Reading the reports on Holiday sales this morning I'm beginning to understand that it (the reporting of the numbers) works just like the stock market reports. Someone gets one figure and then picks an explanation out of the air to explain that figure. When the real numbers arrive in about a month, the whole system has moved on and no one cares.
For instance today's economic headlines report that "Weekend Shopping Surge Fails to Salvage U.S. Holiday Sales". Most of which they blame on the rise in gas prices. (Forget the fact that U.S. household income hasn't really grown and a good number of home owners have lost a great deal of value in the last years.)
What is interesting this season however has been the cash sales. All these early figures are based on credit card sales. Retailers haven't reported their numbers, and while I've been sitting on my butt for the last 2 days, I do know that prior to that ACO was taking in a lot of cash. Which is just plain wierd considering the other issues. One fellow worker felt that the Christmas account had been popular this year. Which would be an amazing development. I'm not so sure what it means - except that maybe some Americans are kicking the credit habit.
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Meanwhile I have been literally sitting on my butt, or laying on my back. Pulling ones hamstring is a bit worse than it sounds. My right leg doesn't bend very well, and putting on and taking off cloths and shoes is a nightmare which is just as well as I don't have pants that have the right leg twice the size as the left. All and all a lovely situation.
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