70% off isn't suffiient? - OR - are Americans starting to realize they don't need all that shit?
My money's on the former. Of course we haven't become a nation of savers overnight, and the rampant cult of material acquisition is still a national imperative, but is it possible that Americans are slowly waking up to the fact that quality of life is not inextricably linked with conspicuous consumption? It would indeed be a quantum shift in the collective mindset of a nation that, for 25 years, did little else than mindlessly consume in hopes of giving their relatively empty lives meaning.
Americans are, for the most part, emotionally retarded and spiritually comatose, and compensating for such shortcomings is hard work. It's mostly achieved through filling all remaining storage space in closets, attics and garages with as much junk as humanly possible. During this time of year, that consists of bum rushing malls and factory outlets minutes after the Thanksgiving turkey is digested and continuing to shop right up until the new year. I don't understand why we don't just extend the fun right up to Valentines Day. That way, there's really no break between the two crassest consumer holidays.
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Retailers counting on post-Christmas sales to spruce up the sluggish holiday season may be disappointed as tapped-out shoppers turn their noses up at discounts of 70 percent or more.
“This week isn’t going to do it,” Burt Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a retail-industry consulting firm in New York, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Consumers are more cash- and credit-constrained than ever before. After a 25-year spending tsunami, they’ve shifted from spending to savings.”
Macy’s Inc. slashed prices for diamond earrings in 14-carat white gold by 64 percent, while Circuit City Stores Inc. took $500 off a 40-inch high-definition television from Samsung Electronics Co. The discounts come as the International Council of Shopping Centers has projected the worst holiday sales decline in at least four decades.
Mariel DeBernard was ready to be wowed by the sales when she turned up Dec. 26 at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall in Arlington, Virginia.
“Normally I’d be loaded down with things, but there just aren’t that many deals, particularly for clothing,” said DeBernard, a 40-year-old homemaker. “For most things, the prices aren’t that different than before Christmas.”
Oh, who the fuck am I kidding. Americans are degenerate credit junkies who are completely devoid of common sense, self control and any of the other redeeming values that compel people to buy only what they genuinely need and can afford. Consumption is down primarily because Americans are out of work, have had their credit lines slashed and can no longer rely on their homes as their last line of credit. Once the hot cash starts flowing from the Obama stimulus spigot, Americans will be back in the saddle again and riding high on their newly reinstated credit limits.
Still, I can't help but be somewhat hopeful that spirit-crushing debt loads and menial, meaningless jobs (or as the case may be, no job at all) will finally put an end to America's dangerous love affair with credit and cheaply produced foreign crap.
