McClatchy:
After a year of economic crisis and an even longer slump, the nation's retailers are facing a consumer who's more reluctant to buy than ever before in modern times. All signs point to a new era of frugality.
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We were talking about financial responsibility in one of my classes this week (I'm an English teacher) and one of my Chinese students was so surprised by the rampant use of credit in the US. He said it was typical for the Chinese to save their money and then buy something.
Many in the US do the opposite- buy something, then try to pay it off.
Couple that with the purchase of unnecessary things, flat wages, insecure job markets and inflation- and people wonder why people aren't spending. People criticize China (sometimes rightfully so), but in this case, they have the right idea.
People living within their means? Oh, say not so! The next thing you know we'll tumble to the fact that real wages have been stagnant for the past twenty years and that easy credit was used to paper over the stagnation. We're going to learn the hard way that selling each other cheap goods made by someone overseas does not build a viable economy.
You might like the famous Peter Schiff video, a flashback what the "experts" or nuts said in
06 / 07 included. It totally confirms your point of view:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw
if that's of any use, a kind of follow up is also to recommend in which Bill Maher in a comedy
show asks Art Laffer, who is to see in the first video and is clearly in the wrong, about forecasting
and more, in relation to that Peter Schiff video. (I like the way such matters are in comedy, one
does not get depressed or stuck or in a "mental corner", sectarian debates, etc.)
Both videos make some kind of very easy tutorial, figuring out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3WjgKUf-kA
I'm going to purchase a pair of New Balance 476 running shoes which believe it or not are made in the USA.
I usually go fishing or to the US Nationals every Labor Day weekend but not this year.
GOOD!
The quality of the clothes has decreased the last few months. Especially clothes for children, the cotton fabrics often are of very low quality, and after one wash you can tell that there was a lot of fabric starch to make it feel thicker. I think because they can not raise prices, they are lowering the quality.
I have been hearing that retail sales are slumping every year for ~10 years now. I see 2 things, one is they have to make something people want to buy and they have to realize there isn't much disposable income around because wages are flat and inflation is not *see energy prices*
Goodbye disposable economy? Hopefully we will see a flux of quality goods that actually last.
My guess is that most of these retailers are republicans, their merchandise comes from China, and that they don't do well by their employees.
No grief here if they go under. We can start our own enterprises, making and selling our own American goods when the time comes that we and our neighbors feel safe enough to spend and build a Local Economy.
Unfortunately, as people are cutting back on spending they will be looking for the lowest price points and those price points come from overseas. For example, one retailer weathering the storm fairly well is WalMart, which sells primarily imported goods (many from China).
I saw a great docu on Current TV on China, they are shutting down many factories and are hurting too. The thing is though, a lot of Chinese clothing manufacturers have been working out of Africa, because of the limit of things imported "made in China" to some countries. As things are now bad, now they just abandoned the factories in Africa and leaving a lot of people really bad off. All in all, it is bad all over seems like it.
I heard someone say, "Personal virtue is a detriment for the economy."
Ironic. But I'm not sacrificing my personal security for the sake of the bank, credit card company, speculative money managers, et al. or for any "greater good."
If only people really were saving. I think they are just not buying because credit is so tight and they have no money.
I know alot of people who are hurting financially, I know of no one who is saving.
OR, they're not spending or borrowing as much b/c they're trying to pay off all their credit card debt at 30% interest! My theory is that a lot of the new "savings" are going to further stimulate the banks.
Oh well. :)
I am hearing the world's tiniest violins play somewhere off in the distance...
The amount of "Ho, Ho, Ho" for Christmas 2009 is awaited. It's only a matter of days.
Saving money instead of spending it on stuff you don't need. -- The last resort of civil disobedience.
Hence, all the current happy talk about the 'end' of the 'Great Recession' just - oh, look at that - right before the Christmas season-of-buying begins.
On the other hand, if there really has been a substantial mind-set sea change towards common sense frugality, a Walmart greeter's chances of being trampled to death this year will be reduced by at least half.
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First Posted: 09-10-09 05:12 PM | Updated: 09-10-09 05:25 PM