The economy

All the numbers look good according to the pro-Biden reports. Except when corrected for inflation they are all underwater, from retail to manufacturing to investment capital to jobs. They still can't get the workers to return--it was too easy working in pajamas, or less. As the election cometh, so come the lies.

I haven't shopped Target for years. It went all out trans during the Obama administration around 2012 where all this started, beginning with making the Target restrooms unsafe for girls and women. Then Target began devoting a whole month to the rainbow, for 2% of the population, hacking a rainbow sent by God after the flood which they stole from Christians and Jews. Now they've got swimsuits in the women's department with a "tuck" feature for men, so men can frolic in the women's locker rooms and real women will be at risk of assault. What ever happened to all those brave ladies of "Me Too?" Never believe a man who says he's a woman. And if the woman has just discovered she was raped 20 years ago, don't believe her either. Especially if the perp is a politician or movie star or rock celebrity.

Decriminalizing shoplifting has hurt blacks

Decriminalizing shoplifting has hurt black communities and store owners, says Jason Riley in Wall Street Journal, Oct. 19. Walgreens has closed 22 stores in San Francisco where thefts under $950 are effectively decriminalized.

Using Target as another example, Mr. Riley notes the closure in recent years of Target stores in predominantly black sections of Chicago, Milwaukee, and Flint, Mich. in the wake of not only increased store thefts but also rioting, looting, and violent anti-police protests.

"If you are middle class and the nearest big-box store closes, you simply drive to a different one or its equivalent. But if you are a poor single mom without a car, your options are limited. You’ve just lost access, perhaps, to the closest, cheapest and widest variety of fresh produce, medicines and other goods. The alternatives are more-expensive convenience stores and less-healthy processed food for your family."

Mr. Riley says, "The fallout from antipolice protests in recent years has been all too predictable, as has the left’s response to it. Large employers quit urban areas after the riots of the 1960s as well, and some of those communities still haven’t fully recovered. Until the rule of law is restored and enforced, they probably never will."

How are our Democrats/socialists/progressives helping black communities? After destroying businesses with invitations to steal, they blame the investors and profit motive, and call the lack of retain or big box stores "systemic racism." Do all Democrats work for free? Do AOC and Bernie get paid? Do they have nice neighborhoods to shop in, or security guards to protect their belongings? And how about all those CRT free-lance workshops. Aren't they overpaid and living in abundance?

Elizabeth Warren

I shopped on panic Saturday! December 21. More money was spent by Americans that day, $34.4 billion, than any day in America's history. And Elizabeth Warren is trying to make Americans fearful, that there's a terrible gap, that life's unfair so she needs to steal money from some and give it to others! The big four leading the way were Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target. Is that where the top 1% shop? Nope. It's where we all shop. (I shopped at Macy's and Kohl's.) Why do Democrats preach doomsday? Because they don't believe in America. Not the people, not the Constitution, not the economy, and certainly not the president.

Loaded words in this article about shopping

Doesn’t seem to be much love for retail in this article.  I wonder if the author understands that it is the advertising for products (which must be sold to make a profit) that pay his bills?  This article guarantees a negative impression of American retailers. http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/retail-tricks

America's malls and department stores would like to see you shell out even more.

subtle psychological tricks

latest scientific research on the shopper's brain

stores are squeezing more pennies from your pocket

something more insidious

subconsciously plants that second idea

free from other manipulations

subconsciously influenced the shoppers

Fight back against these hidden retail tricks

The Thanksgiving Day Store Opening flap

Oh the outrage that some major retailers will be open on Thanksgiving Day!  Many single and foreign born employees like the extra hours, and the people I know who work retail "bid" for their hours. Also, why are we concerned only about retail when restaurants, churches, hospitals are open and people are working, as are police, fire and utility workers, transportation (air, rail, ship) gas stations, movies and quick stop places? I don't plan to shop on Thursday, and certainly not on Friday. But it's a choice.

Retail stores are in a tight spot--for some retailers the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is 20-40% of sales, and the dollar spent at Walmart isn't spent at Sears or Kohls, so most try to compete. Our gifts are so modest, it will make no difference if they are open around the clock. Retail stores are also competing with internet shopping, open 24/7. Stores with fewer sales have to charge more for each item--it's called profit margin, and for department stores it's about 3%, and less for specialty stores.

If you want to shop that store or see those movies the rest of the year, please allow them to do what they need to do to make a profit at Christmas and don't call them greedy. Retailers are not government agencies paid for with tax dollars or non-profits with tax breaks.  Profit is why they are there.

Many early settlers and conservative Christian groups did not celebrate Christmas at all because of its pagan origins and the drunken revelry that accompanied the holiday. My mother was born in 1912, and her family didn't exchange presents or celebrate. You have the choice—don’t’ shop on Thanksgiving if you want to spend the day with family and do limit your purchases so you can have a non-materialistic and spiritual holiday.

Now what holiday exactly would that be?

Our local suburb, Upper Arlington, is about as lily white and predominantly Christian as a town could get and not be lodged in the 1950s, but we have an "Upper Arlington Winter Festival and Community Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony" sponsored by the city. Whenever I see that, I ask myself, "What holiday exactly?" Turkey Day? Halloween? Ground Hog Day? MLK Day? Of course not. Everyone knows it is Christmas, but our city fathers (and one or two mothers) don't want to offend anyone--not even Christians who probably think the consumerism is totally out of hand. They don't light the Christmas tree, it's a holiday tree. They just aren't honest, and I think they should just drop all the happy, clappy, let's-all-just-get-along nonsense, forget about the birth of a Savior, the reason it is a joyous time, and go shopping. If it is offensive to use the word Christmas, then it is just a slap in the face to believers to play games with a religious observance. Please don't remind me that the Christmas tree has pagan origins--everyone knows that. All Christian holidays have pagan symbols--it was good marketing in the early days for mass conversions. That doesn't mean we are ready to give it back to the 21st century pagans.

http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/christmastree.htm
USAToday had a similar problem yesterday with an article about a shortage of retail help for "the season." Here's the euphemisms in just one short article:

holiday season

holiday challenges

holiday marketing

holiday jobs

seasonal hires

holiday hiring

during the holidays

holiday cheer

seasonal workers

holiday season employees

holiday workers

However, when push came to shove, USAToday had to use the dreaded word, "Christmas," because of the phrase, "would get Christmas day off," and "Christmas Eve." It's really hard to get around it by saying the workers would get "the holiday" off, or would have to work "holiday eve." Sounds about as goofy as leaving Christmas out of the holiday season, doesn't it?

Starting the Christmas wars early

It's sad that Christians, who according to scripture, should be the least materialistic in observing days with religious meaning, have to battle the retailers who can't survive without the Christmas season over use of the word "Christmas" or the Mass of Christ. Of course, it isn't just retailers. One of my favorite stories on this muddle of respecting all religions except Christianity goes back to the 1980s when I got a glossy Christmas card produced by the Medical Library Association with greetings in about 10 languages, but nothing in English that said "Merry Christmas," even though it was in other languages. Then there was last years' "new books for the holidays" list from our Public Library published in a local magazine which managed to leave out all new titles that had anything to do with religion.



To solve this problem of offense to none while ignoring most, The Smithsonian sent out two catalogs, one "holiday" and the other "Christmas." I think holiday came first--and does have one or two Halloween items in it, but in the Christmas section of the holiday issue, the word Christmas is never used. Then in the Christmas catalog, the word Christmas does appear, although there is very little with any religious significance--12 days of Christmas nutcracker, Christmas flora throw, Victorian Christmas figurine. As an aside, there's a yummy Fontanini nativity celebrating the 100th year of the figurines made in Italy--8 pieces, $195, and you can get the 3 Kings for $175 and 3 palm trees for $50. For cat lovers, I think Smithsonian has just about the cutest stuff out there.

Update: Before tossing out the 20 page brochure from the Upper Arlington Parks and Recreation program for fall 2007, I checked: there is a photo of a Christmas tree, and it says, "Celebrate the Season in UA! UA Winter Festival/Tree lighting ceremony." There will be visits with Santa, holiday lights, and a brunch with Santa at a local restaurant. No Christmas in our town. Just a season.

3651

My new Wal-Mart scoop

Yesterday I bought a long sleeve light-weight t-shirt at the Port Clinton Wal-Mart. It has a scoop neck, and is just about the most poorly made item I've ever found made in China. But at $5, the price was right, and our weather indoors and out is so changeable, I thought the sleeves were a good idea. This morning I put it on with my $1 loden green jeans I bought at a yard sale in 2001. Looked nice. Then I took a second look. You know what? This is the same design as long underwear, I kid you not. Oh well.

Today I saw another "expose" about Wal-Mart scoop. This time about how it investigates threats to its business. In the old days, retailers just sent shopping snoops into the stores of the competition, or restaurants send spy customers into the restaurants of its rivals to check on the menus or even to its own stores to check on quality and service. The stakes are a bit higher now, and being the biggest retailer in the world, saving Americans billions and single handedly financing the governments of third world countries, Wal-Mart gets tough. So here's my poem about the latest Wal-Mart story in the WSJ in which some of its own snoops gave scoops to the media on the inside security poops.

Tell me why
Wal-Mart can't spy
on the workers it pays
to sleuth in ways
to snoop
for its Threat Research and Analysis Group.