patrick.net

You know what the bulls are going to say: Walmart is the retailer of last resort, so people are trading up to more chic Target (pronounced "Tar-zhay").

Call it Crazy says

If Wal-Mart is missing sales goals, what's that say about the overall economy??

Possibly nothing.

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Call it Crazy says

If Wal-Mart is missing sales goals, what's that say about the overall economy??

That house prices will continue to rise! They are foregoing their walmart purchases so they can buy homes with the money they save

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Comptroller says

Can’t get the items they want. Many shoppers complain that they go to Wal-Mart with a list but can’t get all the items they want on them. They leave with three of seven, or even worse, one of seven. Many of them complain that the store has empty shelves and spaces that will stay that way for a long time.

No one is there to help anymore. More than one of the shoppers said that they couldn’t find an employee to help them. I have experienced that many times.

Long checkout lines. Consumers from stores all across the country complained about check out times. The average amount of time was 15 minutes.

I think the first one causes the second one, since on the rare freak occasion WalMart has what I want in stock, I stock up since I never know when I am going to see what I came in for again.

thunderlips11 says

Basically, Wally is a welfare 'ho, they profit off SNAP

Wal Mart may have the (rightfully earned) rep of the low-life of the retailers, but their growth has matched the growth in SNAP of the last 13 years too. They are still a perveyor of cheap and mostly short-lived Chinese junk, but they morphed into a major player in the grocery business with a 25% market share that growing year by year.

thunderlips11 says

Can you believe that companies are allowed to keep sales tax revenue? It's
un-freakin' believable. The big boys who can afford it get out of it, while the
old established mom & pops and smaller franchises pay normally.

I have a friend who is now the 4th generation to run the family deli, and they have to compete head to head against Wal Mart on prices, and yet Wal Mart can advertise their very own "version" of choice and select cuts of meat. Factor in the slaes tax retention and numerous other advantages, it's not even a competition for my friends. They survive solely on reputation and name recognition, along with their same location for almost 50 years. They have little to no marketing because they just get undercut when the ad makes a full circle, but Wal Mart hurts Wal Mart the most because of their own reputation. my friends are in a catch-22 position whereas they are paying full taxes and such with an outdated building and location, but if they move Wal Mart will use political pressure to drive up all of their udate/relocation costs to put them out of business.

Back in the 90's quite a few of the small time mayors pushed pretty hard for the big box stores to locate to their cities/towns for the convenience and (now obvious) false sense of growth or revenues. Those part-time shit-pay jobs, along with giving away tons of perks to attract ANY retailers has not, or will it ever, pay for itself. One area nearby that did that can't even afford to fix the heavily traveled road where those box stores are located, and is fortunate that it is a state highway and the state picks up the bill. The citizens of the rest of the state just paid to redo that road and improve it with more turn lanes last year also, and ironically the mayor's time in office lasted as long as that road did.

donjumpsuit says

I wonder what happens when nobody wants to buy, and nobody needs to rent.

Possible scenario? How is it possible? Zombie apocalypse?

upisdown says

Back in the 90's quite a few of the small time mayors pushed pretty hard for the big box stores to locate to their cities/towns for the convenience and (now obvious) false sense of growth or revenues.

And for bribes. Don't forget the bribes.

Call it Crazy says

U.S. inventory growth at Wal-Mart outstripped sales gains in the second
quarter at a faster rate than at the retailer’s biggest rivals. Merchandise has
been piling up because consumers have been spending less freely than Wal-Mart
projected, and the company has forfeited some sales because it doesn’t have
enough workers in stores to keep shelves adequately stocked.

It was bound to happen to Wal Mart, just as it has to others whereas their actions begin to cannibalize themself. Unfortunately, some other bottom tier retail chain will pick up Wal Mart's general business operational plan and out-Wal Mart, Wal Mart. What will become of the new and rising entity will undoubtedly be a bigger and more vicious P O S than Wal Mart is now.

@Patrick

I have the same problem with quoted text having lots of extra "line breaks" as the post above by 'upisdown'.

Is there a way to fix the problem?

egads101 says

I tried to charge the birds in the tree rent, but they just fly away when I come to collect.

Not to mention the things they do to your car.

freak80 says

And for bribes. Don't forget the bribes.

Boy, isn't that the truth. A bar/liquor store nearby was run out of business when the mayor(who was the former police chief)informed the owner that his liquor license would not be renewed and to just sell his building. Come to find out, the mayor had already conjured up a deal with one of the big local gas station chains to buy the property, with some generous city gas purchase contracts and......relection money for the mayor. He was in a very tight race politically last election and barely won. Ironically that gas station is practically the only business on that street to make any money/pay any taxes because of all the BS, T.I.F. district status that the mayor fought for, and got for most of the businesses and buildings.
That gas station is the ONLY gas station in the whole area to have a full liquor department because of the mayor's approval of some moronic exception because the gas station sits on the property where the former liquor store was. No other gas station around, including any of that locla chains' locations, has that perk.

Call it Crazy says

Sure, stop quoting text..... :)

Fair enough. ;-)

There's no such thing as a first time buyer anymore. Remember, if you didn't buy back then, you were priced out forever.

It's different this time.

smaulgld says

Call it Crazy says

If Wal-Mart is missing sales goals, what's that say about the overall economy??

That house prices will continue to rise! They are foregoing their walmart purchases so they can buy homes with the money they save

This can't be emphasized strongly enough: even when people become homeless, it frees up resources for home purchases.

Cut costs in non-essential areas of your life, and put it toward a down payment - heck, fvck that! - get a no-down neg-am and plow that money you were spending on food, thorazine, and interferon into a mortgage payment!

Say hey! This was in the Wall Street Journal on March 30, 1999:

Holy cow/interesting/compelling ...!

And where is it up to date??? Right here ... see the first chart shown in this thread.
Recent Dow day is Wednesday, September 25, 2013 __ Level is 97.6

WOW! It is hideous that this is hidden! Is there any such "Homes, Inflation Adjusted"? Yes indeed, go here:
http://patrick.net/?p=1219038&c=999083#comment-999083

As awful as Walmart is, it's not going anywhere. Too many towns and small cities have little to no alternative for shopping except their local Walmart. The citizens of these blighted places struggle on year by year, subsisting on welfare and small income from odd jobs and seasonal work. Walmart is their mama, they go to her for nearly everything.

Next come the markdowns . . . then the eroded gross margins.

thunderlips11 says

more chic Target (pronounced "Tar-zhay").

Depends where the Target is. LA, In South Central, it's pronounced "Tar-ghetto"; in West Hollywood, "Tar-gay".

Costco and other big box retailers came along and slowed down Walmart, it was bound to happen, to much market share - plenty to go around.

Kind of a waste, trucking product to two warehouses, and two different store chains, each stocking less to compete, just more running around in circles, the American way.

Can't win, and the stuff they sell you is mostly inferior junk, I finally went into a Costco about three months ago for the first time, looked more like the wholesale Walmarts, also you have to get a membership, you have to join a club - ridiculous.

Wouldn't a tax cut for top earners solve this?

bgamall4 says

Check out this chart. Housing inflation is raging. This froth is a bubble:

http://wallstreetexaminer.com/2013/09/25/housing-recovery-is-an-illusion-while-housing-inflation-rages/

It's not just housing, general inflation is rampant.

Call it what you want, it's not affordable.

I make over 50k a year and I'm priced out, typical local property tax bill can cover my rent for 6 months. I tried owning for 8 years, I was flat broke, totally not worth it!, property tax payment was only $100 less than the mortgage payment, and the upkeep, forget it, at least now I'm on track for retirement again - 55 and over senior housing here I come.

CDon says

That aside, if you need housing to beat all other classes of investments
before you buy, you will never buy, nor should you. Most people believe housing
is basically an inflation hedge, and nothing more. Yet, if $$$ is the end all be
all for you, go with growth stocks, and rent as cheaply as you can for the rest
of your life.

I wonder if there are some of these investment ballers out there with 6/7 digit account balances in their taxable trading accounts as they live with less than reputable characters in the cheapest tiers of apartment complexes. Hopefully their neighbors that live check to check and have no choice but to rent in that tier don't find out about their more fortunate brethens...

I know I'm wrong. That's the fun of it. I think I'm a logical guy, but on this one I'm completely wrong, and it sucks.

So rather than fight it, I just embrace it.

Housing only goes up. I don't want to believe it, but that's just the way it is.

exfatguy says

So rather than fight it, I just embrace it.

Housing only goes up. I don't want to believe it, but that's just the way it is.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hLFYx6xlhB0

You should link the article instead of linking to your blog where one can find the actual link.

Very lame self promotion.

Here for people who wonder what the hell he's talking about (the link isn't even obvious):

http://www.businessinsider.com/shiller-starting-to-worry-about-a-bubble-2013-9

Lol @ the retard who puts the entirety of his personal business out there for all to see, has it bite him in the ass, and then goes on to call others retards.

That's some fucking chutzpah!

Call it Crazy says

The Professor says

Zombies are not real.

What?? Really?? You just ruined my night!!

Everything is relative. To the people of Haiti, Zombies are real. Maybe not the flesh eating Hollywood version, but, never the less.

http://www.livescience.com/23892-zombies-real-facts.html

There are lots of programs for first time home buyers - they just aren't traditional banks - there is an extensive network of CDFIs and other non-profits that are providing lots of opportunities for First Time Home Buyers to join the party:
http://www.deadlinenews.com/2013/03/30/silicon-valley-nonprofit-buys-rehabs-homes-for-first-time-moderate-income-home-buyers/

https://www.nhsid.org/what-we-do/home-lending

http://lowcountryhousingtrust.org/loan-programs/view/affordable_housing1

The idea that its hard to finance a home for a First Time Home Buyers is an Urban/suburban/country legend.

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

freak80 says

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

And now Walmart sells Rx pills too. CAFO feedlot capitalism is the future of the Matrix economy, with the employees on food stamps and the customers on Obamacare, all plugged into the local cable company watching "Big Brother".

CAFO?

I'm not sure which persons are worse: realtors or church leaders.

Yeah, I'm having trouble choosing sides on this one.

bgamall4 says

Goldman says

there is an extensive network of CDFIs and other non-profits that are providing lots of opportunities for First Time Home Buyers to join the party:

They aren't buying. They aren't biting. If you are Goldman as in Goldman Sachs, get a life and quit screwing the middle class.

It's game over as Smaulgld extentuated....the artificial appreciation will continue deteriorate from here on out

bgamall4 says

freak80 says

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

Think how much more they could buy if they were paid more.

How would that help shareholders?

bgamall4 says

freak80 says

Quigley,

It's almost like a company town. You work for and buy everything from your employer.

Think how much more they could buy if they were paid more.

But they're not entrepreneurs. They didn't work hard. They haven't earned it.

If you speculate in derivatives, run a bank or hedge fund, sell real estate, or just import goods from China to sell to people here, you are a wealth creator.

Tax cuts for the wealth creators give them the money to create things, and build products. And, as we learn from real estate, supply creates demand. The consumer, seeing houses or products - or, in technology markets, solutions - steps forward to purchase these products, creating a spiral of more products and, in turn more demand for them.

Remember: production creates demand. Why do you think we have seen the shrinking wealth gap between rich and poor over the past 30 years?

Tax cuts have made us all happier, healthier, and better off, and every dollar cut from government spending, with the sole exception of military spending, creates greater efficiencies in capital allocation that improve the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the quality of our personal and sexual relationships with both people and animals.

I truly believe that the tax cuts of 1981-1988, and then, particularly, the tax cuts of 2001-2009, have created the heaven spoken of in scripture, but here on earth.

Uh, didn't most financial planners take a bath in 2007, having succumbed to the same hysteria and blindness as the economists who wiled away the hours penning multi-volume descriptions of the beautiful new wardrobe the emperor was sporting?

Criminal.

Clearly she's a practiced hand.

Good thing the FHA is a non-government entity, else one could be forgiven for thinking that the federal government has been propping up housing since Franklin Roosevelt.

Nah. Only a crank conspiracy theorist would say that. And the false flag trilateral commission puts chips in all their brains.

Oh, look: a hologram!