Recession Christmas?

Ah, the holidays. Tis the season for love, joy, family, and all that stuff, but what about the really important things like consumerism? One of my roomies and I were out partaking in the consumeristic holiday, and what did we notice? Empty stores. Not all, just the first few places we went, but three weeks before Christmas, the stores should be packed. It was very strange...strange indeed.

So, I thought we could play a Christmas game...Look out for these signs that the retail industry is in trouble:
1. no people in the stores
2. sales, sales, sales...the kind you should see after the holidays, 50, 60, and 70 percent off items
3. the staff; how many, where are they, do they all look like the walking dead? If they do then that store did not bring on holiday help, which used to be unheard of

Its the Big One!

Sorry, couldn't help myself.  Rich Miller wrote an article for Bloomberg today, and things aren't pretty.  According to Bloomberg.com the economy has suffered its worst decline this quarter since 2001.  The word recession is in the air, but still with a maybe in front of it, but I think if we all didn't get those stimulus checks we'd be in one now.  According to the article the financial crisis is working really well for the Dems, because of course we want a recession.  Bloomberg claims that: "Consumers have been hit by a triple whammy [no I didn't add that word]: rising unemployment, tightening credit and shrinking wealth."  The article also points out stocks didn't drop after the GDP Report.  

Want to know why?  Because everyone knows the Big One is on the way...