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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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Yup, we like expensive tools and toys. I could easily blow $2500 on an AR10, or $1200 on a hybrid longbow. I'd love to have a tig welder and a plasma cutter. I could probably go on too.
And as you say, tools can be useful for years to come. If I had a few more wood working tools, I'd probably just make my own longbow, which would probably be better because I can easily pull a heavier draw weight than most bowyers will make and I also have a fairly long draw @31"-32", which means that I need a longer bow than a lot of them make too.
I'd never blow so much money for an AR. You could buy a full crate of AKs for that price, plus ammo.
Yeah, but an AR10 chambered in 260 Rem with a nice hand lapped barrel and a free floated upper, along with some very nice optics, such as a Nightforce, will shoot circles around an AK when it comes to anything even remotely resembling long range.
Mr asked for a 4X32 Trijicon ACOG scope for Christmas. Yes, I had a mild heart attack.
Miffed
Yes, Mr came home with a Lwrc repr and wouldn't tell me the price. That peaked my interest so I had to find out. Shouldn't have. Damn near soiled myself.
I'm glad he's not into bows anymore. I could no way pull those 50lb draw weights. That is definitely a man's game. Certainly made me giddy watching him do it though! ;-)
Funny how he is now a well respected software architect which is a stark contrast from him dehorning calves, butchering steers, plumbing, wiring and framing houses. I really respect him for the practical side of his life though he makes far more money now in this profession.
I guess there aren't too many Renaissance Men today, only white or blue collar. Never both. You appear to be the same. ;-)
Miffed
I've been looking at the bow making for laminated bows. I'm not going to say that I couldn't pull it off with buying a few pre fabbed parts for the limbs and the tools that I have, but I would definitely need some better tools to pull that kind of thing off well. Since I don't have a planer and all of the ramps to get thin strips of wood to change by 0.001" in thickness for every inch of length, I'd have to purchase that stuff. It would get pretty pricey for what would likely be mediocre at best. The other option for me is a self (single piece of wood) bow, and that I could pull off. Paleolithic people did that with stone tools.
I hadn't shot my recurve in a while until today. It's 55 or so lbs at my draw length, and after I had flung a bunch of arrows, I was thinking that I really want to step up to something that is 70lbs-80lbs at my draw length. If you needed any proof that you need to stay in practice with those things, you should have watched me shoot. It was either a really tight group, or a ruined arrow today.
(If you can't tell, I have a thing for primitive(ish) bows. No compounds for me.)
Funny, Mr Miffed prefers them too though he has shot his friend's compound well, he had no attraction. I think all his years of practice with the bows made him such a great shot with the guns and rifles. Light years better than I am no matter how hard I try. I'm bouncing off the walls when I shoot and he is in a Zen- like trance. He laughs I need a bucket of Prozac and a polo mallet to quiet my monkey brain. Probably why he likes to shoot with me, a good practice in maintaining concentration while in the presence of nuts.
You should post a picture of that grouping! I could appreciate the talent. ;-)
Miffed
The ones where I shot some tight groups, or the ones where I smacked the arrow into the cinderblock/concrete foundation of the barn behind the target?
One would be impressive. The other would resemble what I would probably do if I were the shooter. ;-)
Miffed
A few years ago, I spent around $1000 on some hand tools, such as this one...
It's amazing how precise a piece of wood can be shaped with a razor-sharp hand tool! Check these out...
Absolutely gorgeous! My husband would have loved the train box but I probably couldn't afford it if they were for sale.
Miffed
I'm the woman of the house and as such get the holiday shopping chores (and birthdays and what have you). I lost the "hunter-gather" gene a long time ago. For the past few years, I give myself a sort of frugal challenge (like no new clothing for 1 year - went 1.5 years). This year I'm selling stuff I don't want or need any longer to raise Christmas funds - just to see how I do. So far, super good...lots of folks out there are looking to buy used, in good condition items. Tells us more about our economy...at least in these parts.
Fred and LaMonte Sanford are my new mentors.
I agree about there being nothing in the stores I wanted to buy. So far my Christmas gift purchases have been handmade items from local craft fairs (inexpensive and bought earlier in the year) and specialty food items (better something you can eat than another piece of electronic junk or crap clothing).
I am with you except for firearms and .22 LR ammo
If you don't want to pay people a living wage and you don't want to give them credit at a reasonable rate then you get NO SPENDING. Americans are tapped out and after a while they realized they didn't need ninety percent of that shit to begin with.
That term "living wage" needs to be examined in the context of central bank policy. Any wage is a living wage if it's set by the market in a strong currency. Another term that seems glib is "affordable housing." All housing is "affordable" when the market isn't manipulated by central bankers and their peons. The root of all our current problems can be traced to monetarist hegemonic central banking.
If my spending is your income, if I don't have any money where is yours going to come from?
I would like to see photos of the lines outside Radio Shack and SEARS.
That will be next year when the going out of business sales start.
TOUCHE ... Lets go where every austrian wants to go .. lets give up and just hike it and outlaw debt .. let the austrians rule the world and see how it turns out ..
People are starting to realize that debt costs money so is that piece of crap you want to buy, even discounted 50%, worth the discounted price + debt? Of course Keynesians say just buy something even if you don't need or want it or have a place to store it.
Keynesian economics was tried in Germany in the 1930s and we all know how wonderful that turned out. All hail National Socialist Workers Party much?
Great News for NWO!
No. It is terrible news for the NWO as they only tax wealth in motion.
If few are spending then that leads to DECREASED TAX REVENUE which STARVES THE NWO.
A good slave is a working slave and a tax payer rather than a tax consumer.
On the other hand it is great news for those whom are fighting the NWO as it signals collapse.
Meanwhile precious metal sales are up. Cha-ching! (No cha-ching does not have anything to do with that fascinating fellow who used to excoriate us all for our American citizenship.)
Someone on another thread posted a link to a 4 part series,
The Century of the Self
Amazing, shocking and disturbing
http://vimeo.com/85948693
Excellent suggestion... The first video is my favorite.
Followed by this website below.
http://regmorrison.edublogs.org/articles/
Nice.
Narrated by Adam Curtis, him of "Power of Nightmares".
Thanks. I just set it up to watch "Power of Nightmares" (59 minutes) while riding my stationary bicycle.
See you all in an hour!
The three part series of Power of Nightmares lasts for almost three hours (!)
The Power of Nightmares
Just finished watching Part 1: "Baby It's Cold Outside"
Fascinating and very telling about the issues facing humanity, especially Americans.
Let me give two things that stood out in my mind; and that resonate with many Hedgers:
1) Zawahiri surprised that the revolution in Egypt did not materialize after the assassination of the President Anwar Al Sadat.
Everybody in Egypt knew that Sadat was very corrupted and that the nation wealth was been stolen by foreigners under Sadat. So Zawahiri, on the night of the assassination of Sadat, was very surprised that NO one came to the streets to demonstrate in favor.
Zawahiri then realizes that the majority of the Muslins had become corrupted by Western values of “one’s self” for itself (failed to face the truth) rather than “one’s under the guidance from God” (and rise up).
2) And, about the same time in America, the neocons found that individual liberty was dangerous to America. So they had to create an enemy (Soviet Union); but, they didn’t have the troops, so they created a mysticism to attract the Christian believers.
I highly recommend that every American should watch. But doubt that most would be able to grasp the raw reality presented.
Adam Curtis is EXCELLENT! I really like his expose on Ayn Rand and Greenspan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Gra...
He had some vaild criticisms of technology liberating us, but I disagree with him in the long run and I believe it can and will.
Glad you enjoyed that.
To me, the most amazing aspect of Power of Nightmares is that the BBC - and its controllers in government - allowed it to be shown at all, because you can be sure that the BBC propaganda mouthpiece is fully on board with whatever government policy is today or tomorrow.
There has probably never been such a blatant exposé of the evil, dirty tricks played by recent governments to further its agenda, including manufacturing the "fear of terrorism" to beat us into accepting the salami-slicing away of our civil liberties and emergence of a police state.
What we need now is an exposé of "who" was behind the 7/7 London tube terror attacks and why there was a government organised and sponsored terror-attack-training-exercise going on the same day at exactly the same tube stations.
A coincidence?
I guess because the systems of indoctrination such as the military, Ivy-Leagues, and massmedia just can’t screen everyone out; so sometime people like in Snowden and Assange falls through their nets.
What I find amazing is how free the internet is; and how much damage its does to their manipulation and indoctrination. Much more that Snowden and Assange could do.
Good news is silver is already at after christmas prices.... $14 handle tomorrow.
If I could get some interest on my savings I might spend money. Instead I'm buying soup. Fuck You Bernanke
F****ing spin-doctors are awesome eh?
Or perhaps we're all broke?
The two relatively petite Daughters of Loki stayed as far away as possible from most stores for fear of being caught in a fight to the death over a pair of undies by the Gentle Giant Diverse Peeples.
If they added in the retail marijuana sales they would be up 25% with ease.
You could call it a hedonist adjustment.
"Dude, wanna go Christmas shopping?"
"Fuck that shit...pass the bong, bro."
Yeah, getting stoned is the path to REAL empowerment.
/SARC (in case it wasn't really, in-your-face obvious)
Long
Cheetos®The choice of vehicle depends on where you're going.
CNBC will say the people are saving to buy stawks
Green Shoots!
No one must be anticipating inflation.
BULLISH!!!
</s>
Why buy? Wait for the next riot in your area and get a Free Big Sceen, all the Popeyes you can eat and make some friends with da sistas while you at it. Maybe even meet your future wife while both of you carry out one of the free fridges ?!
You mean your future baby mamma.
It was the weather, obviously no one wants to use their computer when it's too cold out
Reverse Double Sub-Prime AAA HELOC Nailgun Implied Short Return REIT LP Trust Fund
“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,”
But, but I thought they brought it all forward.
Did someone shout deflation?
It was the Ferguson effect, blacks were boycotting Black Friday.......unless your ass was 100 inches around - then it was OK.
Dude, Shhhhhh! Those gubermit dickwads can't blame weather or the price of gas and they are desperately looking for the next big excuse. Let's not give them help otherwise we will get:
"Racial Tensions Put A Damper On Expected Holiday Spending Frenzy!"
Just goes to show that the Ponzi Munchkin and cronies can print all they want, but they can't MAKE PEOPLE SPEND.
For the kajlionth fucking time..... Nobody has any fucking money.
Can't be because of the high gas prices (unless in Chicago, where the taxes make it 30 or 40 cents more than anywhere else)
The bank dudes have trillion$, alotta RE, too!
They still got credit, though. Right?
Don't expect this to make the news. In February, all the Chinese made shit will be marked down 80%.
Okay, sure, sales are off a bit, but this is an acceptable tradeoff knowing that over 7 million Americans now have health insurance. Amirite?
(other than weather, that's all I gotz)
Zero Hedge has been predicting something happening for the years I have been reading it. Now all the pieces are coming together and Tyler is right. Just no one would know when.
With the news we have been getting from around the world, what is happening in our own front and back yards, watching car dealerships giving new cars to people who can't afford them, loaning money to students who can't get a job post degree, the arming of police forces, the number of people in their twenties still living at home and the fact just about every household has more than it really needs, is testament to the true state of the economy and it is not going to hold up. As far as Amazon, Google, IPhone et all are concerned, they better keep all those billions of investors money safely parked as they are going to require them to survive, and not all of them will,
I have left the house only once in the past 5 days to get a burrito. Fuck this Black Friday bullshit.
So its your fault our economy is collapsing!
What were you doing, playing Call of Duty or Warcraft Worlds all day?
I don't know how one can sit at home for five days straight.
Mrs. TalkToLind was here with me...I'll let you do the math as to what I was doing.
Polar Votex
GOP Gov't Shutdown
Climate Chaos
Austerity
FUCK YA!!!!!!!!!!! MOAR EKAW-NAW-MIK REEK-KUVARIE!!!!
Make the markets go higher tomorrow yellen - ditch pig!!!!
Most of the stuff for sale they try to get you to buy is cheap shit you don't need. It really is just a sick fucking joke. The very idea that modern capitalism has degraded to the point it needs millions of people buying cheap shit none of them need in order for economic prosperity and life quality to advance. The Public schools are a fucking disgrace, health is is really 'sick care' and inflated in price by triple the real cost, debt levels are totally out of control all all levels, especially government. The USA is about to embark on another round of massive military build up to fight a nation, Russia, that simply want's to not be attacked. CIA and NSA spying takes up money that could educate our kids to peak performers in since, math, engineering, technology and health care sciences. But, instead, we let our corrupt liar politicians spend tens of billions to record every word and deed of honest Americans, while the CIA funded ISIS and set them lose on a murder spree, they now claim they need to stop.
All in all, America has jumped the shark. They have no moral high ground anywhere anymore. The who shit works is now corrupted by simple blind greed. How much do the Wall-Street Manipulators need to be satisifed? "Never Enough" is their mantra. "Never to low a wage" for the workers, "Never too high a bonus for crooked manipulators". Simple formula.
History teaches us that societies self destruct on a regular basis. America claims to be exceptional, that no rules apply to the USA, that we can even reject the laws of physics in the fields of energy and climate. Oh, how wrong they are. Exceptional? Only one people can claim that, and god granted that. Nope, America may ride high in the saddle at this very moment, but it is just a moment before the fall. It is coming, and soon. And it was of our own making.
You forgot the partride in the pear tree, Geoengineering.
Spraying megatons of Aluminum into the Stratosphere.
And nobody knows who's doing it, or what will happen.
Merry Christmas!
Nanoparticles of Aluminum stupid you up, and are the least of what they are spraying on a daily schedule. Welcome to the singularity folks.
@ Jack Burton re: "Only one people can claim that, and God granted that."
That doesn't sound very inclusive. Are you sure God was talking?
He said god, not God. And medical care is 10 times overpriced not 3 times, otherwise everything else sounds about right.
Stevie Ray Vaughn is going to break it down for us:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xprs_uJbGgI
All I want to know is what is President Obama smoking? It seems to me that the deam like state he is floating in is the best place to be because Obama's and the democrats' economic reality sucks.
It would seem my suspicions of a global economic collapse within six months are highly likely
Maybe, but probably not. We haven't hit the 'Japan' full-retard mode here yet.
Japan downgraded by Moody's to A1.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102226574?trknav=homestack:topnews:2
When CRapple PussyPads are discounted 75% it's a home run.
It ain't gonna happen. I've seen many wide-eyed zombies paying top dollar for paper-thin iPhone 6 handsets that bend in half if you breath on it the wrong way. Yep, crystal meth is easier to quit than conspicuous consumption.
Alibaba will suck Cyber Monday sales away from Amazon tomorrow.
I have done some comparison shopping and find no savings on Alibaba or its affiliates.
I bought a 40lb bag of salt for my water softner this weekend. Does that count?
Bernays for President!
Shit! now we willl have to suffer through black- every day of the year.
I pushed "thanksgiving" back to Friday this year. So much better. Have people travel on thursday when no one else is. No rush. No panic. Much lower stress. Plus most people go get turkey at someone else's house, so you don't have to cook inferior turkey. You can make a real meal with vegetables.
Why shop on black friday? The only advantage retail has over online is that there's inventory. And because people are out shopping on black friday, all the inventory gets bought up. So there's NO VALUE to shopping at a retail location on black friday.
we are not buying anything this christmas. all the kids are grown up and the adults have slowly been putting a stop to gift giving to each other. it is nice to wish a merry christmas to all without the formerly obligatory gift in hand.
Great headline for algos to ramp the stock market up, up, up! Hmmmm, I better go all in at the open. Shhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Why isn't everyone buying houses and stocks like Yellen said? If you don't want to be poor, buy houses and stocks. What? Are you all stupid?
LMAO. I bought eggs and cheese yesterday.
My planned non-gas-related "shopping" between now an Dec 31 will consist of about $10 to be spent next weekend. Other than that (and gas) I don't need a fucking thing anywhere.
Fuck your fuckin' rigged economy bitches, and fuck you uncle sam for denying people of liberty and sovereignty with your fucked up tyranny.
And fuck you St Louis Rams for supporting that cunt Michael Brown.
I go black Friday shopping every year and I spend what I want. The problem this year was the deals SUCKED. I'm not buying shit just to buy shit. I buy things I need or want that are a good price. Otherwise... I wait for them to be the price I want to pay.
One of my friends, years ago, did all his Xmas shopping for the coming year in the
January sales.
Meh. It's hard to know what kids will want in a year but I refuse to get caught up paying for overpriced goods.
Retailers jack prices as part of the ramp-up to these hypefests. Do your 'Black Friday' shopping any other time than Black Friday. Fiscal year-end is best: late March-early April.
Meh. It's hard to know what kids will want in a year but I refuse to get caught up paying for overpriced goods.
So now people won't spend unless prices are higher?
All you PhD idiots at Federal Reserve economist tell us people won't spend in a deflationary because prices are too low and waiting for for lower prices.
So which is it Federal Reserve idiots?
I was browsing one of the earlier Z/H articles about how retail "Big Box" CEO's were upbeat about the polar vortex pushing consumers to buy more expensive "outer wear" and clothing in general.
I can't wait until they find an excuse for the massive slowdown that by next Halloween sales will be rebranded "Ghoulish" savings before November 1'st.
Or better yet they can call it the Pre- Thanksgiving-BLS, EBT blowout sale.
There are no Chemtrails over Russia or China.
Only NATO countries have this honor.
The honor of being sprayed with a big can of Raid.
Because you cockroaches didn't spend any money.
Expect the spraying to intensify.
We keep you alive to serve this economic ship.
So, spend well, and live.
Well since the fluridation of our water didn't pollute our 'precious bodily fluids' we had to resort to chemtrails.
cyber monday will save the day [/hitler finger wave]
If they sold decent red dot sights, 45-degree offset mounts and ammo at the mall, I would have done my part.
I wish Aimpoint would have a 50% off sale...I'd believe in Santa again if they did.
Amen brother, although I persoanlly prefer EOTech.
Too short battery life for me. I like the SHTF benefit of a 5 year life of a T-1/H-1.
Obviously, not a strong start to the season but we'll see where this ends up by X-Mas day. Even if sales can recover, I doubt it will make up the 11% drop so far. Just not enough weekends left (only three remain) and let's face it, retailers will begin to panic even more to sell crap at a major discount. BTW, I cannot emphasize CRAP enough as there's basically nothing out their worth buying. Other than a new pair of LL Bean comfty slippers and some wine to replinish the SWAG part of my investment strategy (i.e., Silver, Wine, Art, and Gold), I really don't need much which is a point I would like to emphasize.
I'm squarely a transition Gen-X/Baby Boomer with plenty of disposal income but my wife and I (as well as our children) are downsizing as fast as possible. Smaller home, basic cars, increased savings, and most importantly, getting rid of as much crap as possible. Just don't need it anymore and don't want it as the quality of what is available for sale is terrible. Whether it's pointless movies (that have no plot and rely on too much TA&A, tits, ass, and action), electronics equipment that really isn't even marginally better, over priced food in an excess of restaurants that won't be around in another couple of years, you name it, we now have it. As quoted by Kevin Kline who played one of the Good Guys in the movie Silverado, "You've got nothing I need".
I'm not sure how many similar people have my attitude but from the people I speak to on a frequent basis, at the same age who have suffered through 15 years of bullshit from our fearless leaders (dot.com through 9/11 throug housing implosion through stock implosion through job loss implosion through trying to recover with every form of taxation increasing, including the ACA which is a stealth tax), everyone's in the same boat. Nobody with half a brain believes this farce anymore and are focused on downsizing their lives and preparing for the next neutron bomb.
And finally one last comment on the role the Fed has played in this by driving deflation, yes deflation. Their reckless policies of cheap and easy capital has allowed too many weak and inefficient businesses to survive which are all now attempting to sell whatever they can at whatever price they can to keep the doors open. Doesn't matter what industry you pick. Oil, bottom's dropping out due to excessive investment in production (as demand drops). Retail stores, just too much square feet available with too many retailers that should have died years ago (e.g., Sears, JCP, RS, etc.). Global shipping, too many ships driving shipping rates even lower (with the Baltic index). Base materials from iron-ore to copper, all dropping to multi year lows. My point is that until the poor/weak companies are left to find their fate in the bone yard of failed companies, these trends will continue and competitive pressures will become so intense that prices have really nowhere to go but down (of course unless you have to pay for higher education, healthcare, and food) until the excess capacity is removed.
The SFB's at the world's CBs just can't seem to understand this and at this point, are clearly all-in with no turning back. There's only one statement that historians will use in 20 years when they look back at the great CB monetization experiment of this era - FUBAR.
Playbook!
Also...great "accounting" experiment.
Mercedes sales are brisk.
Wont that help?
LOL!!!
" Smaller home, basic cars, increased savings, and most importantly, getting rid of as much crap as possible."
Exactly. Many following the same path. Get rid of house and downsize as fast as you can. I know of so many trying to reduce their property taxes and expenses.
accomplished most of this 5 years ago. Now, zero debt, rural property outside small town limits, nearest big city 100+miles. Big garden, no cell phone, no w4 or 1099 work, cash only. 15 yr old truck, no plans to ever replace. Drive about 1K miles per year. Our family quit buying any holiday gifts 5 years ago. total boycott on US and China.
my wife made a great point the other day. she is in her forties but she knows how to sew. it is a rare skill for her age group. she realized the other day that the tide may change. the reason sewing skills waned was because one could buy good quality clothes for cheaper than it could be sewn by hand at home. it is now cheaper to sew your own good quality clothes at home than to buy the way overpriced cheap crap that passes for quality today.
If your wife has a sister with the same skills, please send her my way. (grin)
Seriously, I agree with everything you say. Good clothing and tailoring are hard to find. Then again, people don't dress up like they used to. I've brought this up before: back in the Depression, even the lowliest unemployed in a soup line still put on a shirt and tie and clung to their dignity. Women put on a dress or skirt and sweater. Nowadays, even at their workplace, most people look like they just rolled out of bed, or much worse, not even washing and combing their hair. We're witnessing some kind of breakdown in the most basic values and standards and life skills. Wonder where we're going to be 5-10 years from now.
I can sew, but good fabric is extremely expensive. The material to make a truly nice dress or shirt will cost you way more than the cost to purchase an okay garment already-made. The thing is, you cannot easily purchase a well-sewn garment made of high quality material; they are hard to find at all. So your wife is right; if you insist on high quality clothing, it is cheaper (but still expensive) to make your own.
I'm not willing to spend that much, so it is still rational for me to buy pre-made for myself and my husband, but I really admire hand-made clothing. Funny, when I was growing up (in a rural area), homemade clothing was still considered dorky; now it's seen as an art form.
The best of both worlds is to buy high quality old used clothing for almost nothing, and use the fabric for something else. You can make fabulous stuff for cheap that way, but it takes real time and skill.
Kareninca, you and my wife have the same view:"The best of both worlds is to buy high quality old used clothing for almost nothing, and use the fabric for something else. You can make fabulous stuff for cheap that way, but it takes real time and skill."
skill, she has- most of her time is spent making warm quilts for the kids and grand kids and friends, nice to see younger women doing same but few do these days as it reduces facebook and texting time.
on a trip to reno, (went for family) I shopped the local used clothes stores and bought several leather belts that were pre 1960, solid leather, hand tooled for $8 or less each. for the men here, modern made (china) men's belts all deteriorate quickly - poor glue and just come apart, yet those 1960's belts made in USA look like new with just a little patina..you get better quality at dirt cheap prices why buy china trash?
too many young have never seen quality items like those belts, so I quess they will never miss them.
Vintage (1970s and earlier) clothing is like a different thing from modern clothing. It was meant to last, and it cost real money at the time; modern clothing is meant to be cheap and disposable. Those belts you bought will last and last, and they'll be worth having while they last; good purchase.
Very good point on sewing. My Mother used to sew our clothes. She even taught me enough about hand sewing to darn socks and fix buttons.
People have given up on doing things for themselves like sewing and fixing things in general especially over the last 30 to 40 years.
I did some work on my car over the holiday. I spent $80 on parts and about 3 hours of my labor. I figure a car repair shop would have charged $500 to $600 dollars including labor and parts markup for that work.
SWAG investment strategy made my night. Thank you so much for this.
very inventive ... i give 10.
What do we need a middle class for?
Entitlement payouts.
No . . . no . . . FSA's got that covered.
The slave still has his favorite NFL team and pension.
The empire is safe until both are lost.
That's all the average cop cares about.
chaos theory,, I have an old style amipoint red dot with rings and mounts for an 870 pump gun if you like. Shooting the pump gun with slugs just isnt pleasant any more. I have a muzzle loader I now use for deer season. 40 bucks its yours you pay for shipping. It is sitting in my closet and collecting dust. None of the sons in law need it either.
I originally signed in to say no lagging econonmy with the Federale hiring. Go to USA Jobs site for TSA or ICE I forget which.. they have 13 positions for field office directors that handle deportation and immigration issues. Annual salaries 121 to 190 THOUSAND a YEAR. Sorry for the caps. My God, the wages federal employess get. Though to have a shot at the job you most probably need to be an Asian three legged transvestite with adopted transgendered children. Still, that is a shit ton of money a year to manage a goverment field office to watch porn all day,, just saying.
I don't want to be around these lowlifes while shopping. That wasn't mentioned in this piece.
http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/terence-p-jeffrey/ponzi-treasury-issues-1t...
New Treasury Bond rollover plan for prosperity or Ponzi/Madoff Scheme?
You decide!
If the shark stops swimming, it drowns.
A depressing recovery.
Oil sub $65 S&P down 2 Dow down 3 points unbelievable
But did they include all the sales figures from the St Louis area? Those 100% off Black Monday sales in Ferguson were definitely busy...
An ever changing economy means ever changing economic indicators. A new set of indicators needs to be developed for proper inputs into the hydraulic economic computer processor. I propose the following new indicators to evaluate Black Friday sales demand, in order of increasing economic desire to purchase a heavily discounted item:
1. Sissy Slap - Oh no, you don't want that
2. Bitch Slap - I am taking that item, thank you
3. Pimp Slap - Give me that giant tv or ima gonna put down my bottle of lean...
4. Falcon Punch - I'm not here to buy anything, just hitt'n people for fun
5. Five Finger Death Punch - I'm going to knock you and your aunt into next Tuesday if you dont get your hands of that 80" HD TV !
From what videos I have seen on ZH and the youtubes I dont see no FFDPs and only a few FPs. So, sales are weaker this year than last year.
The housing bubble collapsed, because economy was so strong. Meah.
We are all Ferguson now..cigarillos for all.
Don't look now .... Oil down another $4, silver $ 1.5O! central bankling still "winning".
http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=SI&p=d1
good site. thanx, mate.
Call Putin. He will fix it.
I just don't know about Putin...but he did have the Russian Army Choir sing "Get Lucky" at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony and remember commenting at the time ..." the first sign of the apocalypse has been released!"
stocks will leap higher Monday after the following headline.
"US Consumer Spends Less, Saves Stocking Money for Stock Investments"
My wife and I have so much nice stuff that we are sated.
Year round, when we want something, we simply order it on the net, at very low prices. Our time is too valuable to drive around shopping, much less hassle with going to big sales events like Black Friday.
Beyond that, we tend to buy stuff in anticipation of needing it, so we are almost never caught short.
Maybe there are more people shopping like us, so less holding out for Black Friday?
I was kind of excited several years ago when I found an online sale-compiler site (bradsdeals), since at that point all of our sneakers were wearing out (the heels were digging into us) and our sheets had holes and I needed a big cooking pot, and also my 89 y.o. father-in-law really did need some new clothing. So I bought that stuff, at a good price, and didn't have to enter the stores. Now I go back once in a while to that site and I see that that was ALL they had that I needed or wanted. Just take a look: is there anything here that anyone actually needs: http://www.bradsdeals.com/newest-deals???? What garbage it mostly is.
Dicksusedrubbers.com was a fantastic site at one time
Dicksusedrubbers.com was a fantastic site at one time
LOL, probably a higher percentage of desirable items from them than from brad's.
"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."
I did my part. I spent $0.00 in retail shopping on Black Friday and $8.50 on Saturday (that includes $4.00 at Taco Cabana and $4.50 on a cigar (which was 50% off) from a local tobacco store). I am doing my part to fuel the recovery...
"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."
This is about the worst attempt at a spin job that I can remember. The worst was probably the claim that using Viagra may cause vision loss... but most likely only in one eye...
NRF_FUBAR.
I'm sorry, your post is fading out
That's the price of wood from a blue pill... ;->
Most things you can use in life have already been manufactured. Resale, thrift store, craigslist, community boards are all excellent sources for picking up things you can use in an inexpensive manor.
You can have your economy back when you return OUR liberties, otherwise suck it!
Maybe people shoplifted?
Ha, ha. Maybe things are shaping up to STARVE THE BEAST one step at a time! Yeah!
Here we go.
Almost anyone NOT connected through job, family or business to imperial government or subsidized corporate welfare queens (only 45% population or less) is BROKE. The rest refuse to re-buy same chinese junk while they can get quality stuff from army of bankrupt fellow citizen, for almost nothing. Look at auction sites. What we face is permanent collapse of american standard of living and catastrofic erosion of purchasing power as a result of deliberate, anti-american economic policy of pauperization of U.S. population. All markets are simply dead by way of capital monopoly fueled by HFT, incestrial speculation of FED insiders and surrealistic financial propaganda. The promise of recovery sound like promise of Geobels who, in Spring 1945 was handing over govenment bonds to every owner of building distroyed by allies air raids, redeemable just after victorious war. Last believer is still waiting.
Silver is on sale, more.
$8,505.xx
So...we all enjoying our Niggernomics?