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Retail Accountability?

Forget New Hampshire Pollsters -- if you want to see some poor professional work, have a look at those who cover retail sales for a living.

I'm not naming names, but Cheese N Crackers! how many analysts, pundits and others totally shit the bed when it came to this year's holiday sales?

Forget forecasting next month -- how about understanding what is going oon RIGHT NOW? Or if that's too complex, how about what happened last month?

Credit card debt turned up, the home ATM turned down, inflation was rampant, real income gains non-existent, the job market mediocre. On top of that, we had  much higher prices for daily requirements like Food and Energy -- and still, there was total denial about how healthy retail is.

  Now, the MSM tells us Americans Cut Back Sharply on Spending. Really? You don't say!

Those of us who are reality-based and paid even the slightest attention saw this coming a long time ago.

~~~

With December Retail Sales a minute from release, let's ask this question: Who really blew it this year on Retail? What commentary was off base, ugly or just plain wrong?

Source:
Americans Cut Back Sharply on Spending   
MICHAEL BARBARO and LOUIS UCHITELLE
NYT, January 14, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/business/14spend.html

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 | 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (34) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

It is frightening when you consider credit card debt just hit $935.7 billion . . . that's nearly a TRILLION dollars!

Well, I'm sure it is "contained", being "watched" by our concerned officials in Washington... besides, if Fannie and Freddie can help rescue the subslime, why not the car loans... and surely the govt can figure out a way to help those victimized credit card borrowers.

Posted by: Strasser | Jan 15, 2008 8:49:13 AM