‘Tis the season for spending and ending U.S. economic woes

Maybe, just maybe, the holiday shopping season itself is the stimulus package Congress can’t seem to decide on, much less wrap and place under the tree before Christmas.

From the looks of things, the season for giving is spurring spending, irrespective of – and despite – the squabbling that is occurring between Republicans and Democrats as they try to design an economic-stimulus bill.

It’s curious. In one ear, we hear about consumer pessimism and rising unemployment. In the other ear, we hear retail sales surged 7 percent in October followed by robust spending this month among early holiday shoppers.

It’s hard to get the picture. But it appears the Grinch can’t steal Christmas – not this one – from those of us in Whoville.

Within the pages of newspapers, there have been conflicting reports on the health of the economy – whether so anemic as to be lethargic or merely sluggish and tired from too many growth spurts.

One letter writer suggested Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Board should re-examine their interest-rate policy, which over the past 12 months has prompted rate reductions of almost 70 percent. That means, the writer said, income to consumers from their investments in money-market funds, for example, have declined almost 70 percent, as rates have been lowered from more than 6 percent last year to little more than 2 percent at present.

“This represents a major blow to consumer spending …” the writer said in the same issue of this paper in which this editorial comment was made, “… a temporary stimulus aimed at people who will actually spend the money, as opposed to saving it as most apparently did with the last debate, couldn’t hurt and is preferable to watching Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan drive the lending rate to near-zero with little apparent effect.”

Yet, in another flip-flop, reports note that consumers took advantage of zero-interest car financing deals during October, sending retail sales far higher than expected only a month after terrorist attacks had stopped the economy in its tracks.

That news could have been heralded. Instead, it brought more caution by a reporter for The Associated Press who wrote, “Most analysts said the 7.1 percent jump did not shake their view that the economy had been pushed into recession by the Sept. 11 attacks, although some said the downturn is likely to be milder than first feared.”

Then, there came more surprise news on the front pages. It appears consumers packed their confidence and their purchases into shopping carts across the country when the day after Thanksgiving officially opened the holiday season.

On that day, one woman from Old Town who was shopping early, was quoted as saying she felt she “needed to help the economy.”

Maybe we all echo her sentiments. Or maybe we’re just so ready to share in the spirit and the joy of the season.

Either way, it’s a win-win.