It's Christmas...only if you speak Spanish.
Posted on 10/20/2009 10:09:32 PM PDT by blam
Research Firms Predict Sad Christmas
David Bodamer
Oct. 20, 2009, 3:09 PM
Most of the major predictions are now in for the holiday shopping season. Here we’ve put together a roundup of what various trade associations and research outlets are predicting. Projections range a bit this year. Some groups are calling for a slight decline, other say sales will be flat and some say sales will show a slight uptick.
In part, the differences stem from the different way the groups look at the numbers. ICSC and Retail Forward, for example, looks at same-store sales while the National Retail Federation looks at total sales. For its part, Deloitte is working off Commerce Department data. NPD bases its projection on surveys it completes. And ShopperTrak’s metrics are based off its proprietary foot traffic counts. Collectively, the data gives a fairly well-rounded picture of what the experts are expecting to see for the critical season.
The bottom line is that all the groups expect the season to be stronger than 2008’s disastrous holiday shopping season, but the recovery will be modest.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Looks like it’s going to be a grim Christmas for Maggie and the kids..
Oh, NOW it’s Christmas. What happened to “holiday”??
My prescription: Enjoy a blessed, joyful and meaningful Christmas with your families and in church, and forgo all the spending.
Thanks. Same to you.
That's my plan.
They use “holiday” so often in the ads anymore that I want to throw my shoe at the set.
I always tell my husband....get me something out of the blue, clear sky when there is no holiday in sight...that would be special....something small, affordable, but special.....
I'll cook and bake and listen to music all of November and December....I'll send Christmas cards and make candy....I'll stare out at the snow while all cozy inside...I'll burn wintery candles and have those tiny little white lights all over the house......
bah humbug to shopping!
Gotta save every centavo for some future international Medical Vacation, just in case my health plan is confiscated by Chairman Obamao.
(And I bet that this kind of prudent health savings catches on.)
.
With a jobless rate (what was called “unemployment” before the numbers were ginned to make Clinton look better) approaching 20%, this will be a disasterous holiday shopping season. I’m sure it is GW Bush’s fault. /inevitable SRM meme
Cards often mean more than trinkets, especially when you stop to handwrite something personal in each one. I know families having large circles of friends often tuck in the “XYZ family newsletters” but I personally feel that’s tacky; I’d actually rather get the card without it.
And don’t forget phone calls, which are absurdly cheap today and mean much to people who live alone.
It's Christmas...only if you speak Spanish.
You got any freshly-cut Arbor Day trees?
| the differences stem from the different way the groups look at the numbers
Fat chance. It's sloppy thinking like this that allows Al Gore to say that he knows what the temperature is going to be fifty years from now. People are starting to accept the idea that there are "experts" or "scientists" who know the future in advance. If they did they'd make a killing in the stock market or at the race track and retire rich. But they haven't. |
Holiday shopping is going to dissappoint a lot of people. I still say Wall Street is way way too high. There is no structural basis as the only profits that are earned is by cost cutting, not increased sales or revenue. Companies can’t forvever keep cutting costs indefinitely. Many are still being propped up by the government bailout, which is artificial and gives a false sense of hope.
My most meaningful Christmas was in 1972 when I was stationed in Okinawa. This was my second Christmas overseas in a row. I was on an unaccompanied tour and no way to get home for the holidays..all the way to Iowa. My first Christmas over there was not happy really. I had only arrived there about 6 weeks earlier and those who had been on the island longer got more opportunity for leave so they went off to Taiwan or Korea or Thailand or mainland Japan. But the second year I was determined to make a better Christmas for myself and the women in my company. I was CO of the company. So, I took myself to the PX and got something for Christmas for each of the women in the company..out of my own measly 330 bucks a pay day. I got the BN commander to play Santa. I got a Santa Suit but it was kind of well short..but the BN commander was just the right size and he thought the idea was just great.
I put the word out that the Company was going to host a party at the company and it was command performance. The women were encouraged to invite their OIC. There was a fair amount of grumbling...it was taking away from their liberty time....BUT when the sirens went off ( the brig was just up the street from the barracks) the women all rushed out to see what was going on. And to their great surprise, here came Santa on a Fire Truck! And he had a big bag of goodies all for them. I had more fun planning this event and in the end everyone had a happy time.
Some years later...much later, I got a letter from one of the women who was in my company then. She said I probably would not remember her but she would never forget the best Christmas she ever had. That made my day.
This year in our house it is going to be a more modest Christmas too. And this year everyone is getting photos in frames. I have spent hours getting this together and I have it is just about done..now to find the boxes for shipping...
So, let your heart not be troubled.. Christmas is what you make of it and if you do it for someone else the joy comes back to you in ways you cannot imagine.
<Oh, NOW it’s Christmas. What happened to “holiday”??
LOL! There’s no pleasing FReepers!
I don’t know about Christmas, but the Walmart lot was packed this morning at 11 am; I could hardly find a nice space. That said, I don’t plan on spending much. We’re looking at budget cuts at my university; I don’t want to wind up furloughed or with a salary cut and have spent a bunch o’money stupidly.
I was going to ask who had the crystal ball.
I still believe that people started to NOT spend money, when MSM kept brainwashing us every night about how bad things were. I recall thinking..gee..I dont see a difference. But, before you knew it, I questioned myself when i was about to buy something.
I think televisions were the runation of this country. People glue themselves to the boob tube like zombies and believe everything they toss at them.
I dont know about anybody else, but I dont intend to do things any differently than any other year. Which includes wishing people a Merry Christmas NOT a Happy Holiday!! You dont see the muslims changing the name of their holidays, do you?
Blacksmiths dream of stockings full of coal,
and the freedom to burn it without government
interruption.
Christmas at our house will be personal,
if somewhat reduced in spending.
Mostly mementos and gifts with meaning to
our family, and that’s how it should be,
we will drink to those gone but who are
with us always in our hearts.
This sounds like the perfect year to do more for our fellow man. My family (except one of my sisters) all live over 1,000 miles from me. She has to spend christmas day with her in laws (we spend Christmas eve together).
After a lovely dinner on Christmas eve, and attending Mass together, she and her family head home to wait for Santa. My husband, kids and I then have eggnog, cheese and crackers, and homemade cookies while camped out all over the living room, and we watch “Scrooge” starring Alistair Sim. We have done this for 20 christmases now.
Christmas day, the boys open their gifts and we spend the day at home with each other.Now that the boys are all in their late teens or older, I think this year we will see what assistance we can be to our fellow man. There are soup kitchens to man, different charities that need help spreading holiday cheer and many other opportunities to lend a hand. My family is so blessed to have all we do, which by today’s standard of measure, isn’t much, but since our value system is not of this world, we know we are the richest folks we know!
That is one of the funniest headlines I have ever seen. For all you dummies out there who were planning to rejoice and celebrate, you'd better read up on the research on this.
I think it was Rush who said the best medical facilities in the world will be in the Bahamas...a short trip from Florida.
Good for you Celtic Gal. Touching.
figure out how someone could be "sad" about celebrating
GOD taking on the flesh of man
in order to save all of mankind.
John 3:16-17 (emphasis added)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
As a family who has paid off pretty much everything but the house, we plan on having a fine Christmas. Wii is down to $199 and we are taking advantage of it (thankfully my kids don’t read FR). We have been saving for Christmas all year, despite the setbacks with the van and other minor annoyances. My husband didn’t get a raise this year, and our budget is tight (3 kids in Catholic school will do that to you), but we’re thankful for my husband’s job, our health, our four beautiful children, and all the little things we do have, despite the Marxist in the White House.
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No they don't. They stem from the fact that human beings do not know the future in advance. To hear this guy tell it, if all these groups looked at 'the numbers' (as if there exist 'numbers' for something that hasn't happened yet) the same way, they'd all come up with the same answer, and it would be right, i.e. the future would turn out just the way they said.