Reply #11: Strangely enough

[Heddi]

I went out shopping a bit on Friday--just to Walgreens, a craft store, and another drug-store type store.

There was no problem parking. Traffic wasn't bad. I even had to drive by one of the malls (around 11am) and there were plenty of parking spaces.

I have learned not to believe the Media Hype.

You know, the HYPE that says people will spend an average of about $450-$500 on Christmas gifts---strangely enough, the week before THAT report came out, ANOTHER report came out saying that people were going to spend, on average, $1000+ on gifts....

I got the paper on Thanksgiving, and there were pooploads of circulars for sales, but the sales prices weren't that great. A $45 DVD player here and there (of course, after $50 in manufacturer's rebates, and another $10 in store rebates, and only if you have the coupon, etc)---but nothing EARTH SHATTERING like in years past.

Besides my mother, no one I know went out and did the "Up at 5:00am to stand in line" shopping that they did 3 and 4 years ago.

I saw more people out shopping on Saturday and Sunday than I did on Friday.

And for all these BILLIONS spent at Walmart on Friday---how many BILLIONS in late Credit Card fees, late mortgages, late car payments, etc, will we see in January and February?

Do the morons think that people FORGET that they've lost their jobs, or that they're working 2 jobs to make up for the 1 that they lost 2 years ago? Or that they've already had to pare down the spending anyways?

I heard on the news that the increase in sales this year over last year was the largest increase in sales in nearly 20 years. SOunds positive, right?

Well lets say I'm unemployed this year and make $0. Next year, I get a job and make $14k a year. That's a $14,000 increase from the year before. That's the largest increase in household income I've had in my life.

It's true, but deceptive in reporting.....