The fight is on for retailers this holiday season as the economy continues to wither all across the world. To combat the agony of waiting in long lines, there is one thing that customers can look forward to: Sales. And plenty of them.

Time to rejoice, right? Well, not so fast…

What’s good for the customer is bad for companies. Really bad. Holiday shopping is expected to be down this Christmas. And that’s forcing companies to scramble and make new plans to lure customers into stores.

“Historically retailers plan out promotions and advertising a year in advance,” says Craig Rowley, head of the retail sector for Hay Group, a Philadelphia management consultancy. “This year more than most years … you are going to see retailers trying things.”

Reports just released through an informal survey show that retailers are feeling both “anxious” and “optimistic.” I get the anxious, but I wouldn’t say optimistic is a word any retail company should use right now.

So, although shopping in stores may be down, you’d think that online sales may see a uptick, right? Wrong, says the NYTimes. There is just really no good news, just more of the same.

E-commerce spending growth slowed to 6 percent in the third quarter over the year before, down from 13 percent in the second quarter, according to comScore. Growth rates have declined every month since April, and September’s rate of 5 percent was the lowest recorded by comScore since it started tracking e-commerce in 2001.

And like a daily dose of eggnog at night in my apartment and Home Alone re-runs on TBS or the USA Network, weak holiday sales aren’t just around for the holidays. Retailers are no longer counting on gift card sales to help the weeks after the season. Thought it really may not seem like a big deal, it is. The article states “the lack of gift cards could curb shoppers’ enthusiasm for buying full-priced merchandise after the holidays, and leave retailers struggling to bolster their margins after what is expected to be a profit-crunching Christmas selling season.”

Bah Humbug.

The American flag in the above picture means a lot to me. It’s painted on the building of my former place of employment: A sports bar named Tully’s in Amherst, NY. It was at Tully’s where I met a friend named Eddie…who now works at Goldman Sachs in New York City. Eddie is really my only tangible link to Wall Street, and I’m grateful for that.

So, every time I hear about Wall Street cutting jobs or cutting salaries, all I think of is Eddie. A 25-year-old guy who works his tail off about 50 hours a week–and even more since the financial crisis made its landfall.

Eddie and I never really talk about how much money he makes. And yes, maybe he got into the business to make money. But, who can blame him?

Certainly not me, as the stress from lack of journalism jobs and lack of sufficient pay currently weigh heavily on my mind.

My take on the money situation is simple. With all the talk about cutting bonuses, just think of how the majority of people working in the financial sector really had nothing to do with what has happened.

Seriously, think about it for a little. How many “regular” Wall Street employees are we going to steal bonuses away from?

It’s starting to remind me of that old-school episode of ‘The Simpsons,’ where Homer realizes he isn’t getting a Christmas bonus from the Nuclear Power Plant and thus, takes a job as a mall Santa (to help pay for Bart to get his tattoo removed).

I certainly don’t think everyone on Wall Street needs hundred-thousand dollar bonuses. But, there IS blame to go around. Does Eddie (or anyone who just got into the financial world) deserve to be punished because of actions that became so ingrained into the everyday functions of investing? Absolutely not. Eddie didn’t live beyond his means like those facing foreclosure. And Eddie didn’t spend his initial post-college years racking up inordinate amounts of credit card debt. He shouldn’t have to pay for the mistakes of others.

I don’t know why I feel sorry for all the smart, hard-working, regular men and women on Wall Street. Aside from the reason in Greg’s post below, I just see bad things happening. We’ve all heard how smart men and women work on Wall Street instead of taking jobs like teachers, doctors, etc. But, isn’t now the time we want the smartest people working there? I foresee this just driving them away.

Yes, maybe the bonuses should be cut. I mean, some of these activities have really, really messed up our country. But how can we fairly take bonuses away from those that caused it? And is being “fair” even an option? Is docking pay for every employee really the only reasonable way to achieve this?

[Image Courtesy: All America City].

College is arguably the best four years of your life. But, with the recent economic crisis, some are saying students will be lucky if they even get there. Lack of student loan money is the main problem, but there’s a whole other slew of issues.  Which makes me wonder…is the government doing anything about this yet? Should we maybe give, oh, I don’t know, a small portion of $700 billion to help fund students and colleges?

Somewhere, the next Bill Gates is sitting in a high school deciding that he doesn’t want to go to college because he can’t afford the tuition. Somewhere, a student who actually has an idea to invent something that will both produce jobs and make money (rather than just inventing new ways to make money on the stock market) isn’t going to go because she’ll decide that the closest college doesn’t have nice enough dorms. At least, that’s one theory out there.

“If a college decides we’re not going to have fancy dorms or build a shiny new gym, students are not going to that college,” says Sandy Baum, a Skidmore College economist and senior policy analyst at the College Board.

So that’s the bad news. The good news? Well, just ask U.S. News & World Report’s Kim Clark.

“There are still enough grants and loans for most students to afford at least a community college. And top students will still most likely qualify for plenty of aid from wealthy schools.”

OK, so poor/dumb kids can go to community colleges and really smart ones can go to rich, private schools? That’s messed up.  And Clark’s article doesn’t stop there. She says parents can prepare for the following 4 things to happen:

1. Tuition Hikes
2. Decreased Savings
3. Smaller Grants
4. Fewer Loans (and zero from Key Bank).

That article is backed up by a report from Ithaca College’s newspaper. Apparently, banks actually “are freezing colleges’ accounts, public institutions are discussing raising tuitions and private schools are considering dipping into endowment funds to combat concerns about students being able to get loans.” Basically, things are bad and they’re very quickly getting worse.

I know it’s a bit of a stretch to blame all the problems of higher education on the financial crisis on Wall Street. College tuition has been increasing at a ridiculously high rate over the past few decades. I’m sure all of us are either A) In student loan debt ourselves or B) Know some close friends in pretty bad debt.

Maybe it’s time to fix the problem before it gets out of control. Or, at the very least, begin to throw out some ideas that might combat the downfall of higher education. Barack Obama is proposing a college tuition credit up to $4,000 for some students.

And here’s a fascinating CBS News piece from 2007 about an idea one school is doing in Michigan.

There’s got to be other suggestions out there. I, unfortunately, don’t have any. Do you?

The financial crisis has hit nearly every facet of our economy, from retail sales, to auto sales, to the housing industry. And, though arguably not as important, the economic future of America’s sports organizations aren’t exempt from the trend either.

From Nascar to the NBA, over to the NHL and all the way to the NFL and MLB, nearly every professional sports organization in the U.S. is expected to hit a downturn with the economy in turmoil. Decreases in ticket sales, merchandise sales and corporate sponsorships will likely cause some economic hardships for all sports organizations.

I can’t say I feel sorry for the owners or the athletes. Perhaps cutting down on multi-million dollar contracts is a way to save money? Or, well, here’s an idea that could work: PLAN AHEAD!

That’s what the Washington Capitals are doing…and lo and behold…it’s actually working! The Capitals are using the apparently unusual technique of research to actually find out what their fans want and, more importantly, how to attract new ones.

“Research has shown that people become fans of a team somewhere between their sixth and ninth year of age. So we’re trying to capitalize on that,” said Tim McDermott, the team’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer.

The Capitals are also about to start a marketing approach geared strictly toward women–which is about 35 percent of their fan base. The effort that started in 2007 is continuing into this season, with 4,000 new season ticket holders.

Now, the corporate leaders of the Washington Capitals aren’t exactly rocket surgeons. And, it certainly helps when your star player makes moves like this.

But, seriously, this is a pro hockey team centered in Washington, D.C., which isn’t exactly Hockeytown USA. Go ahead and google “sports economy.” Read some of the articles. Like this one on ticket sales. Or this one about the “sports pendulum.” It’s like journalists have accepted that pro sports organizations forgot how to be creative, forgot how to actually engage the fan and make them want to come to game or buy a hat with the team’s logo on it. In a time when we’re seemingly heading into an era where saving is better than spending and where staying in is more responsible than going out, this is no time to sit back and let the recession play out.

So, DO SOMETHING, sports teams! Anything! Yes, the economy is down, but remember: There’s no crying in baseball. And there shouldn’t be in football, basketball, auto racing or hockey either! It’s time to get creative, get innovative and remember this: If the gosh darn Washington Capitals can do it, anyone can.

[Image Courtesy BlogMeDown.tv]

Richard Fuld said on Monday that he takes full responsibility for his actions. Of course, the 62-year-old believes he did nothing wrong as the CEO of Lehman Brothers. Appearing in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committe, Fuld’s Q & A session was rife with excuses.

Fuld’s list of blame looks like this:

1. Lack of confidence

2. Short selling

3. False rumors

In case you missed it, here’s the Full Text of Fuld’s Speech .

The third reason seemed to irk Fuld the most. He said “unsubstantiated rumors in the marketplace caused significant harm to Lehman Brothers” and also said “Some of the media coverage of Lehman Brothers’ demise has been sensationalized – based on rumors, speculation, misunderstandings and factual errors.”

Here’s a CBS News Video of the report. Making money was one of the biggest issues that came up Monday. Committee representatives asked him how he could pocket nearly $500 millions over the past 8 years, while his company was on the fast track to extinction.

Fuld’s brilliant response?

“I think for the years you’re talking about here I believe my cash compensation was close to 60 million and the amount I took out of the company over and above that was closer to 250 million. Still a large number though.”

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks Fuld is a bit pompous. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough yelled, “Put him in Jail!” when the news was read about his testimony.

And protesters from the organization ‘Code Pink’ spent the entire day on Capitol Hill calling for his incarceration.

[Image courtesy Code Pink].

What did you think of Fuld’s testimony? How much blame does he deserve, if any??