Every channel ! The consumers are expected to spend 4.5% more....

[kentuck]

this holiday season. They are so good at cheerleading. Those bargains are flying off those store shelves! People are waiting in line at 6:30 AM to get into the malls....Yap...uh-huh...If they were only as good at reporting the news...

[HeeBGBz]

1. I noticed that on the news this morning

Telling everyone to buy, buy, buy.

Telling people its a tradition. A nice brainwashing tradition.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Even so -- you might as well spend all your money now

because the dollar is tanking and pretty soon it won't even be useful as toilet paper.

[VivaKerry]

5. Only if you try to spend those dollars in France, though.

that's what a the financial expert on fox said in answering a question about whether holiday shoppers should be concerned about the low dollar. He said, only if you spend it in a place like France, to which the studio audience howled with laughter and you heard someone say, "like that's gonna happen! hardy har har."

The last joke will be on them, I guess.

[alexisfree]

18. lol....with bushcrap all over!!

[Warpy]

3. 4.5% increase would barely match the inflation we've seen

(although not the Enronned inflation the Bush gang publicises).

My guess is that it is going to be far lower. Even Bushbots know their economic situation is getting more precarious, though they're not quite ready to affix the blame where it belongs.

[booksenkatz]

4. But how much of it is on credit cards?

If it's mostly credit card spending, then there isn't an iota of health in that kind of pseudo-economy.

[Swede]

6. Obey,consume. nt

[TrustingDog]

19. I am old enough to remember us called citisens, not consumers....

what's up with that?

o, I know.... consumers are for corporate profits and citisens actually are represented by their government.

[sandnsea]

26. Oh me too

Did we become taxpayers or consumers first, I don't remember. But I do remember back in the 80's that I wasn't being called a citizen anymore. :cry:

[distantearlywarning]

7. I'm so cynical and suspicious at this point

that I don't even know whether to believe the truth of that statement or not. Maybe they are just making that up? The administration would certainly want people to believe the economy is looking up (even when it isn't) and telling people that Black Friday was very successful would support that illusion...

I don't know. Maybe I'm just finally crossing over into the tinfoil hat realm for good.

[billyoc]

8. The crowds weren't that big in Manhattan,

despite the news hyping up the shopping frenzy. Traffic was far too light for "Black Friday". It was almost eerie.

[Zynx]

9. I work in retail and this morning things were humming.

Our store did three days worth of business in three hours. Granted, I live in a very wealthy area and the economy doesn't affect the economy in our area much, but people were spending like crazy, particularly on digital cameras.

However, I've heard in Milwaukee that things aren't that special.

[high density]

10. NBC News has been pushing "Black Friday" all freaking day

From about 4:30am on the Early Today show to their radio "news" updates throughout the day.

[TrustingDog]

20. two big commercials for big gov and big corp.... that's the MEdia.

good grief could it be more transparent?

[trogdor]

11. W*M had some wicked sales.

Middle-ticket items like HP computers, cheap Chinese-made TV sets, etc. That's what I saw people lining up for on the news. Selling a whole bunch of shit on a paper-thin margin is NOT the same as people bidding up some hot "must-have" toy like Tickle Me Elmo on eBay.

Traffic was a little tight within 3/4 mi. of W*M, but other than that, it was pretty much business as usual.

[Zynx]

12. Same thing here.

People at OfficeMax came in droves to buy our tons of free(after a bunch of mail in rebates) stuff. Relatively few people came in to buy that many real items except for an assload of digital cameras.

[AP]

15. Yeah. Apparently some best buys were selling laptops for $499 to first 100

customers in order to get those "crowds" so they'd have a good photo-op for Black Friday (but they should call it Red Friday if they're only selling the loss leaders).

[AP]

13. Borrowing is going up 10%, so financing debt must be up 5.5%...

...if consumer spending is only up 4.5%.

It's your creditors who are really making out like bandits this year.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Spiffarino]

16. Well I hope they're right

I have my doubts about any kind of buying frenzy this Xmas, but I hope it happens. It'd be great to see some new jobs created and a better economy no matter who's in office. I don't think any of us, whatever our politics, wants to see any more suffering among those who've been the hardest hit.

My brother's car broke down today. He's lost his job and up to now has been taking anything Manpower can get for him. Without transportation he's got nothing. Nobody in my family is doing much better so we're no help to him. I'm quite sure he's not the only one out there having it hard this holiday season. Lots of DUers are probably having just as hard a time.

So I hope we do see some economic gains. Whether the miserable fraud GW Bush or anybody else is in office, people are really hurting in this country and they need good things to happen.

[Doncha_know]

23. Stores overflowing here

The parking lots were full here today. I thought we would never find a parking place. Mall's and Incredible Universe, Appliance Store.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. The Mall of America was really busy

but I have no way of comparing the traffic to previous years. (There was a sale at the Apple Store, otherwise you couldn't pay me enough to go there on a big shopping day.)

[SmokingJacket]

21. Since Bush "won," seems like people think his oh-so-rosy

vision of the future must actually be correct! People at the republican-heavy dinner I attended on TG were full of optimism about the economy. Did you know you how GREAT things are going to be??!! Wow!!

Guess it's okay to run my credit card way up, because surely I'll be getting a WAY better-paying job oh so very soon!

Not.

[proudbluestater]

22. Guess the Media got the "SELL" memo

Reporting a non-story is FAR cheaper than having to send a crew to actually INVESTIGATE. What is that? Investigate? No comprende.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

24. I prefer to think.....

The masses are scared. they feel in their gut something is wrong, they can't handle it, so they spend $. it always makes them feel better.

[fnottr]

25. Oh goody

so when the crash hits, we're going to have a country full of people without a dime of savings to their name

[AgadorSparticus]

27. i don't believe this buy buy buy mem they are pushing one bit.

last year they said it was going to be one of the best retail years evah. blah blah blah. they tanked hard. even my RW father doesn't believe the hype. must say, we didn't buy ONE item today. stayed in and watched movies and napped. it was glorious.