“Perception is reality”.
Well, no it ain’t. Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Reuters, Sept 20th – The recession ended in June 2009, making it the longest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the National Bureau of Economic Research said on Monday.
Bill Simon, President, CEO of Wal-Mart US, Sept.15th – … about 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs, and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when … government electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher. And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they’ve been waiting for it.
More Bill Simon, here (pdf)
What is more scary is the denial that most of the people in charge are in. The Tea Party movement might stave off some of the really bad fall out but the market is going to crash hard and take the dollar with it. I think the Mayans might be on to something with their 2012 predictions ;^)
commentors need to reread Orwell’s ‘1984’.
what I got from that work is that in fact perception is reality in the New World Order.
“how many fingers am I holding up Winston?”
this is the world we are heading into. many areas are already past the point of no return.
The US is in full depression and has been for months. If people want to really follow what’s going on, they need to tune to Vox Day’s website.
Western governments, including our Canadian government, claimed in 2009 the recession would be over in early 2010.
A lot of people didn’t switch to a more austere lifestyle because they trusted the governments and wanted to believe.
I guess they forgot that these same governments didn’t predict the coming stock market crash and recession in the first place.
Those governments and their media organs did try to influence reality by shaping perception.
They failed.
It’s going to cost us, not them so much, but us.
“The recession ended in June 2009” – now that truly is the news of a Yahoo. Oh wait, it’s a different recession now. Must be the one that started in July of 2009.
It comes down to a split between the common understanding and the technical definition of the term “recession.” Most people consider “recession” to basically mean “hard economic times.” But as economists use the term, it means “period in which the economy is getting worse.” In other words, the end of the recession as economists use the word is the point when the economy gets as bad as it’s going to in the current cycle–not the point when it reaches “healthy” status, as the common thought is.
[deleted. Off topic. – ED]
Housing, durable goods, and car sales continued to decline in 2010.
I think it’s safe to say that the economy is still in recession.
It’s also safe to say that any government figures about economic growth can’t be trusted.
“if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they’ve been waiting for it.”
Yeah, they’ve been waiting because they spent their under-the-table paycheck/crack income on booze, bling and lottery tickets. Stuff ya gotta have, right?
Non-essentials like BABY FOOD can wait until the gubmint card recharges on the first of the month.
If you build it, they will come. And tear it down.
wow phantom, I thought I was a cynical.
There’s also this little tidbit…
Our back-to-school season, as we had talked in recent quarters, like most seasonal events, came later and closer to the event
than it has in the past.
More evidence that there’s less spare cash around. I’m not so sure they’re spending it all on POPCORN, BEER, crack & lottery tickets.
Bill Simon, “I don’t need to tell you that our customer remains challenged; the Wal-Mart customer is a
bit of a microcosm of the US economy. And I say this not to use it as an excuse, but really for us to acknowledge that we have
a responsibility and a duty to figure out how to serve that customer in a challenged time, because that is what we do and that
is what our business model is for.”
That’s private industry – albeit a good company. You will never hear a civil servant talk that way, ever. Politicians occasionally but not often.
“Happy is the day
When the airman gets his pay”
It used to be the case in HM Forces that on payday
the family would head straight for a supermarket.
After that came booze.
bear, have you -been- to Walmart on welfare check day? Holy smokin’ crackpipe man. These are not your temporarily out of a job because of Obamanomics we are talking about here.
Normal humans who are out of a job take the bus to Walmart in the daytime. Because that’s when the buses are running. Because normal can use their superior human intellect to do little things like prioritize, plan their meals, add and subtract to figure out how much money will be left at the end of the month, stuff like that.
1AM at Walmart the taxicabs line up like at the airport.
Possibly my brush may be a little broad, but only a little.
Goodness, Phantom — where do you live?
At my local Wally Mart (Aurora, Ontario), the parking lot is always full of BMWs, Mercedes, and Jaguars. I’m not kidding. It’s so strikingly out of place sometimes that I often think of starting a “The Other Half of WalMart” website to feature photos of the luxury cars and tailored suits in my local store.
I can’t tell if these people are there because of the hard times, or if it’s because Canadian retail has fallen so far that WalMart has become the upscale choice in the area.
“What’s The Biggest Three-Word Lie In Politics?”
We Will Help.
Am I the only one who thinks the majority of government services should be provided by Wal-Mart?
Posted by: Bill Elder at September 22, 2010 4:12 PM
That’s a variation on the ‘10 most feared words in the world.’
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
To live in the land of smoke & mirrors. Unfortunately for these lotus suckers. The hallucination of prosperity through spending like global warming, is about to fall on them like a mountain.
Where did all the money go, will become the new American game.
JMO
Any clown can put down a first month’s lease payment and drive a Bimmer or a Benz off the lot, including the ugly people who frequent Walmarts, loading up on junk food and third world fashionswear.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the “People of Walmart” chain e-mails…….YUCK!
“Any clown can put down a first month’s lease payment and drive a Bimmer or a Benz off the lot, including the ugly people who frequent Walmarts”
_I_ am one of the uglier people to shop in the WalMart I’m talking about. The other people in this particular store not not the people you see in the “People of WalMart” site or emails, and they’re not the grubby types to which Eskimo refers. These people appear to be able to afford the vehicles they are driving.
This WalMart is in Aurora, ON — just down the street from Magma (Stronach’s) head offices. There’s money in town, and that money seems to be doing a lot of shopping at this particular WalMart. Again, I’m not sure if that’s because of the current economic conditions in Ontario, or if it’s because Canadian retail is so dismal that there’s little other choice for mid-range department stores. I really don’t know.
I don’t buy clothes at WalMart, but tell me where in Canada you can buy anything OTHER than third-world fashionware? At least WalMart is charging a fair price for the stuff. Go into Sears or The Bay and you see the same third-world geography lesson, but three times the price.
Anyway. Am just saying.
I have seen the sort of stores to which Phantom refers. When I lived in Toronto, those sorts of stores and their inhabitants were easy to find. But the WalMarts out in the suburbs and bedroom communities seem to be completely different stores.
I read an article about Wal-Mart Moms. Apparantly they poll WMM for how they will vote. The breakdown surprised me. They are about 1/3 each D,R or I. They like bambam but over 50% will vote R. They are also younger for those that care.
i drive a bmw and wear tailored suits and sometimes shop at the walmart on the west side of calgary. mostly i shop for kids’ clothes or shoes and occasionally i buy electronic goods. these seem to be good value at wal mart and often good quality. i dont feel out of place there. mind you i shop after work, not at midnight.
I don’t like Wal-Mart because their promises of bargains are deceptive and whenever I ask for something not made in China I get a bovine look. Can’t take it.
The US will be stuck in backward mode for some time, I suspect.
Hey bmw driver…why do you wear tailored suits, but the kiddies have to suffer the indignity of clothes and shoes produced by child labour from third world backwaters? Heh heh, couldn’t resist!
I love Walmarts. We parked the motorhome on many a night on our USA vacation this summer. Thier prices are cheaper too. I needed a new sewer drain pipe for the RV and bought one at a Walmart in California. Returned home a week later and saw the identical pipe at our local Walmart for more than twice the price!
Lickmuffin, the Walmart near me is in Ancaster Ont. one of the most affluent locations in the country. Its much like Ajax.
No, I’m talking Buffalo or maybe White Plains/Yonkers NY, you see some scary sh1t there oh yeah.
But the piece de resistance was Orlando, Florida. O.M.G. Killer whales in cabs.
Phantom, the Walmart in Barstow, CA deserves an ‘honorable mention’ as well! Despite my healthy girth from 45 years of Ukrainian cuisine, I was starting to feel anorexic while purchasing cheap beer alongside the orcas!
Lickmuffin, You have to be aware that the demographic of shopper at a Walmart Supercenter in the US is substantially different than that of the typical Canadian Shopper. As well, many people in expensive cars and suits and the like need to shop at the cheapest place possible, since they can barely afford the payments on their, car, boat, RV, house….
okay, i accept the dig. mind you my tailored suits come from hong kong and for all i know could be sewn by child labourers.
point being, most people i know shop at walmart at least occasionally. its slightly easier to shop there than superstore. (i hate trying to guess how many bags i need and the walmart lines are shorter).
so walmart is not just for obese people and junkies. its probably a reasonable weather vein for the economy.
In related news, the recession that swept Spending Bill Clinton into the White House in 1992 was not a recession after all because the downturn did not last long enough.
“It’s the economy, Stupid!” — does that mean that if you think it’s the economy, you’re stupid?
Most successful business MO in any field always provides ‘value for the money’.
And some do it a lot better than others.
Eskimo, can you imagine downtown LA? Or Detroit? How about Gary Indiana?
Run awaaaaaay!!!!!
You guys, if you haven’t seen these people you really can’t believe it. The USA has a poverty sub-culture in the large cities that we just don’t have (yet!). They’re working on it hard in Toronto and Hamilton, but the crappiest part of Jane/Finch or Barton St. is as -nothing- compared to Detroit, NYC, even Buffalo. Or Minneapolis!
These are the kind of people who cut down light poles and sell them to scrap dealers for crack money. Who rip apart empty houses for the -plumbing-. For crack money.
They come in two body types. The scrawny, bony squirrel-on-speed type, and sea-going mammal. No happy medium. Sea mammals outnumber squirrels-on-speed by like 4-1. I can’t believe they gain weight while doing drugs, but they do. Booze probably.
The CEO of Walmart is playing politics. Really, really carefully.
“What’s The Biggest Three-Word Lie In Politics?”
Free market conservative.