And the report is for a quarter, not a week, or month.
Sales by U.S. stores open at least a year fell 1.6 percent in the three months ended Jan. 31, the Bentonville, Arkansas- based company said today in a statement.
Christmas was included in that quarter!
Ticker notes that WallyWorld mentioned 'price deflation' as one of the causes.
He goes on:
I can confirm this is everywhere. Places that I don't expect to run sales at all are. Big. 2-for-1 (what is called "bogo" in the business, or "buy one get one"), 70% discounts and other similar schemes. The local Publix food retailer has, over the last couple of months, stepped up big with the discounting...
That word, "deflation" will come up again and again.
Whatever else, I am not a shopper, so I don't notice sales, or 2-for-1 deals. It may be showing up in SE Wisconsin, too.
Why is deflation such an ugly word? If things cost less I can buy more things.
ReplyDeleteUh-huh.
ReplyDeleteAfter the price of gasoline gets to $5.00/gal b/c the USD is dropping like a rock, you won't buy too many things.
I don't think it is deflation. I think it is more of shoppers shopping down. instead of buying brand names, they go down to the generics or in the case of wal Mart, Great Value. From what I have seen, grocery prices are going up, not down.
ReplyDelete"Why is deflation such an ugly word? If things cost less I can buy more things."
ReplyDeleteBecause of the "paradox of thrift"
If people saving more all at the same time, prices start dropping and companies become less profitable which means they need to layoff workers which means you have less money to buy stuff which means companies need to lower prices further which means they are less profitable which means they layoff more people which means you earn less which means you spend less........
Deflation is EXACTLY what we were trying to avoid a year ago. Deflation is the single most devastating thing an economy can experience.
"After the price of gasoline gets to $5.00/gal b/c the USD is dropping like a rock, you won't buy too many things."
Dropping like a rock against whose currency dadster? The Euro? The pegged Yuan? The Yen? How about the Ruble? How about someone in the Middle East? I'm sure the financiers in Dubai could find another reserve currency somewhere else considering their recent economic achievements. Please let me know which currency the dollar is going to drop like a rock against.
Against commodities, like petroleum.
ReplyDelete...and, I suppose, oil consumption has no impact on price?
ReplyDeleteBTW.....
Bloomberg:
"The cost of living in the U.S. rose in January less than anticipated and a measure of prices excluding food and fuel fell for the first time since 1982, indicating the recovery is generating little inflation."
...no actually that looks a lot like deflation to me, Bloomberg.
When, oh when are you gonna stop hearin' me, dadster, and start listening. We need more stimulus....we need it now. Adopting contractionary policies in the near term are pure insanity.
I'll buy your stimulus--so long as it's in the form of a 3 or 6 month TOTAL reprieve from SocSec taxation (both sides of the equasion.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, there's plenty of stimulus out there, yet unspent, or sucked up by Gummints.
"there's plenty of stimulus out there,..."
ReplyDeleteNot if you want to return to some resemblence of the natural rate of unemployement there isn't. Besides shoring up state budgets, food stamp and unemployement insurance (all positive), we haven't spent squat on boosting employment in terms of direct spending on things like infrastructure upgrades and hiring incentives. I would also be onboard with a temporary social sec. reprieve for businesses and employees. Sure.
Speaking of credits, where do you stand on Obama's new jobs tax credit idea? From what I see I like it as long as it's a temporary credit to businesses employing new workers.
....and you are aware the any and all temporary stimulus measures (like a reprieve of soc. sec. taxes) will generate short term deficits above and beyond what we already are experiencing correct?
ReplyDeleteI only ask because this seems to go against the current fiscal "movement" that's so popular these days with some folks.
"Hire credit" Not likely to work. Hiring runs with demand, which is why I want to free up CONSUMERS' cash w/tax cut. (Also see below)
ReplyDeleteShould the economy begin to recover, it will be time to seriously cut spending. Implement Ryan's SS/Medicare plans, dump about 20% of the Gummint (all levels, all States).
SAVE money for the next recession.
Spend lots more on military hardware--we need a lot of Navy ships and a 5th gen fighter plane, anyway.
Ah, the 5th generation fighter plane and more ships named after Republicans sailing back and forth from destinations unknown. Making the world a better place of our children.....
ReplyDeleteI will agree about cutting spending the economy HAS recovered. Pulling stimulus and quantitative easing too early (like now) would be pulling a page right out of the history books from 1937. Inflation can be dealt with if it takes hold in a few years. Widespread structural unemployment for years and years is much worse.
By the way, Struppster, here's a good read on the topic of Porkulus:
ReplyDeletehttp://keithhennessey.com/2010/02/19/einsteins-insanity/
You will approve.
One thing they are doing at Nellis AFB is tearing down the very old housing and rebuilding with new housing. That is omethig that is needed and it provides jopb. But it was not done with stimlus money and was started with Bush, not Obama.
ReplyDeleteGood article Dadster. Only thing I shook my head at was the idea that perminant tax cuts are a good idea. That's fiscally irresponsible in the long run (as Bush's tax cuts have proven).
ReplyDeleteOh, and you CAN calculate the effects of stimulus.
Yes, we certainly CAN calculate the effects of Porkulus.
ReplyDeleteAbout 4 million jobs gone.