Well, well. Another year has come and gone again. I don't know about you, but for me it seems that every year comes and goes just a bit quicker than the last. And 2010 is no exception. It was however a strange year as almost everybody warned that the year would be slow economically. And that shoppers would stay home a bit more than in years past.
But contrary to all the predictions people were out shopping quite a bit. I even heard some reports that claimed shoppers spent more than $450 billion dollars this holiday season. That is approximately 3.3 percent higher than last years number. In today's sour economy and with the unemployment rate at almost 10% that is freaking amazing! So what exactly does that mean? Well, I think it means that people are ignoring the bad taste left in their mouths from everything that happened this year in the US and around the world. They ignored it all and were hell bent on enjoying themselves.
It doesn't mean that society has turned a deaf ear to the worlds problems. I just think it means people needed a break. With all the earthquakes, oil spills, mud slides, sink holes, murders and everything else that happened, people wanted to escape from all the crap that happened and enjoy themselves. They spent money on themselves, on their families and on their children. They figured' "well honey, our house may be worth 25% less than it should be, we lost money in the stock market, and you lost your job, but I'll be damned if I am gonna let it ruin our Christmas!"
Ultimately this is good for America. It shows that even in the face of adversity we can still come out on top. We can still rescue our economy and support our merchants. We can still have a good time! As a country we are spending more money on luxuries as well. More and more people are going to sporting events, eating out at restaurants and buying cars for themselves. Our economy will slowly rebuild itself if this thinking continues. And why shouldn't it? We are showing everybody that we don't need the government to bail anybody out, all we need to do is what Americans do best. And that is to do everything to excess. If the world thinks that we are all cheeseburger eating, beer drinking slobs who spend money on frivolous things we don't need.. then let's do just that! Because if we do, we will not only feel good and have a great time, but we will rescue our country's financial disaster slowly but surely and have a damn good time doing it!
