Recession? What recession?
Just back from holiday. It went quite well, very relaxing, and the the weather seemed to be moderate than usual.
Weather was not the only thing that went well. Economy. NZ as a whole, despite the worries, spent more compare with the last holiday season. Even me, a typical Chinese who loves to save rather than spend, nearly exhausted my purse.
However, it doesn't mean that I and other shoppers have full confidence on the economy, instead, I feel exactly the opposite. That's why I have spent most of my money on stocking up clothing, small appliances and other stuffs I really need rather than luxuries, so I don't need spend another cent on non-necessities until the next Christmas.
Most businesses fully realised this kind of thinking among the shoppers. They also need to keep themselves alive in 2009,so there was also an urgency for them, that they need to convert stocks to cash as soon as possible before the recession hits them hard.
It's kind of a win win situation, both shoppers got what they want in the holiday. Actually I'm now starting to think that recession isn't that bad as I first thought - reduced price on food, oil ... nearly every thing, aren't those what we wanted a year ago? This sounds more like greedy businessmen's recession, rather than the one for the general public.
For those who are likely lost their jobs in the new year (National predicts that will be about extra 4% of the work force), a comprehensive and working social safety net is where their confidence lays.People know the state will help them if they found themselves in trouble, so when come to spending, they were less hesitated to open up the purse.
