Christmas is still nearly seven weeks away, and already the media are offering a “Bah, Humbug” for retail sales and the U.S. economy.
CNN shoveled coal at the positive economic news on November 2 and immediately moved into full Grinch mode.
“You know, just earlier this week the broadest measure of the economy, Kyra, the GDP, came in at 3.9 percent, stronger than expected. What’s working against it, though, the financials, concerns that we’re going to have a lot more carnage coming from that very important sector, consumer spending …” said “Newsroom” correspondent Susan Lisovicz.
On September 24 of this year, Alexis Christoforous of “CBS Morning News” warned, “It could be a blue Christmas for many of the nation’s retailers.”
See YouTube video after the jump.
The National Retail Federation is forecasting 4 percent growth in holiday sales this year compared to last year's 4.3 percent growth. NRF has stated that spending will be "a bit retrained" this year, but restrained still means shoppers will likely spend about $19 billion more this year than last year.
The housing "crisis," "credit crunch" and high oil and gas have all been cited by worried reporters claiming that if consumer spending slows, economic calamity will follow.
But negative stories about holiday spending are not new to the media, in fact they were a theme in 2006 and 2005 too.
This week Business & Media Institute took a look back at previous Christmas retail reporting and presented the views of economists who argue slower spending will not cause a recession. You can read more here. If you want to know more about what's wrong with business and economic reporting be sure to sign up for BMI's weekly newsletter: The Balance Sheet.
—Julia A. Seymour is an assistant editor for the Business & Media Institute.
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Good grief. Have these
November 8, 2007 - 15:05 ET by motherbeltGood grief.
Have these people not learned yet that when Christmas comes around, people always break down and shop?
Every year they do the same thing....retailers expect sales to be down....bracing for another losing season....
And every year it turns out better than they predicted; usually picking up at the last minute.
Blue Christmas
November 8, 2007 - 23:33 ET by merlin61Every year, the same old same old. No one is
making any money at the retail level,but you can't
find a parking space at any of the malls on the
weekends? Who's fooling who?
Blue Christmas bah
November 8, 2007 - 23:42 ET by Clear thinkerBlue Christmas bah humbug...
No blue Christmas in this house. We will celebrate by spoiling the heck out of our grandkids!!!
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
tainted toys?
November 8, 2007 - 15:11 ET by american-americanI wonder how much of an impact the Chinese manufactured lead-tainted or date-rape drug laced children's toys will play into the toy sales this year. Check the recall.gov site for the total number of recalled toys so far this year. It is amazing to me how many have failed the tests.
If I had small children, I would be afraid to purchase any toy on the shelves, for fear of lead poisoning or GHB (date-rape drug) laced toys.
Yes, the media has been
November 8, 2007 - 15:23 ET by SmartypantsYes, the media has been trumpeting doom around this time of year pretty much every year that Bush has been president. When actual numbers belie the warnings, the press merely moves on to its next agenda-driven doom and gloom theme.
Anyone who is paying the slightest bit of attention knows the media has been talking down the economy for years, this despite the fact that the economy over the past four or five years has actually been strong by virtually all historical measures of economic activity. In many ways the economic picture of the 2000's so far has been better than that of the late 90's, when the media bought the Clinton Administration's line that recessions had been ended forever. And, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, the press will eventually be correct when the nation does inevitably fall into another recession. They will then use this to claim they were right all along, that the economy was awful the whole time Bush was in office.
Yes, Merry Christmas...er um, Happy Holidays
November 8, 2007 - 15:37 ET by CapitalismRulesAnd just when that warm tingle in your feet begins to sizzle with holiday excitement, just when you can hear the crackle of the fire, the wafts of cinnamon, and the merriment of yuletide joy, along comes the Econo-Grinches to tell us how YOUR Christmas should be celebrated in dollars and cents anyway.
So we have the MSMs telling us how we should expect to spend our money on our families, what kinds of displays should be allowed in our towns, what kinds of holiday foods will make us fat, and a host of other killjoys to tone down the festive behavior. But don't worry, once Hillary is haging her new drapes at this time next year, Christmas...er winter festival will be back, folks.
haging?
November 9, 2007 - 08:33 ET by AgnosticFreudian?
Major news outlets report
November 8, 2007 - 19:52 ET by Darth DutchMajor news outlets report that there is far too much consumer debt; people should be saving more.
Major news outlets report that Christmas will be bleak because people will probably not spend as much; business will be negatively affected which is a bad thing.
Which is it - should we continue to spend ourselves into deeper debt to help the businesses? Or should we lower our debt and affect business's bottom line? And thus is another tactic of the media - whatever happens there will always be negative things to report.
Darth Dutch
Major news outlets report
November 8, 2007 - 23:35 ET by merlin61You hit the nail on the head!!!! Damned if you
do, damned if you don't. The media wants it
both ways as usual.
what is up with cnn? can't
November 9, 2007 - 02:17 ET by crsheddwhat is up with cnn? can't even report the GREAT economy we are all enjoying! the msm will stop at nothing to belittle our great country, even resorting to lies about the economy.
Retailers post worst October sales in 12 years (link: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/retailers-post-worst-october-sales/story.aspx?guid=%7BC77CBE02%2D2FC9%2D4CC6%2DA07C%2D6E05509EC406%7D )
oh, wait! is that a liberal site? if it is it must be a lie! if it is a conservative site, it too must be a lie!
Headline does not fit story! Positive rise but negative story!
November 9, 2007 - 07:47 ET by PawpawNRead this headline and story! You'd think sales were down everywhere, that retailers didn't see any increase, etc. Goes to show ya, you can't tell a story by it's headline(wasn't that a Rod Stewart song!). http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7B50238C4E%2D59CB%2D42B7%2D9F03%2D728CC9D5A69D%7D&siteid=rss