MSNBC: After a year of stingy consumer spending, retailers hope for a "holiday miracle."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Video: After a year of stingy consumer spending, this season is critical: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34116894#34116894

Debt stress could be the Grinch this Christmas: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34112581/ns/business-retail/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[NYC_SKP]

1. FWIW, a Record Number of LCD Televisions Will Be Sold this Season.

Prices are way down, stores are stocked up, and this is AMERICA!

Seriously, a record number sold this season.

I'm certain.

[AllentownJake]

3. I'm sure your right

and I'm glad to see that we are stimulating the economy of China.

[NYC_SKP]

7. I know. I just saw a commercial FOR products from China....

It shows several product with the "Made in China" label, but each has another message like "with software from Silicon Valley".

Then some final line like "Made in China... With the World".

:puke:

[Sherman A1]

2. Well,

what options do retailers really have beyond hope for a holiday miracle?

If I still owned my hobby shop, I too would be looking for a "hail mary" season to bring the books more into balance.

[AllentownJake]

4. They will have a good black friday

Since they are discounting things so much, the week after Thanksgiving will be the tell-tale.

[Selatius]

5. They can move a lot of product...but only with drastic and deep discounts.

Americans are still afraid of losing their jobs, and they have taken on too much debt and are trying to pay it off. Many people are still about to fall off the cliff into foreclosure, and many more are heading towards that cliff. Unless Americans decide to take on more debt by pulling out the credit cards for this holiday season, which is suicidal at this point, the only good news will be the amount of product retailers move, but the profits on the movement will be slim to disastrous.

Expect a flat or generally bad shopping season.

[NC_Nurse]

6. The only stores that will do well are the high end ones. The rich are the only

ones who've done well this year. The rest of us have NO choice but to cut back.

[AllentownJake]

9. Wal-Mart will do ok

They do better when things go bad.

[marlakay]

8. It will take a miracle

What can they be thinking? With everyone out of work. I am buying almost nothing this year.

[Individualist]

10. Retailers: La, la, la, what unemployment?

[newportdadde]

11. Consumers can't spend what they don't have.

For the past 30 years all we have seen is the American worker getting less. Less pay for a days work, less benefits with higher costs etc. The consumer tried to hang on to that standard of living. First step was more dual income earning families, go to work and drop off your most precious thing in the world to someone making 8 bucks an hour. Second step was to borrow borrow borrow on credit cards. The final step was to use homes as ATM machines. Well the check has come due, the consumer is tapped out.

If corporations don't want to pay good wages and they participate in a race to the bottom with workers salaries then they shouldn't be suprised when nobody can afford their crap. We are seeing the first stage of this, its only going to get worse.

[LWolf]

12. We can't spend what we don't have. nt

[blue_onyx]

13. I don't think they'll get their miracle

Retailers will do well on Black Friday but I think sales will be down overall. Unemployment is higher than last year so I would expect sales to be worse than last year.

We could even see a few more chains go under early next year. Two really bad holiday seasons in a row may be too much for some stores to survive.

[optimator]

14. Greedy Capitalists hope for dumb consumers

to buy cheap crap they don't need with money they don't have.