while keeping us at each others throats throats.
The argument is not about everyone being a businessman but about retaining our personal responsibilities for ourselves. Employment as it is currently structures does more harm than good.
"An entrepreneur is someone who takes a prospective employee up to the top of a hill, and points out down below the golf course and country club, the huge houses with swimming pools, the yachts in the harbor,... then turns to the employee and says, 'Someday... if you work very, very hard,... all of this will be mine."
I like your point Oldwood. What stopped me, and I think many others, was lack of access to das capital.
There is no doubt that if we follow the model presented...that the only real business is one that starts with a couple of million a year in sales and an IPO in two, then yes, capital is a problem. But if you are willing to start small, it may not be in rocket design or competing with GE, you can get something going. A problem we face is that increasingly Americans perceive themselves as too good for most entry level positions and especially occupations. It is the people who have dug in the dirt with their hands that understand that if you are to get to the top, or at least off the bottom, you are going to have to get dirty. Most will not and instead accept a "position" with a firm that offers them limited responsibilities and "benefits". Those two items do more to capture and retain people than any other. Anyone who has gone out on their own, from high tech to no tech understands being ultimately responsible for your results is the only defining metric. A chicken in a coupe likes the regular feed and shelter from the storm and predators. It is only when the processor shows up do they start to get an clue as to their circumstances. Most businesses do not exist for their employees, they exist for their owners. This is not to say that employers do not care about their employees, only that there are priorities. You cannot expect anyone to put themselves ahead of you...so, if you are important then it is up to you.
VERY Roughly speaking, with the industral revolution came :
1. Specialization
2. Employer as a Customer.
When one gives up all other customers for the sake of servicing just one customer, the dynamics change. R&D into sales falls off the map, sacrificed for the pursuit of R&D into production. When you only have one customer, sales is not necessary. Production IS the sales story.
The water that flows around the rocks is given up, traded for a sharp spear, thrown at great speed. The spear is a far faster and more efficient vehicle than water, until the spear hits a rock. Then the spear stops dead in its tracks, whereas water will just flow around the rock. For years, spears were the most efficient vehicle. But now it is time to give up the spear and return to water, which can flow around the rock.
Giving up sales skills gave people the time to hone their production skills, which now has left them exceedingly vulnerable to unemployment. As people SLOWLY wake up to the fact that in order to survive, they need to resurrect their sales skills, production skills will suffer.
There appears to be more sales people than ever before. With manufacturing in decline the only opportunity exists for the middlemen.
For the uninitiated, all commerce is fiction, by their definition
I'll try to remember that when I next buy groceries to sustain my body, fictional as my life may be. The farmer will be pleased to learn it was all a bad dream.
My business (nitch manufacturing) was going great until July. Then it just slowed down. I should be busy with the holidays and I have had three bids, but no takers. My sales are better then last year, but just fell off a cliff starting in September. Very strange.
YEAH BUT WHY DIDNt those millions of mexican immigrants who where let in by Obama spend money on black friday?!
What good are thy if they don't spend?
So the population grew 4%...
Retail is down 11%...
Why doesn't that number include the birth death numbers? Or do they only use that when it fits them?
That's brilliant. We can adjust retail sales by the birth-death numbers. According to my model, they were actually up 14% yoy.
Sorry, my model is proprietary.
Similarily, if stats were based on the declining participation rate, retail sales would be judged through the roof...odd that one hasn't been touted yet to sustain the mirage of recovery.
"...YEAH BUT WHY DIDNt those millions of mexican immigrants who where let in by Obama spend money on black friday?!.."
The new mexican Americans are all still waiting for their first well'be cheques.
Theyll be there as the Xmas sales anchor.
I know this shit's real when they start getting wet swimming back.
I deal with enough of them to know ( construction) that they are only here to make money and send it home. And "home" ain't the USA.
And the politicians contort into a pretzel to help "them", while natural born citizens don't even get the courtesy of a reach around.
The number of them popping out babies here makes me think that won't happen anytime soon. When I first started working at a local public hospital my cohorts laughed at my ignorance. 12 year olds in Labor & Delivery... My god shouldn't we report this? Nah, when you got birthing hips you get busy.
The lab uncovered one of the scams. One mother had a baby and 2 weeks later had another but her blood type switched from Opos to Apos. Yes, one had given her friend in Tijuana her ID to have her baby in the USA. I was shocked that nothing was going to be done. "Happens all the time, you'll get used to it." was the response I got. I never did and am still pissed off no one gives a shit this country is being raped.
Miffed
The 'reconquista' is a brilliant strategy to attack a supposedly representative government.
Step one: Begin filling target country with your people.
Step two: Have LOTS of children.
Step three: Mooch off of the target country's support systems.
Step four: Sit back and wait until your reproductive 'prowess' makes you the majority or at least gets you close.
Step five: Use your numbers to elect the politicians that work for you.
Step six: You run the place now, do what you want (Neo-Mexico?)
Re "Happens all the time, you'll get used to it." :
Sounds like making waves will result in you being thrown out of the swimming pool.
Sounds like the scams are officially sanctioned from the top.
Sounds like "leaders" are being chosen for their "submissiveness" (for want of a better word - "blackmailability"? "up-to-eyeballs-in-debtedness-and-shit-scared-of-losing-job-ishness"?), not their talent.
I often wonder about the structure of the dark side.
For some strange reason, those who make $2 per hour don't spend as much money as those who make $20 per hour. Not even if they work really, really hard!
I do not know why.
Sounds EXACTLY like Man Made Global Warming!
Too Much/Too Little or Just right all equal the Cult Climate Religion explanations.....
Goebbels and Hiteler got surprised - it worked!
Why buy now with deflation coming? Prices plunge after New Years Day.
I concur - the way Japan is going a new Honda might cost 40 bucks by next Fall. I may buy 2 if so (financed for 7 years of course).
I did my due diligence and hit the local cheap skate joint. I did notice a good deal on a four wheeler with a plow attachment which they had never sold before. Few all electric devices as well. That was the only stand out I saw. Gallon of milk was certainly not on sale.
@ Stocktivity: Perceptive. Retailers jack prices 20-30% in Sept-October and then "discount" them to the regular retail price with a red ticket to indicate "Sale Price" immediately prior to the peak shopping period. Better time to buy most appliances and other big ticket items is near accounting year-end, around end March/early April. Suggestion: Dicker (haggle) HARD. Retailers are hungry and will negotiate if they're smart.
I need to start haggling over a gallon of milk?
I was referring to big ticket items, of course. Groceries are a different matter. Something weird is happening. Prices jump around 30-40% lately, sometimes much more, like 300-400%! Saving money is a matter of observation and timing.
Save 100%, buy nothing.
Exactly.
I visit this site a couple of times a month.
Last month I counted 30,000 jobs just by counting the bigger ones.
Target came to Canada last year. They cannot understand why their sales are so bad. Is it the Canadian shopper? They wonder.
They are waiting until after Xmas before they make a big decision, like pulling out of Canada.
Target lost the plot. The big data breach of credit cards was the start. They seem to only hire urban Obola voter types now. I avoid the place like the plague. it is owned by the Dayton family and Minnesota's Democreep governor is a Dayton. F Target and EBT Wal Mart.
There must be empty malls elsewhere because the malls near me were so jam packed that they bus the employees in to save parking spots. Not saying the economy is great, maybe all easy credit.
The only store near me that had crowds was the supermarket the day before Thanksgiving. Most people were reading the sales flyer and only buying things on sale.
Means nothing if they did not spend moar
I'm starting to think the sheeple are slowly waking up and realize debt is bad when the real economy is still in the shitter.
Not surprised at all. I dropped by wally world on saturday to buy gravy for the leftover turkey and the place was empty. Worse than on a regular weekend.
WTF? Why anyone would ever buy gravy is beyond me. Greasy pan plus flour plus milk plus salt plus pepper makes gravy.
Because the real thing is so darned good that it's hard to stretch past one meal, especially if you're dealing with several hungry mouths. :-)
I smoked my turkey so not much drippings
Try using butter. Add a little bacon fat maybe. I can make a heck of a gravy using a couple of different approaches depending on the meat. With turkey, some cooked onion and green pepper can be blended in with various spices.
Throw a carrot, a potatoe and maybe some celery in as well and then blend it all. I use a hand blender. The starches in the beggies will thicken the gravy - no flour needed and so much better.
Flour plus the water I cooked the vegies in, but your idea sounds great.
Where did you get rolling papers that big?
Used
A hookah
At my job, I 'cook' breakfast for people. My fellow employees look at me oddly when I save the sausage and bacon grease. Poor bastard don't even realize how good the homemade biscuits and gravy are going to be later (with fresh eggs from my 'not-supposed-to-have' chickens to boot). Not to mention the 50,000 other uses for animal fat.
Taking home the used coffee grounds confuses them even more, heh.
Retail Disaster: Holiday Sales Crater by 11%,11%? What a crater!!!! there is no more retail,,,,,, all stores will close tomorrow,,, it's all over!!!!!!! Your headlines are overstated!!!!! Stop the BS TYLER NO ONE WILL EVER SHOP AGAIN!!!!
Define CRATER!!! 1000 ft down 5000 ft down 20000 ft down!!! Help the masses,,,,this does not forward the accurate reality, how big is the asteroid??? You stretch the elastic with your headlines..
Don't be ignurnt. A lot of major retail chains are in trouble, forced to lay off thousands, and hoped for some boost during their holiday period in order to catch-up to their unrealistic sales projections. Major names will go under next year. The NRF will act surprised.
If you really think 11% decrease isn't so bad, I'd suggest you tell your boss you wouldn't mind an 11% pay cut.
They about shit their pants when the economy contracts by 2%. An 11% contraction is pure depression territory. Throw in the 2% inflation and sales should be up 2% just to break even with last year.
How well does the DHS pay?
kill switch: Yeah but 11% over how long?
Two days? Annualized that is down by 99.9999999419668 % .
Over one day, annualized that is down by 99.999999999999999966321524420495 % and only if you have a 64 bit computer! 32 bits will round it to 100 %. (okay, okay, maybe it is more do to with the floating point co-processor)
Best case scenario (two days), in one year's time the US will only have 0.19150942511030981127354739639057 customer! Yes! Less than a fifth of one customer!!!
If it spreads world wide then the whole world will only have 4.6426527299469045157223611246199 customers! LESS THAN 5 CUSTOMERS BEST CASE SCENARIO!!!!
Worst case scenario is world-wide only 0.0000000026942780463604306387422893406219 customers after 365 days! Not even one customer!!!!
I think we'd better PANIC RIGHT NOW!!! YOU CAN'T DENY THE MATHS!!! No time to prep! I'd better hide under a rock and cry right now!
On second thought, I'd better find out who that 0.19150942511030981127354739639057 of a customer is so I can sell him a fifth of something.
... or maybe TVs / iGadgets are 11% cheaper this year ...
... or maybe TVs are 11% bigger and being sold for the same price ...
... who knows how they measure this stuff??? ...
... better change the "interest free" period from 45 months to 50 months ... err, maybe more months, to compensate the inter- I mean to prevent a need to increase the price ...
The Obama Depression
that's nice
So then if sales went UP, of course that would mean the economy is WEAKER. Got it.
F Obama, the NeoCon RINO and Neo Liberals plus the scum Democrats, liberals and progressives who voted for him.
Also F the Bushes and Clintons and all their Zio-Elites oligarchs who own them and F TV and F Hollywood.
you should be sore
I is.
plus there's been weather all over the planet.
I'm having weather right here and right now. It is awesome.
But I'm worried that the weather is always changing, much like the climate. I want constant weather just like in the good old days before the earth had any CO2 or even O2. Why can't be all just be happy with N2? N2 is very stable so that would make the weather stable wouldn't it?
Lipstick for this pig bought at Walmart?
Simply convert WalMart, JCP, etc into Banks like Hany did with GS so they can get unlimited free FED money.
Walmart played Wall Street like a fiddle, reporting a 2.8% (inflation?) growth, which coincidently is about the real inflation rate, stock goes from $76 to $87, insiders dumb before this report.
Fuck you peasant class. Fuck you Wall Street.
Such a mind fuck from the hillbillies to NYC parasite class.
You know it is screwed up when the biggest and cheapest retailer is reporting, with a real inflation rate factored in, flat sales, or at best 1.1% real growth.
When the leader is reporting flat sales what the hell do you think the rest will report?
I don't think reality matters anymore in the financial industry.
Consumption, 70% of the economy, demonstrates that we are an economy based on waste.
Right! No wonder sales are down! We could have all been investing in new plant and equipment to put each other back to work instead of wasting money on things we want or need! What's the matter with us?
I think you meant to say: Want but don't need."
They were all buying cheap gas i guess
To all the spinmeisters:
All one needs to do is compare two numbers:
This year's $50.9B is less than last year's $57.4 billion.
Its double plus good. That extra $6.5B is pent up demand, cash on the sidelines just waiting to be spent on moar stuff or stawks. Unicorns and rainbows as far as the eye can see.
Don't forget the skittles. Unicorns eat lots of skittles.
I thought the skittles came out their ass.
The Skittles go in as raw Skittles materials but come out Rainbow Colored Skittle Shits.
An analogy to the economy.
You're obviously forgetting about Skittle farts which contribute to global warming/climate change/weather.
Barky will outlaw Skittles for the good of the planet.
That would mean the University of Pheonix's on-line Skittle logic masters program might be in trouble.
Is Barky who I think you mean Barky is? If so, thats fucking funny as hell!! he he heeeeeee
skittles, scmidtles, who cares - it all makes a turd!
They just taste like they do...
Don't forget:last years 57.4 billion had more purchasing power. So 50.9 billion this holiday season would have purchased a lot less China shit than last season. Also of that 50.9 billion how much was the 50.9 billion new debt(credit cards). What a difference 365 days of QE can make.
LMAO....every year we hear the optimistic forecasts, and every year the dismal results are explained away.
It'll be better next year, really. They'll roll out the Christmas gear just in time for Back to School shopping in August. /s
The weather was 'too hot'....no, wait...it was 'too cold'...no wait....too much snow.....no, I'm completely wrong! 'too little snow'....
BaaaWaaaHaaaaa
Hedonics.
That $200.00 flat screen would have cost $2500.00 8 years ago.
So really, you're spending less money, but getting more value for your dollar.
Therefore, it stands to reason sales measured in dollars are down.
I should work for the Government . GS 12 should do, to start.
Hey man, if my health insurance premiums is going from $350 to $781 per month, Aunt Edna can suck it.
More "Mixed signals" from the US ( rigged) Economy.
Not much mixed about those figures.Like calling ebola a cold.
Hahahaha..... You got it good. My employer went to the lowest of the low plans so that he wouldnt have to be in the Odumbo fine regime if and when that ever kicks in. Paying right at a $1000 a month for a family of four with a $500 per person deductible, then 80-20 of what they deem reasonable and customary....
Single people and couples can avoid insurance and pay the penalty. People with kids have to pay for the insurance. It's going to raise the cost of having kids to where many will decide they can't afford it.
Hah ha ha
Yeah, the increase in ObieCAre premiums, Non-ObieCare premiums and fines if you're uninsured more than offset the decline in oil prices.
And that don't include about another 20 taxes kick in in 2015 liked to ObieCare
All's well that ends.
It is ending well. Looking forward to total collapse.
Good bye corruption.
Collapse baby collapse.
This is the best news I have read today.
There'll be corruption as long as there are people. On the bright side of a SHTF collapse, you'll probably be able to get away with aspirate some of the corrupt fuckers in your area should they cross your path, and the high level national/global corruption will not be able to operate.
So, if I'm an Un-documented legal illegal immigrant, hands off don't touch me,....
Do I have to get BammyCare? Or do I still get to use the emergency room as a doctors office and skip out as usual?
Do my 6 kids still get to go to the fine new elementary school, free of charge to me?
Do I get a real Sociable Security number so I can file a real tax return, or just let my employer 1099 me like always, or pay Jaun the big check , that he cashes and pays us ?
Those formerly known as "the illegals" will now have to file with the IRS which means in theory they would pay taxes but in reality with their typically low "reported" income, massive w-4 dependents and generally zero threat of audit, they will likely pay no taxes plus receive Earned Income Tax Credits, costing us billions. Further they are not qualified for Obamacare but are for just about every other entitlement imaginable plus free public school for the kids. What makes this sweet is that employers can hire them and skirt the Obamacare mandates and $3000 penalties which should do wonders for citizen unemployment statistics. Its a beautiful thing they have created. And don't worry about their healthcare as they still can't turn them away from the hospitals.
Look under that top page (on yer clipboard), doesn't it say Aunt Edna gets a fruitcake? (I can vouch for these ones -- with Bourbon, Rum & Brandy!)
And in other, more pertinent news:
Kim Kardashian has a big ass.
any word if she banged a new looter this weekend? That is always good for a few S&P Points
The really big news is she fell over and bounced right back up.
ha. she fell on her ass and landed on her feet.
And Alex Jones is Bill Hix's sister Florence.
Hey Chuck, did you ever get that throwing to first base thing worked out?
I would pull out some crisp paper if the stores had anything I wanted to buy. I don't want anything except a good meal and good times with people who are important to me. I suspect I'm not alone. The local Wal-Mart was positively QUIET yesterday. Local news is filled with anecdotes about tough times for all but government bureaucrats. People in debt on shoestring budgets are trying to live frugally and manage their bottom line!
I think that sums it up for me as well. I really hate to shop even in the best of times but to be stampeded by the rude, loud and the impulsive is simply hell. I really didn't want a tree this year but my youngest begged for one. We always have planted a living tree but with the Cali drought this just doesn't seem like a smart idea.
It seems to me most of this shopping is being done by women. Part of me wants just to walk around and ask them why they are doing this. I guess I'm afraid of the answer. Perhaps Oprah told them to.
Miffed
Women, shopping, Oprah, and I know the answer says it all…. For me.
Very good post.
A woman will run around buying many bits of cheap crap on sale for herself and relatives, and tell herself that she is doing a noble thing (she isn't). A man will buy a stunningly costly toy like a car or a camera or a boat for himself, and tell himself that he is making an investment that will hold its value (it won't). The guy's purchase will have more resale value (though not much), but both break the budget.
My parents give money to a broke older relative; usually they do it by paying her fuel bill since if they give her cash she will spend it on loads of utter crap for the grandkids. They also employ a nice couple in their 50s to clean, do yard work. The couple is broke and getting broker. It's partly the economy, but it's partly because at the end of the week the guy feels that he has worked hard and deserves to buy himself something costly (the woman used to get upset by this but she just lives with it at this point).
If any of these people had bought gold instead they would be ahead, no matter at what price point they bought it.
I think I have to agree with you that men's presents tend to be more costly. When Mr was apprenticing weekends learning to build houses with a contractor friend I was aghast over the cost of tools he requested. Most were between $200-500 a pop. I saved all year to buy him one for his birthday and one for Christmas. " Ummm, he wants this thing that puts holes in wood for plumbing I think... It has pig in the name." " Lady, are you talking about a Hole- Hawg?" "Yes! That's it...what the hell is it?" Then he goes into a long explanation I don't understand. Then I end up saying " If your wife wanted to give you the ultimate gift what would it be?" He just stares at me smiling. I quickly say " I am talking about the various Hole-Hawgs you showed me." We laugh.
In 8 years I think I've almost spent $9000 in various tools. They still work well and I must admit they have outlasted many of my gifts he had given me. In fact, if things were to go completely tits up, I think I'd rather have his tools than any of the gifts he bought me over the years.
Miffed