I've begun to already see the desperation of Retailers to drum up business for the upcoming Holiday Season. Places like Target are dropping the prices of Christmas Gift Staples normally priced $15-30 to just $5 from now until Christmas just to get people into their stores. Walmart is doing the same. They'll be losing their pants on these items, but are hoping that while shoppers are there they'll purchase other things that will offset it.

It's going to be a great Christmas year for Thrifty Consumers, that is for sure.

Everyone I know personally will not be spending over the top like they have in years before. However, everyone I know personally is planning on taking advantage of the Cost-Cutting by Retailers to buy more than they have bought in the past year combined. Everyone who wanted a Big-Screen Plasma or LED LCD TV for the past two or three years is waiting until the week after Christmas to buy one. Everyone who wanted other Big-Ticket Items is doing similar, waiting to buy them post-Christmas when sinking Retailers cut their prices even lower before Year-End Inventory so that they aren't further taxed on what they are stuck with unsold.

Most families have put a moratorium on unnecessary spending for the past 18-24 months in order to get out of debt. Now that more and more people are finding themselves debt free, or with a significant amount of savings, they are getting ready to spend again, but not on credit, and not at the expense of their savings. It will be a long time before people go back to their thoughtless spending-crazes maxing out a half-dozen credit cards just to keep up with the Smiths next-door.

However, not everyone in America is fortunate enough to be employed or with a home this season...and those who have been fortunate enough to have both are far more aware than they have in past years how close they are to being just as unfortunate. I am willing to bet that there will be far more money given to Charity Groups this Christmas Season than spent at Retailers.

[edit on 9-10-2009 by fraterormus]

Sadly i say GOOD!.

get back to what hollidays are about, not all the new and fancy crap, but time with family, enjoying the little things.

Although i have to say i dont think its as bad as everyone thinks, i think its partly that stores are not filling up their back rooms with stuff they will be stuck with, they know times are going to be hard, so only order what they know will sell, saving them a load of losses in july.

This news goes directly to a point I've been trying to make here on ATS. With retail orders down by around 50% and the jobless rate at such an extremely high percentage,why is the stock market riding so high?
It looks to me that we are headed for an even bigger bust of the market than the one we saw last year. Business has to depend upon productivity and sales,to maintain profit. Or they have to depend on their finiance departments to keep them afloat. When people aren't purchasing,and aren't even able to pay their credit debt,what is keeping the bubble intact?

I've been saying for some time that this holiday season is going to be apocalyptic. Most retailers make the majority of their sales in the latter half of the 4th quarter and many are holding-on for dear life hoping against hope that they will materialize. They won't. Wait and see the long lists of store closing and bankruptcies immediately after the holidays. There are going to be some amazing deals to be had in January but the resulting layoffs are going to drastically kill that buzz.

This is the first "real" recession/depression I've ever experienced. I was too young for the one in the early eighties to know what was happening.

What is happening right now sucks...big time...and I hate it...as all of you do.

There should have been a hard recession after 9/11....but there wasn't because that is when we started falsely propping up our economy to keep funding the war in Iraq.

Now we are paying the price for that. The longer the wait between the recessions....the longer and harsher the hurt when it hits.

Originally posted by severdsoul
Sadly i say GOOD!.

get back to what hollidays are about, not all the new and fancy crap, but time with family, enjoying the little things.

Although i have to say i dont think its as bad as everyone thinks, i think its partly that stores are not filling up their back rooms with stuff they will be stuck with, they know times are going to be hard, so only order what they know will sell, saving them a load of losses in july.

I agree. Maybe now Christmas will be less about consumerism and more about what it is supposed to be. Spending time with family and friends enjoying each others company and not worrying about who go the most expensive gift or latest gadget. Some good food and drink shared with friends is all I need.

Originally posted by David9176
I've known quite a few people that have racked up well over 20,000 dollars in credit card debt...which to me is insane. That's living a lie....but if your racking up ten's of thousands of dollars in credit card debt...you've got problems. QUIT BUYING CRAP!

I agree. That is one of the blessings in disguise about these Economic Hard-Times. It has been a wake up call to teach even the most excessive of Capitalistic Consumers to learn to spend frugally and to live within their means. The poor didn't have far to fall when Hard-Times hit, but the worst abusers of Credit who lived a life far beyond what they could truly afford are the ones who fell the hardest.

However, I'm skeptical that people will truly learn their lessons and modify their spending habits forever.

Given time, even those how learned the hardest of lessons about living within their means will go back to the same buying frenzy they always had and max their credit to the max as soon as the pain of this Economic lesson has abated.

Good now China will have to rely on their own economy not ours! I say we should never have outsourced to themin the first place that's part of the reason we're in this mess to begin with!

I won't be spending any money this year as I have none, thank god I also have no debt except utilities and rent, but I may be homeless this christmas as rent is well overdue. That's really scary as we have been through hard times but always managed to stay afloat, Now I am not even certain about the future.

but didn't the MSM say today that retail sales are up the most since 2008? LMOL

Originally posted by fraterormus
. I am willing to bet that there will be far more money given to Charity Groups this Christmas Season than spent at Retailers.

I certainly hope not. I hope people are more aware of how many of these charities pay their top people bookoos and give the poor some beans on xmas.

And on top of that, they really blow their whistle. It is disgustiing to see how the poor are exploited on the news during the holidays.

They take the TV cameras into the dining halls and say "Look at all these down and outers and look how good we are to give them such a fine meal one day out of the year."

It invades the privacy of those on the receiving end and also degrades them.

Why is it that so many charities think that the poor only need to eat once a year?

If you really want to do something to help the less fortunate....DO IT YOURSELF!!!

Go out among the homeless. You can find them waiting in the food give-out lines at various places. Take some wrapped goodies with you. Stop and talk to these people in line. If they have children...give a nice new box of crayons and drawing paper or notebooks and pens, reading material, etc.

Give someone a bag of fresh unshelled pecans, or recipe for pumpkin pie with all the ingredients to make it in the bag. (Must be unopened, unused items.) Or a nice toiletries kit with scented soap, shampoo, etc.

Talk to these people yourself. Let them know you are concerned. Find out what their interests are. If their children have needs. Maybe you can offer tutoring, or start a free craft class to help them make a little $$$ from what they can create, since there are no jobs.