236.com: Retailers To Consumers: "Thanks For Nothing, Jerks!"

Dammit shoppers, you're ruining Christmas! Terrified of how low this Christmas season's sales might turn out to be, retailers have been slashing prices left and right, doing everything they can to get shoppers to just come in and buy something for Pete's sake. But caught in the reality of a recession, consumers just aren't biting.

The discounts and rebates are really reflective of retailers' desperation. If you go out for some last minute shopping today, here are some of the window advertisements that might have you scratching your head:

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[aspertame2]

" "And if China gets really P.O.'d, they can demand to cash in all that U.S. paper, treasuries, etc., and maybe start some sweatshop factories HERE." "

"I am not being a wise guy, but suppose we were to tell them that we are not going to pay them, what could happen?"

Um. I guess prevailing wisdom is that China is leaner and meaner, larger in population, and has nukes, so we really would not want to mess with them.

I tend to think they'd actually collapse financially and possibly go into civil war - but that would not be great for us. Bad enough to wonder about rogue nukes out of the former Soviet Union - oh, and then there's all the STUFF they make for us -- I'm not sure where all the little necessities we rely on would come from over the short or even medium term. And we won't realize how many of us depend on Chinese imports just to survive (medical components, etc.) until and unless the spigot just SHUTS. Even for less critical stuff - like I said, it's going to be "knit your own danged socks". There are so many things we Just Don't Make Here.

Which is also an argument for getting manufacturing infrastructure back into this country, but it won't happen easy and it certainly won't happen overnight.

[Donkeykick]

My goodness. These retailers sound like they embrace a socialistic philosophy -- someone owes them a living.

If you can't make it as entrepreneurs than get a shoddy job and go to work like the rest of us. (And lots of luck to you right now, finding one, too!)

[PaleMail]

Take your shoddy Chinese junk and shove it.

[SouthPrairie]

Excuse me? To me this is no joke. Who wrecked our country by immoral, fraudulent practices? JERKS! How about:

*sweat shops
*predatory lending
*outsourcing--leaving our kids at risk with lead in their toys
*credit card usurary
*purchasing politicians
*undocumented workers
*union busting
*cheap @$$ products that break immediately and leave us with no customer support
*corporate welfare
*taxpayer bailouts

Corporate America--unpatriotic, traitorous jerks.

Why do you hate America?

[Seattlelite]

Yeah there were lots of sales everywhere, but what I found was the stuff on sale was the junk! If the retailers are seriously in trouble here's my "2 cents" put the good stuff on the sales rack and stop jerking us around!

[NWGuy]

Well, where is all that money from trickle down economics, AKA Reagonomics, that the repubs have been deifying and implementing (including the bailout) all these years? Where are all the rich folks out buying things?
While this article is tongue in cheek, I've many others actually blaming what's left of the middle class for not going out and spending what they don't have to spend.

[NWBrunette]

Stock something worthwhile in your store, mark it down to something around twice your actual cost to acquire and merchandise, then call me. Until then, go blow your smoke up your own skirt.

[bluekatz]

Well, Its about time consumers woke up and smelled the rat feces coming from China and the idiots who gave us NAFTA..OOPS that's the Clintons! Its time to go back to the basics and buy what you need. Its time to grow your own gardens and share with your neighbors. Do you want the INTERNATIONAL BANKERS to continue their control, to fund both sides of the war and to cause nations to go into massive debt in order to fulfill their agenda of NWO. LOL! Gluttony, Greed and Murder the INTERNATIONAL BANKERS ROLL!

[Cunningham]

"In 1991 Bush proposed a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, which would lower or eliminate tariffs on trade between the three nations. The proposal, favored by Canada and Mexico, was designed to help North America compete against the growing free-trade zones of Europe and Asia. The agreement was eventually taken up by his successor, Bill Clinton, and ratified by the U.S. Congress in November 1993."

http://encarta.msn.com/text_761571000___8/george_h_w_bush.html

[kenergy599]

Thanks Retailers for buying your goods overseas and charging us full price for them.
By sending our jobs overseas, you made a really good profit in the short term...now eat your
effing losses with grace.You deserve to go bankrupt.

[citizensrus]

I didn't buy any Christmas presents this year. It wasn't easy, but financially it just made sense. The same stuff that looked attractive last year, just looked like junk this year. It's all in your point of view, and our values have sure changed.
What to give for Christmas? How about your time. Read a story, offer to tutor a relative, fill in a memoir with your mom or dad, make a family recipe with grandma or put photos in an album with great grandma..and ask grandpa about his first job.
Giving presents seem to replace the need to visit. Just visit. It's not free, gas, time, etc. But it's valuable.
I'm the grinch that stole Christmas from retailers. They hate me.

[CologneCitizen]

You are a wise person.

The only luxury item you have is in fact time, as it is the only limited resource you own. Spending your time wisely will keep you from accumulating stuff you don't need to impress people you don't even like.

[triggs]

Sorry Walmart not even child slavery can show you a profit now.

[hypnotoad72]

Well, the playgym I recently bought was so badly manufactured, the parts composed in assembly step 1 were off kilter - by 1mm. So it couldn't be put together. STEP ONE. The same company also sold products that had their embossed label stamped on BACKWARDS and other manufacturing gaffes. And yet the packages state "Made in China by our precise designs". Uh-huh... Somebody screwed up somewhere. Is quality control really THAT expensive? Not when people stop buying products because they don't have the time to keep making product returns on poorly made junk. What happened to pride in name brands?

[bluekatz]

It all went away once they brought in NAFTA!

[Suzique]

I buy North American and only North American goods. I have to regard this as sort of a scavenger hunt because the goods are few and far between. Try to buy a toy not manufactured out of this continent! I dare you!
When retailers bring these goods in and put them on sale, I will be back. Until then, spin in the wind, you went along with this mess, you find a way out of it.

[historyrepeating2]

As my company imposed massive pays cuts over the last 5 years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street cheered. My pension was all but wiped of the books, and still they cheered. Horray for the free market! As local workers in my area fought for better health care and living wages, the local Chamber of Commerce was busy lobbying to stop the efforts. We need to protect business owners in our communities was the mantra. And it all worked, for a while. People don't spend what they don't have.
Balance my friends, balance.

[aspertame2]

"time to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US--bye China . your poorly made junk at overinflated prices is no longer wanted"

Be careful what you wish for. We don't have the manufacturing capacity here. I guess if we stop getting Chinese tube socks, I can use those hand knitting skills I never thought were all that handy. Perhaps others will show crafting skills to make electronics, medicines, and other stuff we won't know how badly we need until we don't have it.

And if China gets really P.O.'d, they can demand to cash in all that U.S. paper, treasuries, etc., and maybe start some sweatshop factories HERE.

[bluekatz]

Let's just say we bring jobs back to the good ol' US of A who will work in those factories? Not these lazy people, hell if that were the case the illegals would have been able to run amok in this country. THE LAZY A-S-S PEOPLE in AMERICA need to get off their Michelin A-S-Ses and stop being lazy in order to get thing running again. Otherwise you are spinning your wheels, no pun intended!

[Perry Clease]

"And if China gets really P.O.'d, they can demand to cash in all that U.S. paper, treasuries, etc., and maybe start some sweatshop factories HERE."

I am not being a wise guy, but suppose we were to tell them that we are not going to pay them, what could happen?

[Pdubya]

Its the true free market trumping the managed keynesian market. We want and need no more debt or deficit spending. We want sound money, production, manufacturing, exports and savings.

Credit comes from savings, not printing or borrowing.

As the Fed and G-20 pressure continues to print and borrow fiat currency, it will debase our currency. We will face hyperinflation soon.

[NoMercy]

I agree with you about hyperinflation. But I don't agree that "credit comes from savings". Credit comes, as the name implies, from trust, or belief. Savings in cash may have no worth.

The only real worth is short term supply and demand, the local market. Everything else is "false".