Christmas Brought Forward One Week to Help Save Capitalism

Hey! Whoa! Don’t look over there at that scrolling panel of stock values! Jack Frost probably put that there, the scamp! No, look at this big sparkly tree! And my jolly red suit and long white beard! Ho ho ho! It’s Christmas! Don’t you worry about anything for the next 71 shopping days!

Such are the tactics employed by Wal-Mart amid the financial crisis, bringing their scheduled Christmas season forward a week in order to switch us into blind festive-spending mode again. The unfortunate reality is that amplifying Christmas as a time to spend is likely to encourage people to spend money they don’t have. ”Sadly, many individuals spend up on credit at Christmas and pay no heed to the financial warning bells”, says Mike Gerrard, the insolvency man at Grant Thornton accountants. “Come January, they find themselves in a situation where previous financial woes are compounded by the bills arriving from the festive season and in these situations insolvency becomes the only way out.”

Worse still, you’re more likely to ruin your child’s whole life and have them hate you forever this year too, as stores can’t afford to keep hundreds of each toy in stock lest they not sell, leading to likely shortages of Tickle-Me Elmo or whatever this year’s tot-fulfiller is. ”A key focus will be to not over invest in inventory,” consumer analyst Richard Hastings says.

But if there’s one piece of genuinely quality advice we can all take from this crisis, it’s from Phil Rist of consumer insights firm BIG research. ”Some consumers may be going back to merchandise,” he says. “They may think, ‘If I buy Uncle Ned a $50 gift card, I’ve got to spend $50, but if I buy him a $50 sweater that’s marked down to $25, I save $25.’ ” Cha-ching! Thanks Phil! Ah yes, nothing says Christmas like tricking your loved ones into thinking you care enough to spend a money on them. God bless us, every one!

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | October 15, 2008 3:35PM |