THANKSGIVING SALES: A BAD SIGN
OMINOUS OMEN FOR 2014 ECONOMY, INVESTMENT AND JOBS
IS THIS AMERICA'S "NEW NORMAL?"
By Lowell Ponte and Craig R. Smith
Thanksgiving holiday weekend sales were the weakest since 2009,
despite major chain stores opening for the first time on Thanksgiving Day.
“President Barack Obama may be the Grinch who steals Christmas,
judging by Thanksgiving's weak sales,” says Craig R. Smith. “We have the smallest percentage of Americans
working since Jimmy Carter was President. Only 101 million Americans have
full-time jobs, but 108 million are getting means-tested welfare, paid from
heavier taxes on working families. The average American family's income is down
by about $3,500 since President Barack Obama took office in 2009, yet in 2013
its Federal tax burden increased by more than $1,000."
“Consumer confidence was at a 7-month low this November,” said
Smith, “and 65 percent of Americans told pollsters that they were living paycheck
to paycheck. An Associated Press survey
last July found that 80 percent of U.S. adults are near poverty, rely on
welfare, or 'struggle with joblessness' for at least a significant part of
their lives. They live in economic insecurity.
And Obamacare has left families, including millions already struggling
to keep their heads above water financially, at risk of losing their health
insurance and having to pay a lot more for a lot less coverage. The Manhattan
Institute calculates that American families will soon be forced to pay an
average of 41 percent more."
“No wonder the National Retail Federation foresaw 7 million fewer
shoppers online and in stores than 2012's Thanksgiving weekend,” says Smith. On
Black Friday, the number of customers visiting retail stores was down more than
11 percent over last year, and sales were down a stunning 13.2 percent.”
“Welcome to the 'New Normal,'” says Smith's co-author Lowell Ponte.
“This is one more sign of our economy weakening, despite the Federal Reserve
propping it up with more than $1 Trillion every year of new money conjured out
of thin air. Even the Fed in late
November grimly admitted that 'Slower growth in productivity might have become
the norm' in our economy."
“This means that the Federal Reserve dare not stop its stimulus
spending, even though it no longer stimulates economic growth, because our
'record high' stock market and government are addicted to this cheap, easy money,”
says Ponte. “This means that taxes will
keep going up, our anemic economy will keep going down, and, unless voters
change things, we may be headed for our devaluing dollar to soon be destroyed
in a firestorm of high inflation, or for a Great Depression of long-term
stagnation."
“We're in a slow-growth period of unknown duration,” says Columbia
University Nobel-laureate economist Edmund Phelps. No wonder so many Americans are hunkering
down, frightened, and spending carefully.
“This is a teachable moment for our children and grandchildren, an
opportunity to instill lifelong survival skills,” says Ponte. “Do as the three
Wise Men did 2,000 years ago by giving something this Christmas that
politicians cannot run off a printing press – something of secure, permanent
value such as a small gold coin. This could inspire a lifetime of thrift and of
wanting to learn how the economy works.”
“The old saying is that if you give a person a fish, you feed him
for a day. If you teach your children to fish, you feed them for a lifetime.
Today the politicians give people a welfare check, to make them dependent on
and addicted to government for a lifetime.
This Christmas teach your children and grandchildren how to be free,
independent, self-reliant, prosperous and thankful for a lifetime by giving
them real values and real money,” says Ponte.
Factoid: 75% of Americans polled by CBS would have preferred that stores
stayed closed on Thanksgiving. Millions nevertheless left family dinners,
football and a day of rest to snap up bargains such as big screen TVs.
To
schedule an interview with Craig R. Smith or Lowell Ponte, contact:
For
a media copy of their new book “The Great Withdrawal,” contact:
Sources:
Lauren Coleman-Lochner and others, “U.S. Retail Sales Up 2.3%,
Foot Traffic Declines,” Bloomberg News, December 1, 2013. URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-01/u-s-retail-holiday-sales-up-2-3-foot-traffic-declines.html
Elizabeth A. Harris, “Thanksgiving Openings Take Sales From Black
Friday,” New York Times, November 30, 2013. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/business/thanksgiving-openings-take-sales-from-black-friday.html
Hope Yen, “The Big Story: Exclusive: Signs of Declining Economic
Security,” Associated Press, July 28, 2013. URL: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/exclusive-4-5-us-face-near-poverty-no-work-0
Rich Miller, “Fed Reveals New Concerns About Long-Term U.S.
Slowdown,” Bloomberg News, November 27, 2013.
URL: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-27/fed-reveals-new-concerns-about-long-term-u-s-slowdown.htm
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