CNBC and every other media outlet is giddy with Black Friday shopping results, as citizens of Ireland are facing significant austerity measures as a trade off from their banking industry and government bailout.
While CNBC shares satellite images of cars parked in a retail mall lot, our neighbors in Ireland are experiencing thousands of public-sector jobs, rising taxes, cutting welfare and retirement benefits, and decreasing the minimum wage. Specifically, Ireland will be cutting 25,000 public sector jobs (10% of current workforce). Ireland accepts $113 billion bailout package
The Irish are also faced with tax increases. One Dublin newspaper, the Irish Independent, estimated that the cost of the measures for a typical middle-class family earning $67,000 a year would be about $5,800 a year.
An older man placed blame for the crisis on the Cowen government, for failing to rein in the runaway property speculation that left Ireland’s banks with a mountain of bad debt now borne by the taxpayers. “The government has robbed us,” he said. “They’ve destroyed the country that we’ve built up over a number of years. They’ve just destroyed it.” Demonstrators in Ireland Protest Austerity Plan
While Ireland readies 25,000 public sector job cuts along with cutting retirement benefits and reducing minimum wages, President Obama announced today his plan to freeze federal government wages for 2 years which will allegedly save $2 billion during the current fiscal year.
The United States has an unprecedented $14 trillion of debt which does not include the unfunded social security and Medicare obligations nor the off balance sheet losses of Fannie and Freddie. Our grandchildren are faced with shouldering the greatest amount of debt on their shoulders of any generation and our President proposes a pay freeze.
In addition, congress is back in session to begin their horse trading on extending the Bush tax cuts. Did I mention job cuts, tax increases and a reduction of existing government programs and minimum wages in Ireland?
The arrogance and irresponsibility of America regarding fiscal responsibility is detestable. How dare the prior and current generation continue their self centered, consumptive and selfish way of life at the expense of our grandchildren. Our elected "representatives" continue to display their fiscal ineptness and many in America will stand in line for hours at the crack of dawn to purchase an electronic gadget.
What will it take for America to take action on behalf of grandchildren so the grandkids are not standing in line for hours at the crack of dawn for a loaf of bread?
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Another Guess at Black Friday Retail Sales National Retail Federation
“As retailers look ahead to the first few weeks
of December, it will be important for them to
keep momentum going with savings
and incentives that holiday shoppers
simply can’t pass up.”
National Retail Federation
Washington, November 28, 2010 – With one of the biggest shopping days of the year under their belts, retailers have reason to smile. According to a National Retail Federation survey conducted over the weekend by BIGresearch, more shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend – and spent more – than a year ago.
According to the survey, 212 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend*, up from 195 million last year. People also spent more, with the average shopper this weekend spending $365.34, up from last year’s $343.31. Total spending reached an estimated $45.0 billion.
“While Black Friday weekend is not always an indicator of holiday season performance, retailers should be encouraged that a focus on value and discretionary gifts has shoppers in the spirit to spend,” said Matthew Shay, NRF President and CEO. “As retailers look ahead to the first few weeks of December, it will be important for them to keep momentum going with savings and incentives that holiday shoppers simply can’t pass up.”
If it seems like Black Friday gets earlier every year, that’s because it is. Many retailers opened their doors earlier than ever, and eager shoppers followed suit. According to the survey, the number of people who began their Black Friday shopping at midnight tripled this year from 3.3 percent last year to 9.5 percent in 2010. In fact, by 4 a.m. nearly one-fourth (24.0%) of Black Friday shoppers were already at the stores. Thanksgiving Day openings have also been a boon to the industry, as the number of people who shop on Thanksgiving – both online and in stores - has doubled over the past five years, from 10.3 million in 2005 to 22.3 million in 2010.
After a holiday season of blue jeans and coffeemakers, shoppers demonstrated that they were in the mood to purchase more discretionary gifts this year. The number of people who purchased jewelry over the weekend rose substantially, from 11.7 percent last year to 14.3 percent this year. Additionally, more people purchased gift cards, toys and books and electronic entertainment than a year ago.
“It’s certainly encouraging to see an increase in traffic and sales from the four-day holiday weekend, however, consumers still have concerns about the economy, jobs, and paying down debt,” said Phil Rist, EVP, BIGresearch. “It was the consumers’ search for deals and bargains that drove the weekend traffic rather than their confidence in the economy.”
While shoppers seemed focused on getting good deals, items of strong value seemed to win out over the absolute lowest prices. According to the survey, both department stores (52.0% this year vs. 49.4% last year) and clothing stores (24.4% vs. 22.9%) saw healthy increases in traffic, while the percentage of people who shopped at discounters declined 7.2 percent, from 43.2 percent last year to 40.3 percent this year. As retailers leverage their websites to offer Black Friday prices to shoppers who don’t want to fight crowds, the percentage of people who shopped online this weekend rose a healthy 15.2 percent, from 28.5 percent last year to 33.6 percent this year – a strong sign heading into Cyber Monday. NRF Report
Black Friday sales little changed even though CNBC did their very best to hype retail activity
CNBC did their very best to hype retail activity on Black Friday. Live interviews with shoppers, video clips of mall-ites carrying bags albeit CNBC personalities were not granted a peek into bags.
CNBC even displayed satellite images of a mall parking lot comparing car counts for a three year period. Of course there is no way to definitively determine if the count resulting from the painstaking process of placing red dots on cars reflected actual shoppers or an increase in "park-and-ride" vehicles.
In true WWE Smackdown fashion, CNBC attempts to whip viewers into a state of frenzy anticipating the best Black Friday in years. As with Smackdown, the promotional fanfare does not live up to the results.
By Dan Hart and Ian Thomson
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Black Friday sales were little changed, rising 0.3 percent, from last year, as U.S. retailers’ efforts to lure customers by opening early failed, ShopperTrak said.
The early holiday sales and promotions boosted sales and traffic for the first two weeks of this month through Nov. 13 by 6.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, ShopperTrak said in a statement on its Website.
Shoppers nationwide spent $10.69 billion yesterday, Bill Martin, founder of Chicago-based research firm ShopperTrak, said in the statement. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. and the traditional beginning of holiday season buying.
Hundreds of people lined up at individual stores across the U.S. to take advantage of special deals as they face down a slow economic recovery. Sears Holdings Corp. and Toys “R” Us Inc. started their Black Friday “doorbuster” sales on Thanksgiving Day to attract consumers after two years of dampened shopping enthusiasm since the recession.
Sears, the largest U.S. department-store chain, opened at 7 a.m. with bargains that included a 58-inch Panasonic Corp. high- definition plasma television for $1,044, 55 percent off its list price of $2,299.
Open on Thanksgiving
Toys “R” Us, the world’s biggest toy retailer, opened earlier this year to accommodate customers who said they wanted to shop after Thanksgiving dinner, said Chief Executive Officer Jerry Storch. Employees at the chain’s Times Square store in New York handed out Santa hats to about 1,500 shoppers queued outside before the opening, spokeswoman Jennifer Albano said.
In 2009, Black Friday spending rose 0.5 percent to $10.66 billion, compared with a year earlier, according to ShopperTrak.
Analysts’ estimates for the holiday season’s aggregate sales vary from little changed to increases of as much as 4.5 percent. The Washington-based National Retail Federation forecasts a gain of 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion after an uptick of 0.4 percent last year and a 3.9 percent drop in 2008.
The projections coincide with a rebound in U.S. consumer spending this year as the economy began adding jobs. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the nation’s economy, increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department. That was the fastest since the final three months of 2006.
CNBC even displayed satellite images of a mall parking lot comparing car counts for a three year period. Of course there is no way to definitively determine if the count resulting from the painstaking process of placing red dots on cars reflected actual shoppers or an increase in "park-and-ride" vehicles.
In true WWE Smackdown fashion, CNBC attempts to whip viewers into a state of frenzy anticipating the best Black Friday in years. As with Smackdown, the promotional fanfare does not live up to the results.
By Dan Hart and Ian Thomson
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Black Friday sales were little changed, rising 0.3 percent, from last year, as U.S. retailers’ efforts to lure customers by opening early failed, ShopperTrak said.
The early holiday sales and promotions boosted sales and traffic for the first two weeks of this month through Nov. 13 by 6.1 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively, ShopperTrak said in a statement on its Website.
Shoppers nationwide spent $10.69 billion yesterday, Bill Martin, founder of Chicago-based research firm ShopperTrak, said in the statement. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. and the traditional beginning of holiday season buying.
Hundreds of people lined up at individual stores across the U.S. to take advantage of special deals as they face down a slow economic recovery. Sears Holdings Corp. and Toys “R” Us Inc. started their Black Friday “doorbuster” sales on Thanksgiving Day to attract consumers after two years of dampened shopping enthusiasm since the recession.
Sears, the largest U.S. department-store chain, opened at 7 a.m. with bargains that included a 58-inch Panasonic Corp. high- definition plasma television for $1,044, 55 percent off its list price of $2,299.
Open on Thanksgiving
Toys “R” Us, the world’s biggest toy retailer, opened earlier this year to accommodate customers who said they wanted to shop after Thanksgiving dinner, said Chief Executive Officer Jerry Storch. Employees at the chain’s Times Square store in New York handed out Santa hats to about 1,500 shoppers queued outside before the opening, spokeswoman Jennifer Albano said.
In 2009, Black Friday spending rose 0.5 percent to $10.66 billion, compared with a year earlier, according to ShopperTrak.
Analysts’ estimates for the holiday season’s aggregate sales vary from little changed to increases of as much as 4.5 percent. The Washington-based National Retail Federation forecasts a gain of 2.3 percent to $447.1 billion after an uptick of 0.4 percent last year and a 3.9 percent drop in 2008.
The projections coincide with a rebound in U.S. consumer spending this year as the economy began adding jobs. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the nation’s economy, increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department. That was the fastest since the final three months of 2006.
Assciated Press notes:
Comparatively, sales on Black Friday 2009 increased 0.5 percent
versus Black Friday 2008, with 10.66 billion dollars spent.
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