Holiday Shopping and the Economy
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-11-23/holiday-shopping-and-economy
Black Friday comes early this year as some retailers open their doors Thanksgiving night in hopes of cashing in. Holiday spending and what it could mean for the economy.
Guests
James Roberts
professor of marketing and W.A. Mays Professor of Entrepreneurship at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, and author of "Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don't Have in Search of Happiness We Can't Buy"
Ylan Mui
Washington Post's consumer reporter
Mark Zandi
chief economist of Moody's Analytics and author of "Financial Shock" and the forthcoming book, "Paying the Price."
Ellen Davis
Vice President of the National Retail Federation
Comments
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curious to see if OCCUPY
and not to buy boycott
catches ONEs attention FINALLY
as the great consumer machine empty
having given ALL blood, sweat, and tears this season
would bragg about NOT spending
BUT as broken; foreclosed; and 'unclean'
not worth as much now, as our 20 plus years of service
counts for naught to spend
as old whistleblower-
blew IT- for US dream-
and family continuity
HAPPY hollow Daze shopping all...
$700/ month job could have kept three veterans from tents... back to fighting for our country... IN our country... and stealing bread
I am just amazed how many retail businesses can keep the lights on all selling pretty much the same Chinese crap.
Last evening as Triple A was towing my truck into an auto garage here in Athens Ohio I rode with the tow truck driver and talked about what he was being paid and all of the many skills he uses operating all of the tow truck etc equipment. He was making minimum wage working for another local garage which has the triple A contract. He works 50 hours a week at this job and clears around $250.oo a week. He also has another job delivering five paper routes with his girlfriend every morning bringing in another one hundred fifty to two hundred dollars a week. This job takes about 20 hours a week. That total comes up to about $400.oo a week working 70 hours
He has absolutely no disposable income. In fact he said he said he can barely pay his bills.
He is a prime example of the hard working poor. There are millions of people out there like this
You can be sure he and his girlfriend will not be shopping on black Friday or any time soon
Some of us still celebrate the day after Thanksgiving as "Buy Nothing Day". "Black Friday" sounds like a day of economic or military disaster.
The Knoxville Paper charges the Sunday Newstand price for the Thanksgiving issue because of all the inserted Flyers.
I've read that Halloween is also a big holiday for Consumer spending. I wonder how good business was this year.
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Money can't buy happiness but sure feels better to cry in a Mercedes rather than on a bike...
Sestius
Good points. Where did the title "Black Friday" come from? Why not help the economy Friday or do spend but spend wisely Friday.
Wonder how much money Wal Mart makes on Black Friday?
Was it on black Friday that someone was trampled a few years ago.
So often the discussion is framed as though it is our duty to buy, buy, buy in order to get our country "back on track" financially. So we fill our homes with unnecessary things and teach our children that Christmas is only about getting stuff.
Every time I hear people referred to as "consumers" it strengthens my resolve to keep my Christmas buying to a minimum, and as I sit listening to the show, sewing a small gift for a child, I am happy to be a producer rather than a consumer.
Suzanne, Rochester, NY
Sac
Sad but true point
kathleen wrote:"He is a prime example of the hard working poor. There are millions of people out there like this"
Well Kathleen, did you tell him that you were seeking to bury him further by supporting public labor unions that will force him to pay higher taxes. Ha Ha, Happy Thanksgiving
Suzanne such a good point
Monte labor unions would bring him better wages. Period The millionaire owner (know this) of the place where he works has not even offered him an increase in his wages for over a year. The owners made him pay for his reflection jacket to keep the drivers from getting hit on the side of the road.
The owner of this place gets away with paying their employees pathetic wages. Pathetic and shameful. This happens a great deal in Appalachia. This guy is working his ass off making minimum wage.
Unions created the middle class and the only thing that will revive a middle class.
You know the majority of the fat cats do not share unless they are forced to.
I am a parent, a wife, a friend and this topic is super! I don't need a national holiday to remind me how blessed and fortunate I am to have my family and health. I cook and bake for my family all week long, to celebrate on Thanksgiving. Mostly because I love to feed them and spend time with them. But I love to get out of my house too! It's totally fun to see what retailers come up with. This is America - we are capitalists! Why not go out at 5am and shop for holiday specials? If you don't want to do it, stay home, eat more pie and relax. I love the sales!
I too am one of those listeners who is amazed and furious with the tone of some of the speakers. I complete agree with the recent woman caller.
Consume, consume, consume! Even on a holiday of Thanksgiving. Where are our priorities?
Really liked the one guest statistics on when folks were making more money buying more stuff and that they are not any happier for the stuff.
Clearly affluenza is contagious
What I find most infuriating about all this shop, shop, shop syndrome is that we have totally forgotten the reason for the season. When you have christmas trees going up right after labor day, it makes me very sad. I don't like the concept of shopping for the sake of shopping. Most of us have more than we will ever need. The operative word is need. Why are we out there looking for more things to clutter our homes and closets?
I refuse to go to any store on Thanksgiving Day. I think all the people who are stepping on each other in their zeal to buy are actually crazy.
Not once during this discussion did I hear anyone, particularly Ellen Davis, mention WHEN these eager employees are going to sleep. If they celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, then go to work, then spend the next day with their families, when are they going to get SLEEP?
I, for one, will not be supporting Black Friday creep.
And yet these are the very people who insist on their children having a "good Christmas". They shop at the extreme discount stores for their gifts. They consider that providing their children with lots of gifts at Christmas (rather than saving to pay the heat bill)is a disavowment of their own poverty. I have worked with low income families for 30 years and this is not a judgement but an observation.
Your guest called the incident when a shopper was injured in a Black Friday shopping rush as "an example of the excitement." That is absolutely unconscionable. It is indeed an example of greed and wanton disregard for one's fellow human beings.
Pkrusko. It is an odd topic the day before Thanksgiving instead of a focus on what we are thankful for.
One of the guest "happiness is not going to come from consumption" Bingo
Kathleen I said "public labor unions"
By the way did you tip him generously because of the great deal you received because of his low wages?
I am happy and proud to say that on Friday, my daughter and I will take her two daughters, my grandchildren, on a train ride to Durham to see the Rockettes Christmas Special at the Durham Performing Arts. We will stay overnight in a hotel and then ride the train again the following day, Saturday. As my little 6-year old granddaughter says, it will be a fun "all girls trip!" While I understand that retailers, investors, etc. look at the holiday sale as a way to gauge the success or non-success of business and the economy in the coming year, I still feel that family is a priority especially on holidays such as Thanksgiving, etc. I want for my granddaughters to feel and experience special days as a family gathering or simply a time to reflect about the many things that we enjoy in life, i.e., good health, parents and grandparents who are happy and willing to spend time with them and watch them grow, friends and other relatives, and other simple things in life. We look forward to a great family gathering on Thanksgiving Day and we will reflect about the many blessings we have.
Toward the beginning of the segment Ms. Davis mentioned the National Retail Federation has been working with the Department of Homeland Security in regards to the Occupy protests. Can this issue be discussed in further detail on the show this morning?
One of the guest said "happiness is not going to come from consumption" Bingo
Thankful for so many things family, friends.... feelings of compassion and actions that follow. Thankful for your show Diane
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
As a "consumer", I feel that I am constantly bombarded with people selling me something, especially during this season. My mailbox is full of catalogs I don't want, I get tired of sitting through commercials on television that i don't want to watch, our visual world is filled with billboards and signage, our radios with commercials, etc. etc. I am on overload in terms of the bombardment of marketing of consumer products in this country. I wish to be just a person living my life, rather than an increasingly targeted "consumer."
This constant bombardment has caused me to decrease my consumerism, because the whole thing has passed a tipping point, where it now all turns my stomach. It is disgusting.
I totally support what Kathleen said. This country would not be politically stable if we didn't have a large middle class, brought about by labor unions. Many of the benefits we enjoy are because of the diligent, hard fought battles won for us by labor unions - 40 hour work week, overtime, child labor laws, etc.
I just visited the local Walmart, and mentioned to the cashier who checked me out, that it was deplorable that the store workers had to be there all day Thanksgiving preparing for the 10 PM opening. She agreed by nodding firmly. I then went on to say that Walmart and all retailers needed to be unionized to end such outrages. She clearly did not dare to say anything.
Wal Mart just recently cut health insurance for their part time workers. They will make billions in profits during the holiday season. Twisted twisted. Boycott Wal Mart....shop at businesses that provide insurance for their workers
I wish people would stop trying to tell us what makes people happy because what might make one person happy isn't necessarily what makes ME happy. Money can't buy happiness? Speak for yourself.
I am a proponent and practitioner of moderate spending during the holidays. However, I am responsible only for my own actions and decisions. If I object to a retail practice, I simply don't shop there. I am unwilling to pass judgment on someone who wants to work or wants to shop at any time.
If this year's Black Friday events offend you, don't go.