“All hat, no cattle” – Cowboy adage for an empty suit
Bloomberg.com reported on Nov. 19, 2013 what they refer to as “the weakest holiday shopping season since 2009. ”
So anemic is this year’s forecast for retailers that Bloomberg notes that in a bid to draw more shoppers to their aisles, discount giant Wal-Mart is slashing the cost by a third of a 32″ flat screen television to $98, down from $148 last year.
To hammer home the point, Bloomberg.com emphasized what other retail powerhouses have up their collective sleeves to attract shoppers:
- “Sears Holdings Corp. has waived layaway fees and its Kmart chain is introducing a rent-to-own program.”
- “More than a dozen retailers are opening earlier, or for the first time, on Thanksgiving Day.”
- “Among the attention-grabbing stunts: a $1 million jackpot for one of the first shoppers to visit Gap Inc.’s Old Navy chain on Black Friday.”
The Obama Effect…
Amazingly, 2009 — the first full year of Barack Obama’s presidency — was also the beginning of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka: “The Obama Stimulus Plan.” Almost $1 trillion later, the American economy is in real danger of being overtaken by China as the world’s economic superpower.
To paraphrase Greg Gutfeld of Fox News, “Obama promised us a robust economy, he just forgot the ro.”
