After all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales activity, it seems there was a lot of optimism about people being willing to open their pocketbooks and spend their money. There was such a frenzy of crazed shopping, akin to “running of the bulls” that mobs were running rampant and people got hurt trying snag “hot deals.”
In the next day or so, the media was joyfully reporting that sales records were topped as a record number of shoppers opened their wallets to take advantage of discounts.
Is this evidence that the economy is improving? Not so fast. At times I feel there is a disconnect on how people behave, how things are getting reported, and how things really are. On the one hand, unemployment remains high, the economy appears to have slowed down, yet people are rushing to the stores! But are they spending their cash or buying things on credit? If they are running up the credit cards, then that is not such a good sign. If you take a closer look, there is really no change in the overall outlook in the economy and things remain bleak.
Even Jim Cramer is warning about a financial collapse. When even some mainstream media types are worried, I hope the rest of the population take notice and put the brakes on spending especially on credit.
It would not be a bad idea to cut down on extra holiday spending and set aside some cash and preps instead. I’m not trying to be a Scrooge but there are a lot of ways to celebrate Christmas and spread cheer without getting into debt or over spending:
- Giving gifts of time instead of more stuff
- Volunteering and helping the less fortunate
- Agreeing to forgo the expensive gift exchange or setting limits on gift amount
We can all enjoy the feast, but it would be wise to set some supplies and cash aside to avoid the famine.
An inexpensive but helpful gift to keep track of supplies (Iphone or Ipad users)
It shouldn’t matter to a prepper how the economy is going. We should all prepare for the worst even in the best of times. Our society is way to fragile not to.
And for those of us who prep, it is a good idea to give prepping gifts. My kids are getting things for their everyday bags. We’ve got the bug out stuff, which is a mute point since we now live at our bug out site full time, but still, we have it. So we prep everyday bags this year.
Beth, great idea giving prepping gifts. We’re looking to do the same thing this year.
I would be willing to bet that the majority of those people were purchasing with credit cards. I despise Black Friday and everything it stands for.
I think there are two main things: First, people are buying on credit. Secondly, people are buying on credit because they don’t want to admit the economy sucks and want to delay their reality a bit longer. They are hoping that things will turn around next year and they can pay off the credit cards. It’s a cycle and once reality hits and people realize they can’t empty out their savings and/or retirement accounts anymore, it’s going to be a big shock.
Hey Adam, It’s a vicious cycle alright. It’ll just get worse the more people spend money they don’t have.
Apartment Prepper, it’s a sad spectacle to see people go crazy in stores for discounted items, many of which they cannot afford without credit cards. Recent news have stated that the savings rates of Americans have gone down, so many are dipping into savings merely to survive. Income is not enough any more.
Times like these call for wise budgeting more than ever.
Also, I would like to bring to your attention that this past Black Friday, gun dealers inundated the FBI with background check requests for prospective buyers; these are checks mandated by federal law and they rose to 129,166, well above the last record of 97,848 from 2008’s Black Friday.
Possibly, more than 129,166 firearms were sold because a singular background check request may have been for a customer purchasing 2 or more firearms.
I haven’t forgotten your husband’s advice on a shotgun for a long gun and am planning to get one in the near future. Lock and load – and keep prepping!
Hey Armed and Prepping, That is interesting the FBI got flooded with background checks for gun buyers on Black Friday. That must be some kind of record number. Glad you will be getting the shotgun soon. Thanks for visiting!
I have been prepping for some time now, and the one item that I have been wanting to add to my gear has been a Berkey water filtration. I finally ordered on and got it the other day. What a peace of mind knowing that I can use any source of water to turn into drinking water. We have a lot of water put away but I figured it would be an added benefit, and nice addition to our supplies. Thanks for the great info that you provide to us preppers out here.
Hi, The Berkey filtration is really good, we actually use it for everyday instead of using bottled water. We got extra filters to make sure we have some set aside for emergencies. Your will like the Berkey. Thank you!