Here is to wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! A great bit of good news this morning was that airports were much less chaotic than expected. Better preparation and planning by passengers,airlines and airports seem to be helping. Although the traditional reason of celebrating thanksgiving, i.e. the harvest seems to have been overtaken by the need to thank God for granting us more higher order needs ! Nevertheless some basic stuff is just amazing. Consider oil prices on the 99$ mark and I heard someone on the radio who was grumbling but would spend the extra $10 to get to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving. In fact, better mileage and adjusted for inflation the gas prices seem less bad than they are if you compare with the 1980’s – just don’t compare with last year….
Tomorrow is Black Friday , the start of the Christmas holiday shopping season and the hope for retailers that the ink on their books will turn from red to black. With the mortgage meltdown and gas prices consumers are reportedly cutting back and early indicators are that there is less Starbucks coffee being sold. In addition, parents are trying to figure out which toys to buy and avoid lead problems. Luckily consumers are not slowing down according to this report. Let’s hope that the retail sales continue pick up because consumers need to buy if the supply chain has to move forward.
Enjoy your turkey !