Doing unto others can bite you on the ass !!
Hey Folks -
A little reality therapy for the lying ginks who feed us economic malarkey!!
When factories laid-off thousands, Wall Street cheered!! When 200,000 new jobs were created and "only" 300,000 new unemployment claims were filed, Wall Street cheered. As high-paying manufacturing jobs are "replaced" by low-paying "service-sector" jobs, Wall Street celebrates.
While the blood was dripping out of the vast majority of us, the media never failed to declare that we were doing just fine - the economy was doing fine - indeed, the economy was fantastic !! Nothing to worry about; go out and spend, spend, spend!!!!
Well, that worked for a while, until millions of regular folks started losing their homes and were denigrated as stupid, lazy, self-deluding losers who deserved just what they got and had better not dare ask for any help - "They should have read the fine print." That pulled the curtain back a bit.
Then it got pulled back a little more when the vampire money-lenders who had exploited naive, financially ignorant Americans got in trouble themselves but reaped instant support from their dependent pets in government.
Now, the fit is hitting the shan big-time. As long as the ginks could chum WAL-MART shoppers into spending like drunken sailors, "Consumer Confidence" kept the big ginks' leaky boat floating high in the water. Consumer spending is the largest part of the capitalist economy.
Well, it's dropping. People don't have the money to keep throwing it at trash. The stock market is reeling; banks are squeeling; the Fed is mumbling and dropping interest rates. NOW, with THEIR tit in the wringer, it's ooooohhh !! bad times!!!! They can't understand why the people they have forced into poverty don't keep spending like high rollers.
It might make us as stupid as they are, but maybe the rest of us should start cheering !!! WE don't get that many opportunities.
- Uke Man
Retailers report sluggish October sales
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - The outlook for the holiday shopping season grew bleaker Thursday after retailers announced disappointing October sales results due to consumers' ongoing worries about the housing slump and higher energy prices.
The downbeat news came from all sectors including mall-based apparel stores like Limited Brands Inc. and department stores like Macy's Inc. Even upscale Nordstrom Inc. posted a rare sales decline while Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, posted sales that were below expectations despite its aggressive discounting heading into the holidays.
"Overall, the sales trend continues to slow," said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass. "I think the consumer is certainly feeling the (economic) pressure heading into the holidays."
Milder than normal weather also affected sales, wiping out consumers' appetite for winter wear.
According to Thomson Financial, 18 retailers missed expectations, while 10 beat projections. The tally is based on same-store sales or sales at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.
With Dec. 25 about seven weeks away, the retail industry is struggling with consumers' eroding confidence and a weakening sales trend amid mounting problems in the economy. Throughout the year, shoppers have been faced with higher gas and food bill and depreciating value of their homes. Tighter credit has also become an issue in recent months. And while last week's move by the Federal Reserve to cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point will make it cheaper to borrow money, economists say it may be too late to help boost holiday spending.
Amid such challenges, many stores including Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us Inc. aimed to jump start the season early this year by offering door busters and big discounts starting last weekend. But shoppers don't seem to be in a hurry to buy.
Wal-Mart posted a 0.4 percent gain in same-store sales. The results were below the 1.1 percent gain expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Same-store sales are a key indicator of a retailer's health. In a release, it said sales of Halloween merchandise were solid across all departments, but seasonal categories related to cold weather including apparel and home furnishings were weak.
The company forecast that same-store sales growth will be no more than 2 percent in November. Wal-Mart,which kicked off its holiday discounts with price cuts on toys in early last month, promised that it will continue to be aggressive in its price cutting throughout the season.
Rival Target Corp., which stumbled in September with disappointing results, fared well in October, posting a 4.1 percent gain in same-store sales. Analysts expected a 2.5 percent gain.
Costco Wholesale Corp. had a 9 percent gain in same-store sales, well exceeding the 5.7 percent estimate.
Among department stores, Nordstrom, which reported a weaker-than-expected 3.2 percent same-store sales gain in September, posted a 2.4 percent drop in October. Analysts had expected a 1 percent gain.
Macy's had a 1.5 percent decline in same-store sales, worse than the 0.6 percent decrease forecast.
Limited had a 6 percent drop in same-store sales, worse than the 1.6 percent drop expected by Wall Street.
Pacific Sunwear had a 0.8 percent decline in same-store sales; analysts expected a 2.8 percent increase.
Wet Seal had a 4.5 percent decline in same-store sales, worse than the 2.1 percent decrease expected.
A little reality therapy for the lying ginks who feed us economic malarkey!!
When factories laid-off thousands, Wall Street cheered!! When 200,000 new jobs were created and "only" 300,000 new unemployment claims were filed, Wall Street cheered. As high-paying manufacturing jobs are "replaced" by low-paying "service-sector" jobs, Wall Street celebrates.
While the blood was dripping out of the vast majority of us, the media never failed to declare that we were doing just fine - the economy was doing fine - indeed, the economy was fantastic !! Nothing to worry about; go out and spend, spend, spend!!!!
Well, that worked for a while, until millions of regular folks started losing their homes and were denigrated as stupid, lazy, self-deluding losers who deserved just what they got and had better not dare ask for any help - "They should have read the fine print." That pulled the curtain back a bit.
Then it got pulled back a little more when the vampire money-lenders who had exploited naive, financially ignorant Americans got in trouble themselves but reaped instant support from their dependent pets in government.
Now, the fit is hitting the shan big-time. As long as the ginks could chum WAL-MART shoppers into spending like drunken sailors, "Consumer Confidence" kept the big ginks' leaky boat floating high in the water. Consumer spending is the largest part of the capitalist economy.
Well, it's dropping. People don't have the money to keep throwing it at trash. The stock market is reeling; banks are squeeling; the Fed is mumbling and dropping interest rates. NOW, with THEIR tit in the wringer, it's ooooohhh !! bad times!!!! They can't understand why the people they have forced into poverty don't keep spending like high rollers.
It might make us as stupid as they are, but maybe the rest of us should start cheering !!! WE don't get that many opportunities.
- Uke Man
Retailers report sluggish October sales
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - The outlook for the holiday shopping season grew bleaker Thursday after retailers announced disappointing October sales results due to consumers' ongoing worries about the housing slump and higher energy prices.
The downbeat news came from all sectors including mall-based apparel stores like Limited Brands Inc. and department stores like Macy's Inc. Even upscale Nordstrom Inc. posted a rare sales decline while Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, posted sales that were below expectations despite its aggressive discounting heading into the holidays.
"Overall, the sales trend continues to slow," said Ken Perkins, president of RetailMetrics LLC, a research company in Swampscott, Mass. "I think the consumer is certainly feeling the (economic) pressure heading into the holidays."
Milder than normal weather also affected sales, wiping out consumers' appetite for winter wear.
According to Thomson Financial, 18 retailers missed expectations, while 10 beat projections. The tally is based on same-store sales or sales at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's health.
With Dec. 25 about seven weeks away, the retail industry is struggling with consumers' eroding confidence and a weakening sales trend amid mounting problems in the economy. Throughout the year, shoppers have been faced with higher gas and food bill and depreciating value of their homes. Tighter credit has also become an issue in recent months. And while last week's move by the Federal Reserve to cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point will make it cheaper to borrow money, economists say it may be too late to help boost holiday spending.
Amid such challenges, many stores including Wal-Mart and Toys "R" Us Inc. aimed to jump start the season early this year by offering door busters and big discounts starting last weekend. But shoppers don't seem to be in a hurry to buy.
Wal-Mart posted a 0.4 percent gain in same-store sales. The results were below the 1.1 percent gain expected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Same-store sales are a key indicator of a retailer's health. In a release, it said sales of Halloween merchandise were solid across all departments, but seasonal categories related to cold weather including apparel and home furnishings were weak.
The company forecast that same-store sales growth will be no more than 2 percent in November. Wal-Mart,which kicked off its holiday discounts with price cuts on toys in early last month, promised that it will continue to be aggressive in its price cutting throughout the season.
Rival Target Corp., which stumbled in September with disappointing results, fared well in October, posting a 4.1 percent gain in same-store sales. Analysts expected a 2.5 percent gain.
Costco Wholesale Corp. had a 9 percent gain in same-store sales, well exceeding the 5.7 percent estimate.
Among department stores, Nordstrom, which reported a weaker-than-expected 3.2 percent same-store sales gain in September, posted a 2.4 percent drop in October. Analysts had expected a 1 percent gain.
Macy's had a 1.5 percent decline in same-store sales, worse than the 0.6 percent decrease forecast.
Limited had a 6 percent drop in same-store sales, worse than the 1.6 percent drop expected by Wall Street.
Pacific Sunwear had a 0.8 percent decline in same-store sales; analysts expected a 2.8 percent increase.
Wet Seal had a 4.5 percent decline in same-store sales, worse than the 2.1 percent decrease expected.
1 Comments:
Hi Tom,
Thanks for a great blog. Isn't it amazing that nobody realizes how poor the people are until the big business people aren't making enough money. Well, we KNOW some "regular" people and we KNOW they are hurting. It's about time the assholes know it, too. Sondra
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