I tried helping retail establishments in my area. I told my wife she should buy the clothes she has delayed purchasing. That will cost a few hundred dollars. Then I went into Best Buy on Black Friday and ordered a new 50 inch television.
Not only was Black Friday a banner day for total sales but the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6% for November. This is the lowest unemployment rate in two and a half years.
The higher sales even over flowed into car and light truck sales. A local Ford dealer that claims to be the biggest sales company in the country, Galpin Ford, reported that their sales over the Thanksgiving Day weekend were five times the number of vehicles sold in 2010. Look at these extraordinary national sales figures.
U.S.car and light truck sales for top 10 automakers
|
Nov. sales |
Pctg. Change from Nov.’10 |
Year-to-date sales |
2011 share |
|
| GM |
180,402 |
+7.0% |
2,269,446 |
19.7% |
| Ford |
166,441 |
+13.3% |
1,933,654 |
16.8% |
| Toyota |
137,960 |
+6.7% |
1,466,530 |
12.7% |
| Chrysler |
107,172 |
+44.5% |
1,231,095 |
10.7% |
| Nissan |
85,182 |
+19.4% |
941,607 |
8.2% |
| Honda |
83,925 |
-6.4% |
1,042,055 |
9.0% |
| Hyundai |
49,610 |
+21.8% |
594,926 |
5.2% |
| Volkswagen |
38,283 |
+28% |
398,654 |
3.5% |
| Kia |
37,007 |
+39.1% |
442,102 |
3.8% |
| Mercedes-Benz |
28,257 |
+46.7% |
239,006 |
2.1% |
| Industry total |
994,721 |
+13.9% |
11,534,206 |
100% |
Source: Autodata from Los Angeles Times
Obviously no one knows if the optimism will continue but this sort of behavior is contagious.
There are some things to be concerned about. First if we buy we do not save and that means less money for an emergency or retirement. Europe is in a financial mess and if it isn’t solved soon it will impact the United States.
Just for the month of December let’s all think positive and do positive things. It just might change our behavior and attitude in 2012.
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