Amazon` had their BEST YEAR EVER! Wait a minute… this economy is in the tank, right? People are losing their jobs, right? Black Friday posted bigger numbers than last year, but the media told us it wasn’t good news because people were finishing their shopping, not starting it. A few weeks ago, AMC Theaters told us their business was booming, and the media said it was because we welcome the distraction from the bad economy with a movie. Yesterday, Amazon tells us they had their best year ever and the media is letting us know that it proves the economy is bad because people are favoring discount stores like Amazon over full retail stores.
This gives a whole new understanding of No News is Good News! A recession is a self-fulling prophesy, the more we talk about how bad the economy is, the worse it will get. I’m not saying to put our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong – but lets not bury the few peices of good news we get with negativity.
I heard a story recently that bears repeating:
A man owned a hot dog stand downtown and every day during lunch hour he would carry a huge sign and yell as loud as he could – ‘Hot Dogs! Get Hot Dogs Here!’, and business was good – very good.
One day his son came home from college and said, ‘Dad, I don’t know why you bother carrying that large sign everyday and spend all that time straining your voice – the economy is bad, people just aren’t going to buy hot dogs right now.’
So the man left his sign at home and didn’t bother yelling during the lunch hour. When he came home he told his son that he was right, no body bought hot dogs that day – the economy must be bad.
The hot dog stand shut down and the man went on unemployment – later on welfare. Now the man votes for the Democrats because the Republicans are talking about welfare reform and he isn’t sure he can make ends meet if those government checks stop coming.
I guess I should start thinking about which welfare program will meet my needs during this bad economy!