Steele Laughs Off The Recession: ‘The Malls Are Just As Packed On Saturday’ As They Were Before
Steele Laughs Off The Recession: ‘The Malls Are Just As Packed On Saturday’ As They Were Before
This morning, GOP chairman Michael Steele guest-hosted Bill Bennett’s talk radio show. During the program, one caller said he could “debate” whether or not the U.S. is currently in the midst of an economic crisis. Steele laughed in agreement and claimed that “[t]he malls are just as packed on Saturday.”:
CALLER: I can really debate about how about that economic crises is because I look around and I don’t see people spending any less money than they have been.
STEELE: I’ve heard a number of people say that across the country. [LAUGHTER] The malls are just as packed on Saturday. [LAUGHTER]CALLER: The malls are just as packed. … You still can’t get seat in a restaurant.
Listen here:
Despite Steele’s claim that consumers are packing shopping malls, they don’t appear to be spending their money there. Indeed, Gallup found that last month consumer spending among all Americans reached a 15-month low and is 27 percent lower than last year’s figures.
Additionally, Reuters reported yesterday that vacancies at regional and strip malls are soaring to record highs:
Vacancies surged at U.S. strip malls in the first quarter and set a record at U.S. regional malls, as the deterioration in the retail real estate sector accelerated, according to real estate research firm Reis.
“I’m extremely skeptical,” Reis Research Director Victor Calanog said. “This is the first pullback we’ve seen in 17 years that really affected retail properties directly.” Vacancies at U.S. strip malls rose to 9.5 percent, up 0.6 percentage point, the largest single quarterly rise since Reis began publishing quarterly figures in 1999, Reis said in a quarterly report released on Wednesday.
The reasons for this are clear. Just yesterday, the Labor Department reported that 654,000 Americans applied for first-time unemployment benefits, while the “number of people staying on benefit rolls rose to a record 5.84 million in the prior week.”
More puzzling, however, is the fact that Steele has previously tried to portray himself as taking the curent economic crisis seriously. He’s spoken often about the need to stimulate the economy and critiqued Obama’s own attempts to do so. Now, however, Steele seems ready to dispense with the facade and admit that the economy is not something he understands as well as he should.
I was in a Northern Virginia mall recently and I too noticed that the crowds had thinned a little but not much. But more importantly — few people in the mall were carrying store bags.
So, Mikey, the malls may be “packed” but nobody’s buying anything. Instead, they’re just looking for a way to kill time in a climate-controlled environment while they recover from being laid off from work…
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Says the man who says don’t believe anything I say.
It just keeps coming back to haunt ya.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:47 pmHow refreshing!
April 10th, 2009 at 2:48 pmWhen he says “strip malls” he aint talking about shopping malls.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:49 pmIs this real? or is it just another strategy? You know you can never tell with Steele, with his super intelligence this is all just strategy to see where he is on the chess board.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:50 pmWhew, this guy is a genius…
Here on the Seacoast of New Hampshire, Steele and his caller are correct. Ou malls are just as busy and our restaurants are still as crowded, even BEFORE we enter the tourist season.
I think what they fail to account for though, is that even though the people are there, they are not spending nearly as much, nor on the same crap they used to purchase. Trying to equate the impact of the recession to the number of shoppers rather than the quantity of sales is foolish.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pmSteele is just following the Republican way; always trust anecdotal evidence over hard statistics.
Unless the anecdotal evidence doesn’t say what you want it to say, and the statistics do. That should go without saying.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pmBoss Hog told him it’s all cool, man.
‘You be da man’!
btw, which part of Michael is Steele?
April 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pmMaybe in his neighborhood. I, however, live in middle America and the shopping malls look like graveyards. Even in the parking lots of the box stores and strip malls. Cars scattered loosely about in sparse numbers. More and more storefronts closing everyday. And all new construction has stopped – everywhere in sight. No houses, no stores.
This is far from over.
Do they just WANT to sound stupid?
April 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm*
Another Republican leader totally out of touch with reality. It’s no wonder Republicans exist in a fantasy bubble where everything is rosy as long as the wealthy are not hurting.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pmI was in a Northern Virginia mall recently and I too noticed that the crowds had thinned a little but not much. But more importantly — few people in the mall were carrying store bags.
So, Mikey, the malls may be “packed” but nobody’s buying anything. Instead, they’re just looking for a way to kill time in a climate-controlled environment while they recover from being laid off from work…
April 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pmI’m sure Mr. Steele and a few other people believe that, because they go to the upscale mall 2 miles from their gated-community McMansions on Saturdays. Such people are perfectly content to rest their conclusions on a foundation of cursory, superficial, and highly subjective observations.
One can not “know” very much about “the real America” unless one actually spends some time living in it. Tall tales of “growing up underprivileged” do not seem mitigate the voluntary blindness that too often accompanies privilege and comfort.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:58 pmQuintessential Steele: “I’m always open to everything, baby, absolutely.”
He’s the ultimate empty suit.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:58 pmWhy is it that Steele – with his AMAZING steel-trap of a strategic chess-playing mind . . . only ever moves pawns?
April 10th, 2009 at 2:59 pm*
Yup, Obama should be jealous of him… just think, if he were Steele, he wouldn’t have this recession to deal with.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:01 pmSteele is the gift that keeps on giving to the Democratic Party. Keep it up Steele – you were right – why should we believe anything you have to say.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pmI wonder how long it will be before he is kicked out as the head of the RNC?
April 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm“The malls are just as packed” with people whose homes have been foreclosed and need a warm place to hang out before the shelters open
“You still can’t get seat in a restaurant.” which wasn’t a restaurant at all but a soup kitchen
April 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pmGood to know he uses some solid, backed up data for these claims.
My mom told me that she saw 10 people in line at McDonald’s. Things are fine!
April 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pmWow just when I thought I’d read everything stupid from a Republican, something new surprises me. Apparently Steele hasn’t seen the dismal earnings/revenue reports of many, many retailers not to mention the government reports on consumer spending, trade etc.
I wish I could live in Steele World _ it must be psychedelic.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:11 pmout of touch…LOL…maybe they are just using the heater or the air conditioning in there.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pmCome to Ohio, restaurants and retail outlets are hurting.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:12 pmPerhaps Mr. Steele should go to malls to buy something instead of people-watch. Perhaps he should go during Sundays. Or during the week. Or perhaps he should go to malls in the South or the Midwest.
The fact is that, as stated before, no one’s buying anything at malls. If they do, it’s food, because…let’s face it…we can do without the stuff at Macy’s or Pottery Barn or the Hallmark Store, but we can’t do without sustenance.
For the record, and this is more aimed at the caller–”Home Depot” is not a “mall”. The restaurants are not exactly indicative of what a “mall” is. A mall is a conglomerate of smaller stores that sometimes have to fight for their goods to be sold in the same vicinity as a competitor.
Steele, you have absolutely no clue about how America operates.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:13 pmOf course since so many stores have gone out of business maybe the shops he goes to seem busier. Then again, he’s probably just making sh*t up again.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:18 pmSteele goes to malls the way the Bush’s go to the grocery store.
So, where is he getting his information? The maid? The housekeeper, the chef, his pool cleaner, the lawn service, the dog groomer, the massage therapist, the personal trainer, the UPS driver, the dry cleaner driver…who did I leave out?
Steele never has to leave his gated world as the vendors come to him and will tell him whatever he wants to hear for a tip.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:19 pmRemember all the uproar over Obama smiling and laughing too much in his 60 Minutes interview? Wanna bet exactly 0 Republicans talk about Michael Steele telling one-liners like Rodney Dangerfield? I mean, I know he gets no respect, no respect at all, but this is ridiculous.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:20 pmOn another note, doesn’t this sound exactly like the “Global warming isn’t real, I had to wear a turtleneck today!” argument? It’s just like saying “There’s no obesity problem, look at that skinny kid right there!” or “Drug problem, what drug problem? I’m not in rehab!”
April 10th, 2009 at 3:21 pmSo funny, I forgot to laugh, Mr. Steele. What a stupid, arrogant little jerk you are, Mr. Steele. A perfect-idiot leader for a party of REpubliCAN’TS who are busy self-destructing as we speak… GOP RIP.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm.
Joe’s Sports & Outdoors liquidation sales starts today
10:49 AM PDT on Friday, April 10, 2009
Associated Press
http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_041009BUB-AP_joe_outdoors-closing-JM.bf4b08b3.html
.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pmThe number of idiotic statements I see in the various media today remind me of that poem I read as a child about the six blind men and the elephant — each blind man touches a different part of the elephant, and depending on whether they touch the tusk, trunk, ear, side, leg, or tail, they decide the elephant is just like a spear, snake, fan, wall, tree, or rope.
So it is with so many people with big mouths and small minds. Some examples:
“It snowed last week, which proves global warming is a myth.”
“My cousin knows somebody who survived an auto wreck while not wearing a seatbelt, but would have gotten killed had he not been thrown from the car. Therefore wearing a seatbelt is harmful.”
“My 95-year old grandfather has been smoking since he was 12, which proves smoking doesn’t shorten one’s life.”
“I can’t get a seat in a restaurant, which proves we’re not in any economic crisis.”
People believe what they want to believe. They will cling to one embellished anecdote or one biased personal observation that supports their view rather than weigh overwhelming evidence that contradicts it.
So let me respond to Steele’s pronouncements based on his personal observations.
1. Malls are just as crowded. Yes, they are here where I live, too. It’s a great way to kill a Saturday afternoon, and it’s cheaper than a lot of entertainment. But more of these mall visitors are window shopping than they were before, and more of them are leaving empty-handed — or with far less than they used to buy.
2. Restaurants are just as crowded. Some are, most are not. I have noticed I wait a lot less time for a table now than I used to. And here, the restaurants that ARE filling their seats are doing so with 2-for-1 specials, which have become quite popular. In fact, in some restaurants, getting two meals for the price of one starts competing favorably with the price of eating at home. This isn’t an indicator that the economy is good, it’s an indicator that restaurants are struggling and consumers are more aware of coupons and specials.
Steele — you might want to take a look at the entire elephant. Even though that might shatter your precious paradigm.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pmp.s.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pmI’m waiting for the (R)ushpublickin liquidation sale.
The 5th major chain store in our small city went out of business today. There are empty stores (large and small) all over town. Six restaurants (that I know of) have closed. The traffic which has been a problem for 20 years is no longer a problem. Michael Steele is a JOKE. How did he ever get elected Lt. Governor in Maryland…much less the head of the RNC?
April 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pmThere’s a huge mall close to where I live. Over Christmas several of the stores were going out of business, and the anchor store was closing. Virgin Megastore, when Virgin goes out of business you know the economys in trouble. I haven’t gone back since.
There’s another plaza neasrby that’s 50% closed. A Home Depo closed not too far away. Restaurants have closed all over, Linens and Things, Toys are US etc…
It’s everywhere, these republicans are so misinformed. And I live in CA where the economy “supposedly” hasn’t been hit as hard as other places in the US.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:26 pmThe Ctenocephalides Dogfather Says:
I was in a Northern Virginia mall recently and I too noticed that the crowds had thinned a little but not much. But more importantly — few people in the mall were carrying store bags.
April 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
__________
Yeah – mostly they’re carrying job applications.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pmMy nearby mall has allowed several dollar stores to occupy some empty retail space. Now there are 4……. canned spam and Slim Jims mmmmmmmm…… fancy livin’
April 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pm‘The Malls Are Just As Packed On Saturday’ As They Were Before
Unfortunately mall traffic isn’t an official measure of the economy’s performance. For the main measure of economic activity, please check out 2008’s fourth quarter RGDP, which fell 6.3% on an annualized basis, Mr. Steele.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pmI wonder if Steele or his caller ever saw the movie “Dawn of the Dead”, with the flesh eating zombies trying to break into the mall to eat people.
Bet they thought it was a long Chamber of Commerece commercial or something:
STEELE: Wow, that mall must have some great restaurants! Look at those hungry people trying to get in!
CALLER: Exactly! And those liberals are trying to say people don’t have money to spend! Just look at those crowds!
STEELE: And how about that guy missing half his head, still walking and demanding food! A testament to our great healthcare system!
April 10th, 2009 at 3:32 pm.
It’s official diagnosis is:
Head-N-a$$ syndrome.
.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pmYes, fewer people in the mall carrying bags here in
San Jose, CA too. And even those who were carrying
bags were carrying just one or two small bags as
opposed to a half-dozen large ones..
And I have gone to Home Depot at all times of the day anbd all days of the week. It has never been as deserted as
April 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pmit has been these past few months..
Besides Barack Obama, Michael Steele is the Dems best weapon.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
April 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pmSorry. The 6.3% annualized rate drop in RGDP means total output and therefore, income is shrinking – fast, Mr. Steele. Combined with the 8.5% official unemployment rate, and 15.6% underemployment rate, this means the economy is falling off a cliff and working people are hurting badly. Even Glenn Beck knows the latter numbers! Geez!
April 10th, 2009 at 3:35 pmSteele sounds as if his one time son-in-law, Iron Mike Tyson, battered his brains to mush.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:41 pmWhat’s a mall?
April 10th, 2009 at 3:41 pmThere was a mall in my home town that practically closed down in 1999, the only places able to operate being a Kmart, a clothing store, and a pizza joint.
Except for the pizza joint closing down, it hasn’t changed in ten years. TEN YEARS. No one’s taken shops there, and no one has deconstructed the area. It’s so pitiful.
Go ahead and tell me again, Mr. Steele, that American malls are still crowded. I dare you.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:42 pmMikey must have stayed at Holiday Inn Express last night after getting stupid drunk on a bottle of cheap wine.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:43 pmHow can a featured comment be picked before I’ve had a chance to post?
April 10th, 2009 at 3:44 pmSteele allowed his spawn to marry Mike Tyson?
Nuff said.
He is an idiot.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:47 pmGood gawd, what a colossal asshat.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:52 pmAmerica the Proud, people still hang out in malls? We are seriously considering turning the mall in my town into a parking lot. Better use of space.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:56 pmJust like the rest of the GOP – Steele lives in Denile USA
April 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pmand really believes what he is saying.
In the vast world of suburban sprawl (in which I happened to grow up), about the only place with any kind of civic open space where people actually walk around and congregate is the local shopping mall. In fact, for all of the times I have been in shopping malls, I can honestly and accurately state that I have made purchases only 1/3 of the time. My recently-retired parents walk in their local shopping mall several times — perhaps a dozen — each week without making any purchases, and they are not alone. I think it’s even safe to say that MOST Americans drive to a shopping mall, walk around, and leave without making a purchase with some frequency.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:01 pmAnd once again the GOP reminds us why they are a small cult, dressed up like a legitimate political party.
The funadamentals of the economy are strong! Yeah, right.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:08 pmI’m really confused here.
Until Jan 20th, all the repubs proclaimed that the economy is sound. Jan 21st, many began proclaiming that it had gone to hell.
Now Steele saying it is doing good – wouldn’t that be in praise of the President who presided over the last 5 weeks of recovery ? Hint. Hint.
Yet my representative (Lutkemeyer R-MO) is going around saying the economy is in terrible shape and getting worse. So wouldn’t the fall of the Dow for the last 1 1/2 years be in criticism of the then, sitting president ?
April 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pmobviously, steele doesn’t read The Week. Their article last week entitled The Vanishing Shopping Mall was insightful, interesting, and a little sad.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:27 pmYeah, Mr Steele, when you loose your job, I’ll be the one who is laughing.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:32 pmMr. Steele must not get around very much. Maybe he only goes to malls in Washington D.C. Why not come to Phoenix, Arizona where there is one of the highest foreclosure rates in the Unites States. I was born here. I’ve shopped here for years and this Christmas, all the malls I regularly go to were nearly empty during the day. And now, the stores themselves are gone.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pmOne after another. How do you say, “Out of touch?”
I think Mr. Steele had better take a cue from our new President who said that before he opens his mouth, “I like to get the facts!”
FOXNEWSBOYCOTT
April 10th, 2009 at 4:39 pmHaving a tough time getting any traction it seems. Maybe try being less moronic…
I guess steeley damn didn’t see the thousands of folks vying for a few jobs just a couple of week ago in his own damn state?
April 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pmFlag the spamming troll!
April 10th, 2009 at 4:57 pmEven kiosks are closing you idiot.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:58 pmZimzone Says:
Boss Hog told him it’s all cool, man.
‘You be da man’!
btw, which part of Michael is Steele?
His thick skull.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:02 pmI go to the mall weekly, too, but I don’t buy anything. The weather is still cold, so I go there to walk, and as I do so, I note the number of stores that have closed.
April 10th, 2009 at 5:09 pmPeople wander around malls because there are other people there. They are all that’s left of most communities. The only thing resembling a town square in most places now. Other people, lights and noise; beats sitting at home and weeping like Glenn Beck.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:20 pmUh, story on CNN this afternoon (Isn’t one of the marks of a leader, the ability to see things clearly ?)
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/10/news/economy/retail_malls/index.htm?cnn=yes
Malls shedding stores at record pace
Vacancy rates at strip malls, neighborhood markets and community centers accelerate as retailers confront spending slump, industry report says.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Strip malls, neighborhood centers and regional malls are losing stores at the fastest pace in at least a decade, as a spending slump forces retailers to trim down to stay afloat, according to a real estate industry report.
etc. etc. etc.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:21 pmYes, that’s a wonderful strategy. He is essentially suggesting that we use anecdotal data to determine national economic policy.
Moron!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:23 pmSteele is a RepubliCon stooge!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:55 pmIm sure he was joking. Libs lighten up
April 10th, 2009 at 8:14 pmJeff, conservative dude, get a clue.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:28 pmjeff2001 Says:
Im sure he was joking. Libs lighten up
Laughter can get you so far through a crisis, but there is a fine line between laughing at a court jester and laughing during your own execution.
Michael Steele could have done the public a favor by telling this caller that one data point does not make a study. Instead, he proved that he has nothing to add to the subject by laughing with him.
Michael Steele will be nothing BUT a radio host by the time the Republican Party looks for someone to take the fall.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:42 pmjeff2001 Says:
I’m sure you are a moron. BITE ME
April 10th, 2009 at 9:09 pmI look at my local “mall”, there are few people there. I see the hillside outside my window that was covered in trees 3 years ago, denuded for the housing boom in 2006, but there are has no houses, only ban owned lots. I see the house across the street in foreclosure – the first one in our neighborhood ever. We went for our annual vacation last month, the poolside chairs were empty. (We went because we paid for it last year. Next year it won’t happen, I think.) I see “Joe’s”, which was GI Joe’s when I was a kid, being liquidated today after over 50 years in business.
Michael Steele was appointed head of the RNC because he is a perfect example what they stand for. Lying liars and thieves.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pmSteele is apparently out of touch with what’s happening in the country. For that matter, so is the RNC. This is the party that ran the country for 8 years; out of touch, wrong priorities and a eschewed set of “American values”. This party is the party of Fascists!
April 10th, 2009 at 10:08 pm65. Labman,
I’m afraid that isn’t original with Steele. It was strongly used in the Bush years. ;-(
Cheers.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:36 pmTypical of steele and repugs to be out of touch with reality, and thanfuly out of office.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:02 pmSan Rafael, California is located 20 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge along U.S. Highway 101. With a population of approximately 50,000, it retains the flavor of a small town without sacrificing any of the amenities you’ll find in the most sophisticated of communities.
Nearly every week for the last six months, as I drive along “Mainstreet” on my way to work, I’ve noticed a new storefront that has become vacant. These are not the vacant addresses that once housed “Old Navy” or “The House of Knives;” and 4th Avenue is not a strip mall. These were shops and boutiques that operated and prospered for the last 20 or more years by catering to the desires and whims of what had been one of the most prosperous lists of clients you’ll find anywhere in the nation. But ever since the mask was removed from bush’s depression last summer, many of these privileged professionals are finding themselves squeezed financially in the same wringer as the rest of the middle class across the nation, and one by one these shops are falling by the wayside.
San Rafael, CA is a long way from Flint, Michigan, the town where I grew up. Now, Flint was never a place that you would mistake as being a center of sophisticated culture. It had always been a blue-collar town. But in its own way, it had once been a pretty prosperous place.
Flint was probably the first urban center in America to feel the crunch created by the theories so-called “conservatives” love to espouse. Based on lies, these theories have held center stage on the American political scene for the last 30 years. You could say that Flint had been America’s canary in a cage, because that town began dying in the 1980’s.
Type the words “Flint Michigan” into your browser or into the search bar over at You Tube. Take a look at what conservatism has done to America.
Outsourcing, free trade, de-regulation; these and other policies have decimated the industrial base that had been our nation’s backbone. In the wake of these policies, community after community has been pushed over the brink of the same slippery slope as Flint, Michigan was abandoned to.
Michael Steele’s words prove he remains as ignorant of where America stands today as john mCcain was during his failed presidential bid. Steele’s words are as irrelevant as is the republican party. The trouble is, that leaves America with only one other political party to choose from. And from the looks of it, they have been cowed for so long into such a submissive role to the masters of corporate Amerika that I can’t see how we’ll ever be able to emerge from the wreckage they’ve left behind.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:13 pmCar dealerships, both foreign and domestic with at least one third less cars on their lots, store fronts outside of and within the malls closing or empty, foreclosed townhomes, condos and houses stand unoccupied where I live. Naw, there is no recession to speak of. Riiiiight! Mr. Steele, get a grip and open your eyes, or go see your optmetrist to take the rose colored tint off your glasses.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:13 amOK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
April 18th, 2009 at 5:40 amsac ekimi