BusinessWeek, on December 8, named Paul Nawrocki, aka the Sandwich Board Sign Man, the "Face of the Unemployed". In case you are new here, I called that one on December 6. Here is what I said:

"This guy is the anti-Joe the Plumber. His name is Paul Nawrocki, the Sandwich Board Man, and he is the face of Unemployed America."

And here is BusinessWeek on December 8th:

"I couldn’t help feeling a proprietorial sense of pride when BusinessWeek selected Nawrocki to illustrate its latest cover story, “Is the Jobs Panic Justified?” You can see a stark black-and-white photo of Nawrocki here. He has become the face of the unemployed."

Okay, so with that and my Black Friday call, I'm 2-2. Not bad for an amateur.

The first story appeared in my google reader at about three o'clock Friday morning. The headline read Shoppers Seek Deals, Buy Less on Black Friday. This prompted me to post my first ever post because I had finally had it with the mainstream media and their distortions of truth to suit their liberal agenda. They want us to think that we are poor, that we need the government to solve our problems. Well, let me tell you - that story appeared at three o'clock in the morning, well before anyone had really started selling anything! Now, the same story did appear in my reader several times that day, which I took for updates even though I didn't see anything different. If you look it up now, I think the time on the story is something like 6:30 pm.

Anyway, here is what they had to say then:

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shoppers lured by money-saving deals filled U.S. stores on Friday, but the annual kick-off to holiday shopping appeared weaker this year as worries about a deep recession kept purchases down.

Then I see this in a post over at Conservatism Today:

Sales rose to $10.6 billion, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The increase was the smallest since a decline of 0.9 percent in 2005 and compares with a jump of 8.3 percent last year. “So far, so good,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners LLC, a retail consulting firm based in New Canaan, Connecticut. “But a decent Black Friday figure doesn’t predict the whole season. The question is, how much momentum we can keep” in this “challenging” economic environment, Johnson said.

U.S. retailers are making earlier and deeper price cuts to lure Christmas shoppers, who are coping with the shrinking values of homes and stock holdings along with increasing joblessness. The season can account for as much as a third of annual profit.

November and December sales at U.S. stores open at least a year may rise 1 percent, the smallest gain since 2002, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York- based trade group.

Well, a 3% increase may not be as big as when the economy is growing, but we'll take it. It is, after all better than we did last year. The weak overall weekend, though, should not be attributed to the tight economy. It seems that last year, the first of the month fell on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This year it waited until Monday. Anyone in retail can tell you that they do more business at the first of the month than any other time during the month. What I am looking forward to is the end of this week, when we are already past the first of the month last year. I am willing to bet that there are small increases to go around.

See also:
More Black Friday News
MSM distorts Black Friday figures

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shoppers lured by money-saving deals filled U.S. stores on Friday, but the annual kick-off to holiday shopping appeared weaker this year as worries about a deep recession kept purchases down.


Just to rebuke the drive by media, which has been saying that Black Friday sales were down today, I thought that I would tell you my experience.

I work at Wal-Mart, and every year for Black Friday I go out and help in Electronics. I work in the office, but my background is in Electronics. We beat our last year sales by 11 am. We sold out of all the televisions that were in the ad for the first time ever. Usually we have a couple dozen left over. After the sale merchandise was gone, the public just kept buying. By the time I got off work at 1:00, most of the regular merchandise televisions had also been sold. One couple bought two 32" Sharp televisions at $498 each, a Philips 19" at $298, and would have bought a $798 37" Sharp television as well if it were in stock.

You would think that an order like that would have gone on the credit card, but to my surprise, when we rang them up they processed the transaction as a debit, so they were actually spending real money.

Why did we do so well? Number one, NO UNION!! Number two, LOW PRICES!! Number three, an executive board that is smart enough to maintain about $7 billion in liquid assets so that credit is not a problem. If you noticed, Wal-Mart also had the foresight to pretty much revamp their business model a few months before the financial crisis really hit. Their message of "Save Money, Live Better" was rolled out at the perfect time to actually capitalize on the situation. (Oh great!! Now we sound like Rahm Emanuel!) I can't believe the company has done as well as it has considering the Secretary of 3am Phone Calls used to sit on the board.

See also:

More Black Friday News
So, who was right about Black Friday?