Friday evening, the PBS Lehrer News Hour reported more bad economic news, holiday retail sales are apparently down this year; consumers are not spending as they have in past years. Things are pretty bad.
One segment showed empty stores and aired gloomy interviews with shoppers. The reporter told us of how depressed retail shopping for this holiday seemed to be and gave some data for previous years spending. But then we were left waiting for the facts on this year's holiday spending. With no data for comparison to last year, the report left us with the message of gloom.
Well, there are numbers for spending this holiday season that can give us an idea of just how bad this year is compared to last year. Here they are via George Will.
Sales the day after Thanksgiving were 3 percent higher, yes, higher, than last year reports George Will. Over the weekend, 172 million people, shopping in stores and online, spent an average of $372.57, a 7.2 percent increase over a year ago, when 147 million shoppers spent $347.55 per person. Personal consumption, which normally is 70 percent of economic activity seems robust.
How can this economic situation be reported as gloomy news? Did the PBS report underestimate the strength of an economy in which more than 93 percent of those who want to work are employed, and more than 93 percent of mortgages are being paid on time? Why exactly would the News Hour paint such a gloomy picture enabled by omitting any actual data when the data were available and they directly contradicted their report?
