Applies only to US Federal and local governments, banks, auto manufacturers, airlines, insurers, major retailers, home builders, and housing et al. Only sometimes is Iceland considered part of Scandinavia.
looks like the government type of reporting numbers with them being revised down Dec. 29 (UPDATE)-- U.S. holiday retail sales for "Black Friday" were revised sharply lower, research firm ShopTracker Corp. said today. Data shows that sales on the day after Thanksgiving actually dropped an astonishing 8%, contrary to the initial made-up figure showing a 3 percent gain announced on November 29. It is the the biggest drop for a âBlack Fridayâ since 1932, the research firm said. âThe situation looks dire,â said Ned Johnson, president of a retail consulting firm based in Youngstown, Ohio. âThese are numbers I have never seen in my four plus years of tracking consumer action. The question is, when will the tapped out, debt-to-their eyeballs consumer actually start purchasing items like 72-inch plasma television sets with money they don't haveâ in this âapocalypticâ economic environment, Johnson said.
Stores selling 'loss leading' electronics and other goods on the biggest shopping day of the year will not save them. You will see the results of the period of time when private equity loading up retailer balance sheets with massive debt soon - the hens will come home to roost in early 2009 as more major retailers file BK. So much capacity, stagnant consumer pool with less money to spend, and the slimmest margins in decades spells G-R-I-N-C-H
Possibilities... 1. Charging purchases against anticipated stimulus checks to be coming in a couple of months. 2. Charging "while they still can" with the anticipation of seeking "debt relief" or filing for bankruptcy. 3. The sales were sooooo good, shoppers made a big effort to buy "everything" on Black Friday, thus cannibalizing sales from later in the season.
Someone else posted this on a blog I read. It's a fake story. It wasn't on the wire anywhere, and I think (judging by the date) was meant to be a joke.
MrDODGE, it gave it away to me, but some others on that blog were reacting to it like it was real, so I thought I'd point out it was fake just in case.
...and I thought I was good at predicting! By the way, movies always do good in bad economic times, people use them as escapism from reality.... Maybe the American consumer said: fuck it, we are going down, I might as well enjoy it!