CHRISTMAS WISH

Off and running the annual orgiastic shopping season is upon us-- Tales of mad shoppers trashing racks and shelves in pursuit of hot schlock-- Retailer gimmickry inviting shoppers to midnight sprees where police have had to intercede to quell the hideous pandemonium and potential bloodsport have profaned the season once more-- The American Excess Card leave home without it, pleassssse-- If shoppers engage in mudwrestling technique to score an understock special cabbage patch DVD what will they resort to when it is Oil that becomes understocked??-- And overpriced, to boot??

Black Friday numbers roll in with so much disinformational quality-- Extreme disparity especially when questionable spending must be reported in optimistic/fantastic light-- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., reported November sales fell overall by 0.1%, a worse performance in their last decade could not be found-- Walmart the world's largest retailer off to a sluggish holiday start even after lowering prices well in advance of Black Friday--Consumers packed malls and stores over the turkey weekend but anecdotal evidence noted that volume traffic doesn't always parallel volume sales-- Some observers attend this ritual simply for the juice-- Watching people is more fun than throwing away hard earned dollars whose value appears to be dissolving a lot faster than it took to earn-- Sooner or later the $40 gift gets resold at garage sales for a buck and a quarter--

"You already know it's a high traffic day," said Laura Richardson, a consumer
analyst at BB&T Capital Markets. "What I'm looking at is traffic relative to
what I'm used to seeing and the promotional efforts retailers are making. A lot
of companies I follow are cutting (prices) more than last year and not getting
great traffic. That's not a great sign for sales or profits."

Orders for U.S.-made durable goods declined 8.3% last month the most since July 2000 leaving very few to dispute the obvious slowing of an economy that no longer produces enough quality others want to buy-- Corporations nervy as the proverbial riverboat gambler when easy credit is even easier now get fraught with anxiety and extreme caution becomes the keywords of the day-- Vaulting from one extreme to the opposite, shoring up one's own position becomes paramount and employees no matter how loyal or talented suffer the selfish fallout-- The lump of coal pink-slip layoff finds its scroogelike way into the stocking hanging from the faux fireplace--

"We're going to see manufacturing edging down further in coming months.
Inventories among automakers and other companies are still too high, and as
final demand slows we should see production
slowing as well.'' said Elisabeth Denison, an economist at Dresdner
Kleinwort in New York.

Sales of previously owned homes managed a small rise but consumer confidence,(Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer) orders for manufactured goods and home prices all evidenced deterioration surprising the rosy scenario crackpots on Tuesday, but Wednesday's report showed Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell in October plunging 25 percent from the same month last year, signalling misplaced expectations that the housing slump might be over were not worth the paper they were printed on-- Growth if it doesn't go outrightly negative may stall completely just in time for the All-important secular holiday jousting ongoing in the combat zones we once referred to as shopping aisles-- November's consumer confidence stat was the lowest since August's 100.2 and well below economists' expectations of a 106 reading which has some explanation for supply of unsold homes at the current sales pace rising to 7 months' worth. The Fed is supposedly worried that a badly faltering housing market could seriously disrupt the economic applecart, but Fed Chairman Bernanke attempting to put the happy face on all the gloom said yesterday the economy is expanding "at a solid pace'' outside of housing and the auto industry-- Ain't the Housing and Auto sectors just the measely backbone of our economy???--

Like the proverbial boxer who leads with his chin the dollar continues to be drubbed this week and even the most wild eyed optimist/fantasist doesn't expect the downturn to cease anytime soon-- Pessimistic (Mark Twain once said'Pessimism' is the name weak nerve gives to wisdom) observers run the gamut with some speculation the dollar will drop up to 40% in value over the next two years-- Not an economic record either head of the one party snake controlling DC would like to stake its 2008 election hopes on-- Still the current media fixation on horse-race politics continues to act as if the most serious problem facing our country is who each side of the same failing coin will offer as its 2008 nominee-- Not much commentary from the punditocracy recently on the reviving oil price/supply crises and I doubt Harry Reid demi leader of the new Senate majority will read this blog but here is a headline link just in case...

Oil Surges to a Two-Month High After U.S. Fuel Supplies Drop ---

Dreaming of a warm Christmas as the temperature here on the island drops and the busy boulevards and freeways in the Pacific Northwest ice over with more snow in the forecast-- Drivers praying someone guides their sleighs

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