By ROBERT ROMANO || The saying “so goes retail” should be ringing in everyone’s ears as we head into the Christmas shopping season, kicking off with so-called Black Friday on November 28 — the day retailers supposedly go “in the black” after being “in the red” all year long.
On October 7, the National Retail Federation proclaimed “Optimism Shines as National Retail Federation Forecasts Holiday Sales to Increase 4.1 percent.”
Humbug.
Now, maybe it will be a good shopping season and maybe it won’t. But here are some factors to consider.
Looking in the rear view mirror, between November 2013 and October 2014, retail sales were up 3.8 percent, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Which is to say, not up very much at all. Between 2010 and 2012, retail actually averaged 5.5 percent growth a year.
At less than 4 percent growth the last 12 months, 2014 so far is shaping up to be one of the worst for retail since the recession. Which is not good news. Overall retail tends to track with the overall performance of the economy at large.
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Robert Romano is the Senior Editor of Americans for Limited Government. This piece (reprinted with permission) originally appeared on NetRightDaily.com.
16 comments
And your point is. . . ?
“Get off my lawn…you whippersnappers..” Grumpy old with nothing to say..thats his point.
There are too many economists and corporations saying the economy is getting better. It makes ALG look dumb. Need to change the narrative. People might start to wonder why all those job creators need more tax cuts, and why they should help pay for them.
We just got the jobs number on Friday, and we are cooking with gas now. The stock market is about to hit 18,000. Wow. I do believe most people will come out and shop.
Is this somehow like putting lip stick on a pig ? No offence to the Hillary supporters. LOL
its whatever u LOG Cabin Democrats call it. Sen. Hutto brought u up to the washington office yet?
You had to get permission to reprint this? Love your unbiased source!!! Is that u in Drag Man-d?
If old Alistair Sim as Scrooge looks in any way like Mande to you, you need some new peepers.
Who can be the first to identify the actor and the movie?
Time starts 5:12PM EST
Alistair Sim
Alastair Sim as Scrooge, in my favorite version of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol,” entitled “Scrooge.” First one I ever saw, as a kid. Christmas just wasn’t Christmas until the family had watched that on TV. Subsequent releases have used “A Christmas Carol” as the title.
Full marks for actor and movie.
BTW, you may have tipped your “Guest” hand below.
Odd quirk of Disqus: Sometimes when you click to delete a comment, it leaves the comment but attributes it to “Guest” I’d responded to you in the wrong place.
Alastair Sim as Scrooge, in my favorite version of “A Christmas Carol,” entitled “Scrooge.” First one I ever saw, as a kid.
Indeed. He IS Scrooge. Scott is second.
The economy is fabulous for VERY big banks. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s $7T of OUR tax money, ini? God bless them, EVERY ONE.