Better catch it the first time because the MSM won't say it twice

While we are treated to days on end of Tookie Williams and Arnold getting his name removed off Austrian stadiums, don't blink today or you will miss the good Christmas retail news. Reuters is reporting (reluctantly I am sure) that the US spent 8.7 more this Christmas season than last. If the MSM talks about this for more than 1 news cycle it will of course be because they will find a way to cast a dark light on it. Maybe tomorrow we will see a report on the decline of sales of prune juice casting a shadow on the US economy. Today we can celebrate the positive effects of tax cuts on the economy, for tomorrow the historical rewrite and negative spin begins. Hugh Hewitt points out the Dec 1 entry on the LA Times blog claiming a bad season was in the works and that the economy had sprung a leak. I wonder how they will react to the news.

CNN is reporting that the bright sales report (mixed with lower heating oil due to warmer weather because we can't give all the credit to Bush here you know) may be boosting a year end rally in the stock market. The report highlights a point I made in an earlier post:

"The November-December buying period is critical for the U.S. retail industry as it can account for as much as 50 percent of annual sales and profits for some retailers."

My point there was that with this season being the main reason for a large percentage of business activity, it was ridiculous that retailers would bite the hand that feeds them by shying away from the word 'Christmas'.

The report also shows how the prediction was that sales would be down from last year:

"The National Retail Federation (NRF) had forecast holiday sales to grow 6 percent to $439.5 billion, softer than last year's 6.7 percent increase."

We also see there that only in America under a Republican president can GROWTH ever be seen as a downer. As with leaks, I guess there is good growth and bad growth. It is bad growth if it is not as much as some group of yahoos like this one predicted, and good growth if it is better than the same group of yahoos predicted. As a reminder, last year we had 6.7% growth over the previous year, but I recall this being cast as a negative in the press last year (probably because the yahoos had predicted a 6.700000001% growth).

This is great news that deserves more than one news cycle, but since Bush is GOP we will have to enjoy it today. Tomorrow they will probably start speculating on the housing bubble even without new information.