Post by barb43 on Dec 25, 2022 4:26:22 GMT
Is a Biden Recession Coming in 2023? One Odd Holiday Indicator Says Yes.
Any guesses on what that "odd holiday indicator" might be?
www.westernjournal.com/biden-recession-coming-2023-one-odd-holiday-indicator-says-yes/?ff_source=email&ff_medium=AE&ff_campaign=can&ff_content=2022-12-24
Any guesses on what that "odd holiday indicator" might be?
You’re undoubtedly tired of them by now — whether it’s Lexus’ “December to Remember,” Chevrolet’s “Red Tag Sales” or, yes, the “Happy Honda Days” ads, they all blend together. On Dec. 25, outside an implausibly expensive modernist house, in a snowstorm so obviously generated by computers you can almost see the video effects guy hunched behind his MacBook Pro, a husband removes his hands from his wife’s eyes.
There, in the driveway, is a brand-new, specced-out, top-of-the-line vehicle — with a big red bow on the roof, the luxury SUV curiously not covered in any of the snow falling all around it. A look of gratitude, of surprise instantly washes over the wife’s face, as if to say: Thanks, honey! I’m so glad you made a major financial choice and disguised it as a Christmas gift, one that I absolutely can’t return even if I like the car I already have!
Remember the good ol’ days when Lucy Van Pelt informed Charlie Brown that the commercialization of Christmas was due to it being run by “a big Eastern syndicate”? In the interim, they’ve farmed it out to the folks in Detroit, Japan and Korea, apparently.
But apparently this works, because these ads run year after year, scarcely changed but for the vehicles.
People do really buy these things as gifts — and, as a kind of proof, there’s an actual giant bow industry that’s sprung up, so that, even if your house doesn’t look like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or there’s not a CGI snowflake to be seen, you can still recreate the big-red-bow-on-top part of the commercial.
And, if you needed another group of experts to tell you the economy is headed for a for real, can’t-just-redefine-the-word recession in 2023, don’t just ask Wall Street. Ask the giant bow people.
According to a Dec. 20 report in The Wall Street Journal, things are looking bleak in huge bow-land, as manufacturers “report a steep decline in business this holiday season.
“Orders are down 35 percent this holiday season at King Size Bows, which sells thousands of car bows each year to dealerships and individual consumers. That works out to hundreds fewer bows than normal, [said] Amber Hughes, the Costa Mesa, Calif., company’s owner.”
Meanwhile, Tom Maoli, who owns a Lexus dealer in New Jersey — repping the company that arguably started this bows-on-cars mess — said he ordered fewer bows this year because sales of new cars are down.
Now, part of that is based on the consistent inventory problem that’s plagued the auto industry due to supply chain issues. New car sales will be down significantly from 2021, according to estimates — 13.7 million new cars off lots vs. 14.9 million in 2021.
However, another sign that consumers aren’t necessarily as confident in making a new vehicle purchase is the rise in people buying the car they’ve already been leasing.
At least for the auto industry, this spells trouble — because, yes, it turns out the data show there are some people who really do buy cars as presents, which means a huge reduction in giant bow sales, however odd it may seem, is a canary in the coal mine when it comes to a serious economic slowdown.
Well, time’s up, folks: Winter has come, and the happy Honda days seem to be over. If only Chuck Schumer could have snuck in a bailout for those giant-bow folks in the pork-laden $1.7 trillion omnibus they shoved through Congress at the last minute. Heaven knows, if any industry needs bailing out right now, it’s them.
There, in the driveway, is a brand-new, specced-out, top-of-the-line vehicle — with a big red bow on the roof, the luxury SUV curiously not covered in any of the snow falling all around it. A look of gratitude, of surprise instantly washes over the wife’s face, as if to say: Thanks, honey! I’m so glad you made a major financial choice and disguised it as a Christmas gift, one that I absolutely can’t return even if I like the car I already have!
Remember the good ol’ days when Lucy Van Pelt informed Charlie Brown that the commercialization of Christmas was due to it being run by “a big Eastern syndicate”? In the interim, they’ve farmed it out to the folks in Detroit, Japan and Korea, apparently.
But apparently this works, because these ads run year after year, scarcely changed but for the vehicles.
People do really buy these things as gifts — and, as a kind of proof, there’s an actual giant bow industry that’s sprung up, so that, even if your house doesn’t look like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or there’s not a CGI snowflake to be seen, you can still recreate the big-red-bow-on-top part of the commercial.
And, if you needed another group of experts to tell you the economy is headed for a for real, can’t-just-redefine-the-word recession in 2023, don’t just ask Wall Street. Ask the giant bow people.
According to a Dec. 20 report in The Wall Street Journal, things are looking bleak in huge bow-land, as manufacturers “report a steep decline in business this holiday season.
“Orders are down 35 percent this holiday season at King Size Bows, which sells thousands of car bows each year to dealerships and individual consumers. That works out to hundreds fewer bows than normal, [said] Amber Hughes, the Costa Mesa, Calif., company’s owner.”
Meanwhile, Tom Maoli, who owns a Lexus dealer in New Jersey — repping the company that arguably started this bows-on-cars mess — said he ordered fewer bows this year because sales of new cars are down.
Now, part of that is based on the consistent inventory problem that’s plagued the auto industry due to supply chain issues. New car sales will be down significantly from 2021, according to estimates — 13.7 million new cars off lots vs. 14.9 million in 2021.
However, another sign that consumers aren’t necessarily as confident in making a new vehicle purchase is the rise in people buying the car they’ve already been leasing.
At least for the auto industry, this spells trouble — because, yes, it turns out the data show there are some people who really do buy cars as presents, which means a huge reduction in giant bow sales, however odd it may seem, is a canary in the coal mine when it comes to a serious economic slowdown.
Well, time’s up, folks: Winter has come, and the happy Honda days seem to be over. If only Chuck Schumer could have snuck in a bailout for those giant-bow folks in the pork-laden $1.7 trillion omnibus they shoved through Congress at the last minute. Heaven knows, if any industry needs bailing out right now, it’s them.
www.westernjournal.com/biden-recession-coming-2023-one-odd-holiday-indicator-says-yes/?ff_source=email&ff_medium=AE&ff_campaign=can&ff_content=2022-12-24
I think I saw that this ad started a few years ago, but I was surprised they're using it again this year, with a new truck included, of course. I'm curious to know how this year's sales of the GMC Sierra compare to last year's holiday sales, and the previous year's sales too. 
