[vtsnowedin]

Did some people receiving unemployment benefits go shopping on Black Friday? Certainly. They didn't have a job to go to and nobody was doing any hiring that day so why not. That doesn't mean they went out and bought the latest Ipad or Wii for their kids Christmas stocking. People on fixed incomes shop differently then those with discretionary income. The gifts they buy will tend to be things they would have had to buy sometime soon anyway. Winter cloths etc.
Old redneck Yankees like myself do this anyway even if there is a healthy balance in the check book. One daughter just got an early Christmas present. A set of four snaggle toothed snow tires for her new car so I don't have to worry about her while she commutes to work this winter. Not as much anyways.
All season tires are for all the seasons they have in New Jersey.

Some seasoned citizens do things like pay each others electric bills for the holidays or top off Aunt Tilly's fuel tank with Santa's helper hundred gallons of no. 2.
To me good Christmas shopping means leaving any piece of cheap Chinese junk that will never actually be used by the recipient right where it is on the Wally mart shelve.

[gollum]

2/3 shopped means 1/3 didn't. I was at the local walmart that evening and while the very best deals were gone there were still plenty of big screen TVs at deep discounts. I think people are being fiarly tight with their money and only jumping at the very best deals, which doesen't bode well for store profits.

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '[')b]2/3 shopped means 1/3 didn't. I was at the local walmart that evening and while the very best deals were gone there were still plenty of big screen TVs at deep discounts. I think people are being fiarly tight with their money and only jumping at the very best deals, which doesen't bode well for store profits.

[Lore]

For the unemployed maybe the Congress can put a stick and a rope in their stockings, so they can tie them up and beat them some more.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Luxury spending is back in fashion
But lag in essentials shows income gap

Consumers are buying more luxury items but spending remains tight for everyday essentials such as food and dental care, a USA TODAY analysis finds, suggesting a growing divide between haves and have-nots.

Purchases of TVs, jewelry, recreational vehicles and pet supplies are growing robustly, government data show. At the same time, spending on medical care, day care, education is down in the dumps.

"The rising tide isn't lifting all boats," says Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at the Deloitte accounting and consulting firm and author of an index tracking consumer spending.

He says higher-income and older households, helped by a strong stock market, are experiencing increased wealth and spending more. However, high unemployment is pulling in the other direction, depressing spending among people without jobs and those anxious about job security.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/ne ... st.art.htm

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'T')he population is 310M. When 2/3 of the population show up at the mall for discretionary holiday spending, the situation can't be that bad then, because otherwise, we'd be hanging on to our dollars for a rainy day.

[Ludi]

I think in our society it's seen as utter failure if you can't give your family xmas presents. So people who can't afford it still shop, they just put it on the credit card.

I hope my family can stand it that nobody is getting anything from me for the holidays. I haven't made anything for anyone, so I won't be giving anything. I'm not going to buy them anything, that's for sure. They all have more money than I do, so they can buy themselves stuff!

[Lore]

Hedge fund operators have reason to rejoice this Christmas. While they only pay 15% on their unearned income, their secretaries are paying 25% on their income. Happy spending! Of course the unemployed will have no income.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]U.S. luxury spending grows, wealthy are happy-survey
Wed Jul 21, 2010

(Reuters) - Spending on luxury goods by affluent Americans is forecast to grow by $28 billion in 2010, experts said on Wednesday, and the wealthy are happy despite most believing the United States is still in recession.

The "Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America" found luxury spending would rebound for the first time in three years, led by purchases of automobiles, services, travel and children's clothing.

But the online poll of 1,900 households with an average annual income of more than $235,000 by American Express Publishing and Harrison Group showed 94 percent still believe the United States is in recession.

The households surveyed between January and April represent 10 percent of Americans and 50 percent of all retail sales.

"Interest in luxury is trending up, but this interest is qualitatively different from the unbridled enthusiasm that characterized ... the mid-2000s," said Jim Taylor, Harrison Group's vice chairman. "People take pride in the way they have managed their finances and family through the recession."

"We think it's going to be a pretty good Christmas (for retailers)," he said.

And this pride had led to happiness among the rich, with 71 percent saying they are happy, up from 40 percent in 2007.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66K5M020100721

[Ludi]

These days it's all about keeping the wealthy happy and more wealthy, and maybe keeping the rabble from revolting too much.

[IsThisRealLife]

I still think the poor is suffering. More these days then ever. But they/we send the wrong message when we arrive en masse at the mall to buy crap made in China. It just makes no sense.

Whether unemployment benefits or tax breaks or other social programs, acting like we have money to spend doesn't help the cause of asking for more.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'I') still think the poor is suffering. More these days then ever. But they/we send the wrong message when we arrive en masse at the mall to buy crap made in China. It just makes no sense.

Whether unemployment benefits or tax breaks or other social programs, acting like we have money to spend doesn't help the cause of asking for more.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'I') still think the poor is suffering. More these days then ever. But they/we send the wrong message when we arrive en masse at the mall to buy crap made in China. It just makes no sense.

Whether unemployment benefits or tax breaks or other social programs, acting like we have money to spend doesn't help the cause of asking for more.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'W')hether unemployment benefits or tax breaks or other social programs, acting like we have money to spend doesn't help the cause of asking for more.

[IsThisRealLife]

I'm not going straight for the solution, but spending more judicially, ie better glasses, more education, etc, is a better message than buying crap from China for Xmas.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'I')'m not going straight for the solution, but spending more judicially, ie better glasses, more education, etc, is a better message than buying crap from China for Xmas.

[ColossalContrarian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IsThisRealLife', 'I')'m not going straight for the solution, but spending more judicially, ie better glasses, more education, etc, is a better message than buying crap from China for Xmas.

[Fiddlerdave]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') don't know why American companies dont label their stuff with big flags, if one wants to buy American there are usually options, and the consumer sentiment is there.

[IsThisRealLife]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', '.')..the spending is coming from the financial elite. Because there is a blip in upward spending, don’t blame it on the unemployed, rather look to the nouveau riche.

[ColossalContrarian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fiddlerdave', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gollum', 'I') don't know why American companies dont label their stuff with big flags, if one wants to buy American there are usually options, and the consumer sentiment is there.

[vision-master]

How will marching put food on the table? This will somehow create jobs? Private sector jobs?

What r ppl smoken around this palce......

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ColossalContrarian', 'Y')ou need to get out more little boy. Let me take you with me to some section 8 housing projects. There are many people "in the system" who know how to "work the system". If people want to collect Unemployment Bennies longer than 14 months they need to piss in a cup first. Like I said, get out of your McMansion and take a look at what really happens when you give people a free ride.

btw, I didn't see the rich lined up at Bestbuy and Target -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOshw4kI ... r_embedded