And this just in...

Disappointing Sales During Holiday Season

American consumers, uneasy about the economy and unimpressed by the merchandise in stores, delivered the bleak holiday shopping season retailers had expected, if not feared, according to one early but influential projection.

Spending between Thanksgiving and Christmas rose just 3.6 percent over last year, the weakest performance in at least four years, according to MasterCard Advisors, a division of the credit card company. By comparison, sales grew 6.6 percent in 2006, and 8 percent in 2005.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/business/26shop-web.html?ei=5065&en=8a64c995feac44c5&ex=1199250000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Run Deeper in debt and keep fractional banking alive.

And somehow I was under the impression that Christmas had something to do with Christ, not shopping. Perhaps it's the word, Christ-mas, that threw me off.

Wait, I'm confused.

I thought O'Reilly saved Christmas?

No? Oh well.

Only in America, can a religious holiday be "saved" (even more ironic, that the religious leader who that holiday celebrates is called the "savior"!!!) by consumerism.

We suck.

The strange thing is that all the major stores keep reporting three or four percent GAINS in sales during these recession years. Either they are flat out lying or their buying those sales dollars by giving up big margins which means that they are NOT making a profit.

Either way, debt is continuing to grow with both the people and the corporations going so far into the red that they will never be able to pay off the principle. That means the creditors, banks and other nations (China and the Arab Oil Kings) will eventually cut their losses and call off the party.

That's nice--but who's going to save the shoppers when they have to file for bankruptcy?

The Heroic American Consumer

How much Chinese crap is still on the shelves?

ALOT!

Thank you for BOYCOTTING COMMUNISM and the CAPITALISTS who SUPPORT COMMUNISM.

Poison-laced products from Communist China are being shoved down your throat by the CEOs who want to JUSTIFY MOVING YOUR JOBS AND FACTORIES to forced labor camps on the other side of the planet. That's why fuel demand has tripled.

PUNISH THEM! RETURN ALL CHINESE GIFTS NOW!
or...
Have another AQUA-DOT with your kool-aid!

PEACE ON EARTH!

Watch.
All the retail sales increase will be gasoline.
The WSJ has used this ploy ever since Murdoch took over.
Sure the Mall parking lot is full of cars.
But thats after Joe Lunchbox spent all his cash to fill up the car.
The Bush cabal will call it retail spending.

there is one thing the world loves us for and that is we know how to shop till we drop and just say charge it.

bush jr charged the iraq war and americans just put it on a credit card.

who is going to pay all this back? who cares we are americans we dont care about anyone but me me and I.

ain't individualism wonderful. throw in some capitalism then some imperialism then some wars for profits and how about some torture and what do you have?

just your average american that beieves that everything american is the best in the world.

47 million without health care does not phase most americans. hey I am doing fine whats the problem?

dead iraqis who cares they are not even christian.

iraq in chaos great easier to steal thier oil.

pain and suffering in iraq who cares we will bring one iraqi child over here and fix him up free and show americans how great and compassionate we americans are.

we are a christian nation and follow jesus teachings. yea right and the moon is made out of cheese.

wake up americans we have become imperialists and war mongers demos and repubs alike. both parties fund this illegal war for oil.

Anyone noting the RECORD CREDIT CARD DEBT that goes along with this?

Boy are people in for a shock when they find out bankruptcy doesn't get them out of credit card debt obligations......

SHOP or the terrorists win!!!!

The whole US economy is now based not on PRODUCTION of goods but on CONSUMPTION..... another one of those statistical manipulations that hides the drastic and long-term changes that have hurt our nation so badly...... cause - truth is - we don't actually MAKE much of anything in the US anymore......

As far as I'm concerned, Americans should simplify Christmas, and stop shopping for Christmas, as much as possible. You'll enjoy Christmas more, and the environment will be better off too.

And I'm not too concerned about welfare of the huge department store corporations. Their workers don't much benefit when sales are good. Their CEOs can just find some way to survive on less than 400 times the average worker's salary.

wait a sec.....shopping for useless stuff you don't really need and going into debt is now called saving Christmas?

uhmm...what exactly did I miss here?

I think I clicked on the wrong link, I got the koolaid post instead.

Forgot to paste the link in-sorry

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091900045.html