Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
The U.S. recession ends, but not for you
Experts say U.S. economic growth has returned, signaling the end of the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression.
But the good news for Wall Street — where shares have been running up — is showing no signs of trickling down to Main Street, where unemployment is flirting with 10 percent, foreclosures continue to rise and record numbers of families now depend on government-issued food stamps to make ends meet.
“For every person out of work, for every family facing foreclosure, for every small business facing a credit crunch, the recession remains alive and acute,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in testimony to a congressional committee.
“Many people you might have called middle class or working class before have been ground down toward poverty or even destitution,” said author Barbara Ehrenreich, who has chronicled America’s working poor during her career.
While most Americans either fret about a job loss or deal with the financial devastation of joblessness, the income gap between the super rich in the United States and the average Joe is the largest since the 1920s. Nearly one-sixth of the U.S. population is uninsured. And, contrary to popular belief, Americans are less likely to move to a higher financial status than people who live in “socialist” countries like Germany, Canada, France or Sweden.
Many economists, who warn that the U.S. economy is in for a “jobless recovery,” caution that the turnaround is on fragile ground.
Welcome to Wal-Mart country
Reuters is attending Wal-Mart’s annual meeting this week and will be sending news, tweets and images from the event via Shop Talk.
Our tour will include visits to the company’s distribution center, a Sam’s Club warehouse store and a Walmart supercenter.
We’ll also get updates on the discounter’s plans for its international business, U.S. store remodels and, of course, send news from the annual meeting.
Walmart’s Store #1, pictured above, is featured on local tourist maps.
One thing that struck us on the drive from the airport to world biggest retailer’s headquarters of Bentonville, Arkansas, was the sheer number of “For Sale” signs on properties ranging from homes to commercial land.
Wal-Mart is often held up as the success story of these hard economic times, but when it comes to foreclosures its home town is no different from many others around the nation.
“For Sale” signs litter the landscape and housing communities are idled. Here’s a snippet from a recent story in The Morning News: Bentonville has 11 unfinished subdivisions in various states of completion, according to city records. Nine are not under active construction, and four of those are virtually abandoned, said Brian Bahr, the city’s current planning manager.
Shuttering Starbucks
Reuters checked out some of the stores that Starbucks is closing in California’s Inland Empire – an area well known for being a leader in home foreclosures.
Some of the coffee shop closures made sense, some didn’t and some had us wondering just what Starbucks was thinking.
This yet-to-be closed cafe, on the left, is in an upscale mall near a eerily quiet housing development — a no-brainer.
Another that is set to be closed is located in a busy, movie theater-anchored shopping center near a university. When we drove by, the store appeared busy.
An already closed cafe in a rundown neighborhood, shown below, was in a strip mall anchored by low-priced grocer Food 4 Less.
(Photos\Reuters)
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Resident Shop Talk Expert
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The recession is not over, as a matter of fact it’s just getting into full swing. This is merely a publicity stunt by the government to attempt to sway public opinion. They are intent on making as many people dependent on the government as possible, thereby creating a government run state. Some call it socialism. The sad thing is that it’s working because too many people continue to do nothing about the run away policies of the current admininstration. It’s simply a matter of not reelecting any current politicians, from the local good old boys, to the congress, and not electing anyone who’s held office in the past. Email your representatives and tell them that you’re fed up with this. It works in other countries. If we don’t get a handle on this, it’s going to be very bad for the people of this country.