Black Friday bad news? Or overall economy good news?

Posted on November 28, 2007

Since last Friday, “Black Friday”, the gloom and doom experts in the MSM have warned that even though more shoppers showed up Friday and spent more money over all than last year, things are bad in the economy. They point out that individual shoppers spent 3.5% less than last year! Horrors, the sky is falling!

But retailers won’t start popping the champagne yet, as a closer look at early spending patterns reveals a nervous side to all those pre-dawn shopping excursions. Shoppers spent an average of $347.44, down 3.5% from last year, a sign that the economic uncertainty from higher gas prices and the housing slump has dampened their spirits (BusinessWeek.com, 11/14/07).

But wait, they mentioned high gas prices - what if some shoppers did weigh the cost of gas to go shopping against the low cost of shopping on-line?

Over the holiday weekend, sales had grown 45 per cent on last year, although the seasonal pick-up in demand had come later than last year.

So, shoppers in bricks and mortar stores (BMS) subtracted about $10 from their in store spending (maybe that is the difference in the cost of gas to get to the mall?) and some that might have gone to BMS instead stayed home and bought on-line - 45% increase vs 3.5% decrease?

The MSM have an agenda item to portray the coming year as the “worst economy ever” in order to destroy the GOP. The theory is that the party of the sitting president suffers if the economy is bad. The problem is that they are struggling to find “news” that they can report that makes things look bad.

Even the reports of “dismal” results on Black Friday have to admit that more people went shopping and more money was spent. And look at the “subprime mortgage” problem stories, they talk about how bad it is for the very small number of people who are actually in trouble with being over extended, but the fact that housing prices are falling - which makes homes more affordable for more people - is the news that affects more people and that is a positive for anyone trying to afford a home. Sure it might be harder to qualify for a loan to buy the new house - but the people who are in trouble with existing mortgages were not really qualified for the loans they got. But more people being able to afford a home is a good thing, more affordable housing prices - a good thing, more shoppers in the stores - good thing, more on-line shoppers spending more - good thing.

» Filed Under general nonsense, positive values, Democrats, Media Bias, Taxes, New Hampshire, Presidential Primary, National Politics

Stumble it!

Comments

2 Responses to “Black Friday bad news? Or overall economy good news?”

Media Mythbusters Blog » Blog Archive » The Coming Recession on November 28th, 2007 2:43 pm

[…] for deep discounts because the economy was in such a fragile state and people were hurting so. Rob Boyce takes a look at similar coverage and provides some figures that don’t fit many of the reports […]
Media Mythbusters Blog » Blog Archive » Black Friday bad news? Or overall economy good news? on November 29th, 2007 9:24 pm

[…] Cross-posted at RobBoyce.com: […]

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.