Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
US Presidential Election Year Stock Market Seasonal Trend - 29th Nov 24
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past - 29th Nov 24
Gold After Trump Wins - 29th Nov 24
The AI Stocks, Housing, Inflation and Bitcoin Crypto Mega-trends - 27th Nov 24
Gold Price Ahead of the Thanksgiving Weekend - 27th Nov 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast to June 2025 - 24th Nov 24
Stocks, Bitcoin and Crypto Markets Breaking Bad on Donald Trump Pump - 21st Nov 24
Gold Price To Re-Test $2,700 - 21st Nov 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks: This Is My Strong Warning To You - 21st Nov 24
Financial Crisis 2025 - This is Going to Shock People! - 21st Nov 24
Dubai Deluge - AI Tech Stocks Earnings Correction Opportunities - 18th Nov 24
Why President Trump Has NO Real Power - Deep State Military Industrial Complex - 8th Nov 24
Social Grant Increases and Serge Belamant Amid South Africa's New Political Landscape - 8th Nov 24
Is Forex Worth It? - 8th Nov 24
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Terrorism - Grinch that Stole Christmas

Politics / Shopping Nov 25, 2015 - 06:09 AM GMT

By: BATR

Politics

The usual holiday cheer that underpins the throngs of shoppers may be missing this season. Political pundits are eager to blame potential terrorist risks as a compelling reason to avoid the crowds at malls, but knowing the sentiments of the consumer culture, it is difficult to accept that retail businesses will be empty. Nevertheless, will the economy incentivize the bargain hunters to brave the added security obstacles to storm the doors for the reward of super discount pricing?


The expected immediate shock in France is understandable. Xmas sales plummet, Champs-Elysees empty in edgy post-attack Paris, indicates that upscale customers respond predictably.

“Department stores half-empty when they should be packed and a Christmas market on the prestigious Champs-Elysees avenue where vendors outnumber the visitors -- the attacks on Paris are having a profound effect on retail business.”

Notwithstanding, Forbes makes an obvious point in the column, The Paris Attacks And The Economic Impact Of Terrorism.

“Consider the fragility of both European economies and the institutions underpinning the European Union. The euro zone grew by a meager 0.3% in the third quarter, well below expectations. And last week’s attacks may do some real damage to current spending, keeping shoppers away from crowded retail parks in the lead-up to the busiest month of the year.”

Before the play on panic is accepted as the new normal, dig deeper into the feeble economic activity that in fact forecasts the inauspicious health of retail spending. Quiet U.S. Ports Spark Slowdown Fears is a leading indicator of what to expect.

“For the first time in at least a decade, imports fell in both September and October at each of the three busiest U.S. seaports, according to data from trade researcher Zepol Corp. analyzed by The Wall Street Journal. Combined, imports at the container terminals at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Calif. and around New York harbor, which handle just over half of the goods entering the country by sea, fell by just over 10% between August and October.”

Now this decline in imports might be a positive sign if domestic manufacturing was taking over the traditional role of internal production of goods for our own consumption. But that is not happening in the poisoned globalism environment that is poised on imposing a series of new draconian trade treaties. 

Michael Lombardi writes in Terrorism: Unfortunate Effects of Paris Attacks on the U.S. Economy about the psychological apprehensions that might keep store patrons away from high profile soft targets. Even so, the current economic contraction bodes that America is already in a deep recession.

“As an economist, my concern lies more in the aftereffects of these terrorist attacks on the minds of citizens. After all, one of the goals of terrorism is to instill fear in people. Will that fear result in consumers holding back on everyday life and on spending their money? The data already suggests retail sales are weak. Will the tide of terrorism fear put further pressure on an already suffering retail sector, especially in the U.S.?”

The immediate concern for law enforcement planners and security agencies are less focus on robust retail sales than on enhanced screening and intelligence gathering. Or so we are told by Homeland Security.

While announcements like Anonymous uncovers ISIS plan to attack 7 cities TOMORROW…including this U.S. city, published on Allen B West’s site attracts attention on the internet, the culture will still sit down in front of the TV propaganda machine as indoctrinated apparatchik followers of the ad messages, will keep the spending/debt economy going.  

This is the reason why warnings such as ISIS In America: Black Friday Attack On U.S. Soil Feared, are mostly ignored.

“Since a few of the terror attacks that the world has seen (not just ISIS) have occurred on very specific days (9/11 and Friday the Thirteenth), people have begun to wonder if the next attack will occur on another day with meaning. With the holidays just around the corner, many kept help but wonder if the terrorists are planning something for Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve/Day.”

This brings up the most likely circumstances for the holiday season. Online buying will certainly benefit, and the likes of Amazon will continue their onslaught to replace bricks and mortar retailers. Overriding this trend is the instinctive motivation to buy, when the deal is irresistible. Profits for the major corporatists may suffer, but their stagnant inventory will be offered at deep discounts.

The 64 dollar question is can the consumer afford to buy as the economy tanks further and confidence erodes even more. The wild card is when the Fed will start to raise interest rates? None of these factors lend themselves to foster prosperity.

Add the eventual strict security measure and the presence of European style armed guards patrolling the mall kiosks, and you have the formula of less holiday cheer and joy in the shopping experience.

The Grinch that stole Christmas is actually the manufactured apprehension coming out of an artificial fear that a terrorist is behind every seat of a food court and that the government is actually providing meaningful security for defenseless subjects.

The best solution for the individual is to become an armed citizenry. Bona fide terrorists, and not the fabricated versions produced or sponsored by government sociopaths, would be effectively neutralized when innocent Americans are allowed to provide their own self-defense.  The victims in Paris need not die in vain, if the lesson of personal protection is recognized as the most basic right of the individual.

FBI: Gun Sales Surged to Record Levels in August provides the most encouraging advancement in countering the forces of globalist induced terrorism. It is high time that Federal authorities act as public servants and provide serious national security against concrete existential threats. Until that day arrives, it is up to individuals to act responsibly and be willing to provide protection for, themselves, family and neighbors. Bring the elation back, stuff a stocking with a peacemaker.

James Hall

Source: http://www.batr.org/negotium/112515.html

Discuss or comment about this essay on the BATR Forum

http://www.batr.org

"Many seek to become a Syndicated Columnist, while the few strive to be a Vindicated Publisher"

© 2015 Copyright BATR - All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors

BATR Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in