"Cyber Monday" Expected To Draw Virtual Crowds

Anti-Globalism writes with this excerpt from PCWorld: "Last year, consumers spent $733 million on Cyber Monday, and it's expected to be even bigger this year. According to a survey by online shopping site Shopzilla for the National Retail Federation's Shop.org, nearly 84 percent of online retailers plan to have a Cyber Monday promotion on December 1. That's up from just 72 percent last year and zero percent in 2005, says Shop.org executive director Scott Silverman."

Comments

Who can afford it?

[elrous0]

I just got a pay cut at work, I may even lose my job if things don't turn around, and my mortgage is now worth more than my house. Not really in a spending mood right now.

Re:Who can afford it?

[p3n1x420]

come on now, stimulate the economy, spent big, spend with plastic! its not like everybody can afford all this junk as it is. some yes, but the majority im willing to bet are digging their holes deeper and deeper.

Re:Who can afford it?

[CRCulver]

Not really in a spending mood right now.

Why do you hate freedom?

Re:Who can afford it?

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

I sense a Soviet Russia joke somewhere in here but I can't afford to hire a slashdotter to figure it out. Sad day...

Re:Who can afford it?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, economy stimulates YOU!

Re:Who can afford it?

[Zekasu]

It's ironic, what with the U.S. economy and global economy both being in a large recession.

Although, I thought the same thing as you. I honestly thought he was serious.

Re:Who can afford it?

[whoda]

I'm still trying to figure out how all these people got the idea that it was God's given right to owe less on your mortgage than the house is worth.

Re:Who can afford it?

[ROMRIX]

I just got a pay cut at work, I may even lose my job if things don't turn around, and my mortgage is now worth more than my house. Not really in a spending mood right now.

You should move to Oklahoma, 4% unemployment, houses maintaining their value and I just got a $200 a month raise. My house is currently worth about $40,000 more than I paid for it in 2003.
So to answer your question, I can.

Re:Who can afford it?

[barzok]

You mean the Soviet Russian economy is based upon nudie bars?

Re:Who can afford it?

[citizenr]

I just got a pay cut at work, I may even lose my job if things don't turn around, and my mortgage is now worth more than my house. Not really in a spending mood right now.

better spend now what you have left than wait half a year untill dollar tanks BIG TIME (FED is printing money out of thin air, whole 7 trillions)

Re:Who can afford it?

[Paradise Pete]

I'm still trying to figure out how all these people got the idea that it was God's given right to owe less on your mortgage than the house is worth.

Wouldn't that be a good thing?

Re:Who can afford it?

[elrous0]

Yeah, but on the downside, you have to live in Oklahoma.

Re:Who can afford it?

[elrous0]

Ha, I *wish* I was joking. Sadly, no.

Re:Who can afford it?

[BigZaphod]

Well at least it isn't Iowa. Wait.. *I* live in Iowa! Dammit!

Re:Who can afford it?

[v1]

well one would hope that, at least after a few years, that would become true. Problem for some people is, they achieved that goal, and then lost it. That's a bit depressing.

I know two people that lost new cars in the floods here, that didn't have insurance to cover flood damage. So they got another new car, and rolled their old car payments into the new. So they're driving around cars that are worth significantly less than their loan.

Re:Who can afford it?

[elashish14]

Not really in a spending mood right now.

This is called depression my friend

Re:Who can afford it?

[Sporkinum]

I was a dumbshit and made double payments on my house and paid it off this year in 11 years total. I should have let my rich uncle "Sam" pay it off for me. I also paid off my credit cards too. All a few months before the economy tanked. BTW.. its called living within your means.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Amazing Quantum Man]

I mean, even Captain Kirk went to Outer Space to get away from Iowa!

Re:Who can afford it?

[daVinci1980]

Actually, it's largely irrelevant what the actual value of your house is, so long as any of the following are true:

1) You're not selling your house.
2) You're selling your house to move into another house (ie, you're not leaving the housing market)
3) Your house hasn't performed worse than the market at large.

If you buy a house for a million dollars, then then market tanks by 90%, and your house is now worth $100K, then all of the other million dollar houses are also just $100K, now. You will be able to buy an equivalent house with the $100K you can get out of your old house.

The real value of housing only matters to you if you decide to leave the market.

Of course, it freaks people out anyways.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Pulzar]

I think you missed one obvious item for which the absolute value of the house matters (a lot) -- the mortgage. If you owe more than your house is worth, than you don't have a collateral for the mortgage loan, and you need to either pay up or lose the house.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Nethead]

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." -Kristoferson

Re:Who can afford it?

[Tony Hoyle]

Just keep paying it, and you'll be fine.

When you're in that situation you have the bank by the balls - the worst they can do is take your house.. then they won't get the value of the loan back (or even decent amount of it, since sale by auction normally goes for far less than market value). Or they can encourage you to keep paying and get the whole value back plus interest.

If you do get into difficulties they'll bend over backwards to help.. payment holidays, reduced payments, etc. because of this - banks are in the business of making money not flushing it down the toilet.

Re:Who can afford it?

[whoda]

Whatever, it was all over the news here last week.
"I owe more than my house is worth, dear Mr. Government, please make the banks re-value my mortgage."
LOL

Re:Who can afford it?

[yabos]

So you can sell your $1 million house for 100K, buy an equivalent house for 100K but still owe $1 million. That's good HOW exactly?

Re:Who can afford it?

[rubycodez]

no, but the post-soviet Russian mafia one includes those

Re:Who can afford it?

[warsql]

You now live in a house that you prefer over a house that you once valued at $1 million. If you haven't paid for it yet, then you still owe $1 million for it. That's bad HOW exactly?

Re:Who can afford it?

[blackmonday]

my mortgage is now worth more than my house

I don't understand the exact problem with this. Most people go out and buy cars with a 10 or 20 percent down, and they're "underwater" as soon as they drive off the lot. As you make your regular payments, the amount you're underwater gets overcome, over time. It may d=sound hard to believe, but everything will eventually recover a few years down the road. I'm an optimist, mostly because I've been living within my means and renting for the last 10 years.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Atario]

I'm not aware of any homeowners in trouble getting bailed out -- only large corporations. Do you know something we don't?

Also, I bet you'll be the first to complain that there are suddenly so many dirty filthy worthless homeless people crowding the streets and getting in the way of your evening stroll after the thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of families simply go under because they deserve to suffer.

Re:Who can afford it?

[OldHawk777]

Equating Freedom with spending is always a joke on US! Ask any corporatist, politician, cleric... they will lie, which means it is a real joke "on US" to them.

Re:Who can afford it?

[evilviper]

I just got a pay cut at work, I may even lose my job if things don't turn around,

Meanwhile, I just got a new job, paying quite a bit more than I was previously earning.

and my mortgage is now worth more than my house. Not really in a spending mood right now.

I thought it was painfully obviously that the housing market was running away uncontrolled, and vastly over-valued, and so sold my home for 3X what I'd paid for it about 10 years earlier, and moved into a cheap apartment for a while.

And now, gas prices are the lowest they've been in 5+ years. Consumer spending is much lower (mainly due to completely intangible and borderline irrational reasons, like fear), and companies are scared to death of missing their sales forecasts, so prices are getting lower every day. Trucks/Vans/SUVs are available for next to nothing due to previously high gas prices. Several banks are desperate for cash, and offering stunningly high interest rates (relative to other banks--still historically *low* interest rates). Road traffic is the lightest it has been in perhaps 10 years. etc. etc.

I'd say it's a GREAT time for those of us who were even slightly smart, saved money, etc., etc.

And don't say you "couldn't have known." We all saw the same thing happen circa 2001 after the dot.com bust. And in any case, it's just simple rational decision making to be careful with money, rather than risking bankruptcy if the economy should go the wrong way (mortgages are quite a long-term proposition, after all).

Re:Who can afford it?

[jaunty]

Hey, to paraphrase a famous politician, "If you're not with us (and our spending habits), then you're against us (you terrorist)".

Re:Who can afford it?

[gruntled]

Hmmm. So, 20 years ago, I save up $40,000 as a down payment to buy a $200,000.00 house, instantly giving me 20 percent equity in the house. I make my mortgage payments over the next two decades, and today I have $120,000 worth of equity in the house, meaning I only owe the bank another $80K. But now I've lost my job, and the only other job I can get is in another state. I try to sell my house, and to my horror, it's only worth $70,000, because of all the morons around me with their crazy, no money down, interest only payment mortgages that they couldn't afford to pay when the rate reset. Not only have I lost my downpayment, and all the equity, but even if I manage to find someone to buy my house from me at $70K, I'm STILL going to owe the bank $10K on a house I don't own. Well, I don't have any choice, since I have to sell because I have to get to my new job, so I do that.

And then I move to my new town, and I put a down payment down on any one of the many other houses whose values have also declined in lockstep with mine...how, exactly? All my cash is gone, evaporated. You can't get a no-money down mortgage any more. Unless you've got a secret stash with $20K in cash lying around (and even if you do, remember you still owe $10K on your old mortgage) you won't be able to get a mortgage.

Re:Who can afford it?

[gruntled]

The difference is that if you lose your job and have to leave town to find a new one, you can take your overpriced car with you...

Re:Who can afford it?

[gruntled]

Yeah, it's great time unless the company you're working for now suddenly goes belly up, and it takes you a year to get your next position. Unless you're more than seventy years old, you have no personal experience with the economic dislocation thats on the horizon. I'm in exactly the same position as you: Highly valued with my employer, no debt, and the house we bought (using a fixed mortgage and a 30 percent down payment) from a guy desperate to unload it two years ago has increased in value since we paid so little for it. We've done everything right and we are still worried. If you're not worried, I think you don't understand how an economic tsunami crashing into your life can wash away everything you worked for.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Mr. Slippery]

I'm still trying to figure out how all these people got the idea that it was God's given right to owe less on your mortgage than the house is worth.

You do have a right to an accurate and honest assessment of what your home is worth. Anything else is fraud - I presume we agree that fraud is a violation of a person's rights. (Booting for the moment the question of whether these rights are bestowed by supernatural fiat, by deep psychology, or by human need.)

Some lenders conspired to get false assessments to justify huge loans. Federal and state regulators who were supposed to stop this were lax.

A lot - not all, of course, but a lot - of people who now have "upside-down" mortgages were victims of this sort of fraud.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Lost Engineer]

By your standard I am homeless because I don't own a house.

Re:Who can afford it?

[Dave Tucker Online]

My elected representatives have assured me that spending without any thought as to how I will pay it back is a wise course of action.

Just Hype

[victim]

Cyber Monday is just marketing hype. The peak shopping days come later. The goal is to have a recognizable name that people will google up and read their customers' ads. I suppose they owe a big thank you to Soulskill for getting their message out.

Maybe we can have a slashdot article for Sears' next "White Sale".

Re:Just Hype

[Troy]

It's a great example of belief creating reality, however. If people believe that the Monday after Thanksgiving is the biggest online shopping day of the year, then retailers are going to start offering "Cyber Monday Specials." This, in turn, will drive more people to shop that day. Rinse and repeat.

From a marketing point of view, it is actually quite clever.

Re:Just Hype

[Mathiasdm]

Funny thing being: it's posted by Anti-Globalism.

Re:Just Hype

[MajGeek]

The entire "holiday season" is marketing hype. I'm sorry, but seeing snowflakes and Santa in store windows before Halloween makes me want to move to a hut in the mountains or something.

Businesses do seem to be trying to reach out to online shoppers, though, the same way the brick-and-mortar stores do on Black Friday. They even have a website with hourly specials to entice reluctant people to pull out the plastic: http://www.cybermonday.com/

Marketing hype that at least acknowledges and even actively courts tech-literate people who don't visit "the maul" isn't all a bad thing.

Re:Just Hype

[Jeff DeMaagd]

That sort of manipulation is quite common. Just a couple examples:

Thanksgiving was moved up a week so to add another week to the Christmas shopping season, at the request of retailers. I think Thanksgiving also used to be celebrated on Friday. "Black Friday" may well have been one of those manufactured events. As it is, it really isn't the biggest shopping day of the year, I think the Friday and Saturday before Christmas is even bigger.

The tradition of using diamonds for engagement rings and such is pretty new, a "tradition" that is only about a hundred years old or so, manufactured by a DeBeers marketing campaign.

Re:Just Hype

[(H)elix1]

And from the consumer perspective, there will be deals to be had. Because deals are expected, deals must be put out there. If one of the web based stores does not bother to put out some e-Monday loss leaders, there is a good chance they will get ignored. The web communities I'm involved with do an amazing amount of sifting the wheat from the chaff - retail or online.

Unlike the folks to camped Best Buy for half a day or more, I can log in and snag the loss leaders the web based stores are pushing. Since the press and marketing is hyping the e-Monday, I'll look over the loss leaders they are trying to pitch - and selectivity pick stuff up. Mind you, I've got an idea what a 'normal' deal is already - so if it is not a huge savings, I won't mess with it. They still have to convince people to fill their shopping baskets. Some will. Just saying it is worth a quick scan of what the vendors are putting out there Monday. For both black Friday and eMonday, many sets of eyes are looking for angles.

Re:Just Hype

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I was partly incorrect. I was wrong about Thursday. But if you look at the wiki link you provided, FDR did move up Thanksgiving one week to give retailers a longer shopping season:

With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas.

Re:Just Hype

[billcopc]

Yep you said it. Just because a shop is participating in a "Cyber Monday promotion" doesn't mean much. They could throw up a banner that says "Welcome to Cyber Monday - regular prices still apply SUCKERS!" and well, technically they're participating.

In no way does it require or even imply any sort of incentive for shoppers to buy on that particular day.

Re:Just Hype

[darth dickinson]

*Ahem*

From your link:

Although many popular histories state otherwise, he made clear that his plan was to establish it on the next-to-last Thursday in the month instead of the last one. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought an earlier Thanksgiving would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would help bring the country out of the Depression. At the time, advertising goods for Christmas before Thanksgiving was considered inappropriate.

Re:Just Hype

[nabsltd]

I was partly incorrect. I was wrong about Thursday. But if you look at the wiki link you provided, FDR did move up Thanksgiving one week to give retailers a longer shopping season

The actual effect of moving Thanksgiving from the last Thursday to the fourth Thursday in November isn't really that much.

Only two years out of every seven have a November with 5 Thursdays, so 71% of the time there is no difference between "the 4th Thursday" and "the last Thursday".

Re:Just Hype

[Tony Hoyle]

Heh. Who said you can't learn something on Slashdot. I'd always thought it was always the 25th november.. didn't know they actually moved it around, like easter.

That said "Cyber Monday" is a completely new one on me... is that when you're all supposed to start cybering with each other?

Re:Just Hype

[Tony Hoyle]

The usual trick is something like 'Up to 90% off'. The 'up to' bit meaning some piece of crap that hasn't sold all year is 90% off, everything else is at or near full price.

Re:Just Hype

[warsql]

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=biggest+shopping+day+of+the+year

Re:Just Hype

[warsql]

You are correct, it is easier to pick up a single item from multiple sites online versus brick and mortar. The smart online sites will bundle up and save on shipping costs to convince you to fill up the cart.

Re:Just Hype

[Gilmoure]

Got married the day after Thanksgiving (family was already together). Anyways, make it's real easy to remember anniversary; it's always Black Friday. Don't have to remember some random number. Cool!

Re:Just Hype

[timeOday]

If marketers wanted to create an event, they should have created"Cyber Sunday" instead, because that's when people are home and have time to shop online. Perhaps "Cyber Monday" is a throwback to days when people "surfed the web" at work because they didn't have decent connections at home.

Re:Just Hype

[penguin king]

You know what's worse...?
It's seeing snowflakes and Santa's in sleighs with reindeers in store windows that early... when you live in the southern hemisphere...
It's summer... when will we catch up?

Re:Just Hype

[tehcyder]

That said "Cyber Monday" is a completely new one on me... is that when you're all supposed to start cybering with each other?

A/S/L?

Cyber monday is fake.

[Anonymous Coward]

Really guys. Don't the editors screen this crap at all?

I, for one,

[Chysn]

expect to get virtually trampled.

Re:I, for one,

[Zathain Sicarius]

The ugly side of the slashdot effect.
Let us have a preemptive moment of silence the Cyber Monday victims and all those servers we will overload.

Re:I, for one,

[Khan]

..or at the very least you'll get DDoS'd from the people that can't just click the sale button only once ;-)

Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[movercast]

Cyber Monday? Is there any proof that people spend more money on this day then any other? Show me the correlation coefficients of money spent online vs day of the year and then we'll talk.

Re:Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[thermian]

Cyber Monday? Is there any proof that people spend more money on this day then any other? Show me the correlation coefficients of money spent online vs day of the year and then we'll talk.

Its just marketing hype, fairly obviously so. They want/desperately need to create new 'big shopping days' now that peoples buying habits are changing.

Re:Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[LoverOfJoy]

The article doesn't claim otherwise. It states that "Silverman's organization actually invented Cyber Monday in late 2005 as a gimmick to jump-start online sales in the holiday season. The media soon hyped it, and while it's not the biggest online shopping day of the year, it has certainly caught on among e-tailers."

In the article, a TigerDirect rep claims that at least for them, "Cyber Monday was the biggest day of the year for us last year--bigger than Black Friday,"

I always thought the biggest day for brick and mortar stores, at least, was much closer to Christmas.

Re:Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[thermian]

Can we please kill the word "e-tailer"? Bury it next to the absurdly-overused "meme". And "mashup".

Don't you mean iKill it? or eCancel?

Re:Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[mblase]

Imagine you were anxious to go out on Black Friday and buy some toys, electronics, etc. on the cheap. Then you get to the stores too late, and everything you wanted to get cheap is gone. Now what?

Answer: you go online and buy it instead, because it's still cheaper than shopping every chain store in town.

Of course, "Cyber Monday" made more sense in the years when most shoppers had little or no internet access at home. Nowadays the "Cyber Monday" shoppers are just as likely to start their online shopping from home on Saturday or Sunday, if not by Friday afternoon.

Re:Seriously, who makes up this crap?

[ascari]

Shop.org makes up this crap. Says so in the article.

Cyber Monday?

[DrClownius]

Cyber Monday?

I put on my robe and wizard hat

Re:Can we stop using the term "cyber"?

[Tubal-Cain]

I like to cyber-shop in cyberspace at Cyberguys.com

Quake Mod?

[Sponge Bath]

I think Cyber Monday would be more fun
if you had a Quake like interface to capture purchases
and kill your competitors (fellow shoppers).

"Announcing a PS3 special for $199 to a hardy victorious few."

Re:We are different

[drspliff]

Uh.... nice rant.

However, what has it got to do with more people shopping online on Monday?

I guess Amazon is closed on weekends?

[BigZaphod]

I had no idea I had to wait until Monday to start shopping online. I'm glad this Slashdot story showed up or else I might have just gone on buying stuff today and tomorrow and missed out on my chance to contribute to some meaningless statistics!

Re:I guess Amazon is closed on weekends?

[nevillethedevil]

Well said. I hereby declare this soditsaturday!

Re:I guess Amazon is closed on weekends?

[evilviper]

I had no idea I had to wait until Monday to start shopping online.

You don't have to wait to shop until "Cyber" Monday. None the less, many people DO.

You don't have to work Monday through Friday, either, but most people do that, too.

I might have just gone on buying stuff today and tomorrow and missed out on my chance to contribute to some meaningless statistics!

It's a perfectly valid statistic... It's the 3rd biggest online shopping day of the year.

It has meaning to many people. The fact that it doesn't to YOU doesn't mean it's meaningless.

Christmas and Thanksgiving aren't meaningless holidays, even if you don't happen to be Christian and/or American.

Atleast...

[SchizoStatic]

At least no one can get trampled to death in cyber space.

Cyber Monday for non-USA

[primus1024]

Wikipedia says:

The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas....

Origin of term

The term "Cyber Monday" is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation...

Re:Cyber Monday for non-USA

[Tony Hoyle]

Apparently apple are trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to introduce black friday to the UK. They've got an uphill struggle as it's just a normal working day and most people are busy saving up for christmas at the moment.

Re:Cyber Monday for non-USA

[tehcyder]

Apparently apple are trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to introduce black friday to the UK.

Shouldn't that be Shiny White Friday?

Re:Can we stop using the term "cyber"?

[Frosty Piss]

I always thought "cyber" always had to do with on-line sex?

HP + MS Live = failure

[Anonymous Coward]

Hope fully others can do better than HP and MS Live did yesterday. They had a total server melt down. Funny thing, the servers seemed to work fine once the 40% off was canceled.

Weird coincidence - who'd've thunk it?

[cranberryhiker]

From the article, "...Some 84 percent of online retailers will be holding major promotions..."

Interestingly, that is precisely the percentage of all statistics that are made up!

Re:Weird coincidence - who'd've thunk it?

[actionbastard]

It's actually 80% that is the magic value. Four out of five /. readers already know that.

Re:Can we stop using the term "cyber"?

[Kredal]

My robe and wizard hat.

So ...

[smoker2]

How many people will get trampled to death ?

assholes.

Re:Can we stop using the term "cyber"?

[nprz]

http://www.bash.org/?104383

bloodninja: Baby, I been havin a tough night so treat me nice aight?
BritneySpears14: Aight.
bloodninja: Slip out of those pants baby, yeah.
BritneySpears14: I slip out of my pants, just for you, bloodninja.
bloodninja: Oh yeah, aight. Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat.
...

Re:We are different

[Gaerek]

I agree, but I'm kinda wondering what $1 Trillion in public funds going to the people who 'fucked up' has to do with peeing in a cup. Somebody having a bad day? :(

NewEgg beat everyone

[mtmra70]

Newegg.com had their 'black Friday' last week. If you didn't get all your stuff from NewEgg, you didn't shop very well ;)

Re:NewEgg beat everyone

[mtmra70]

Their prices aren't high for mainstream stuff....shipping, yes, sort of.

I can't either.

[RulerOf]

I may not have a mortgage woe like you, but my employer keeps fscking up my paychecks, and I don't get paid til Tuesday ;)

and if you know whats good for you

[nimbius]

cyber monday will continue to draw crowds until weve outspent the recession

not trolling, just saying it seems like a farse. spending was only up 3% on black friday this year, and thats with some notably deep discounts. retailers are worried spending will slow to a crawl during the holidays, so theyre creating another reason to keep spending much the same way mothers day was invented by card companies. besides, isnt tech day everyday for slashdotters?

Re:So far, sales are down. Way down.

[klashn]

Those are some interesting facts. I like that you just put it all out there. I hope things work out for you. I haven't looked at your website, but I have never bought anything off Thinkgeek or any site similar to it; I typically don't waste my money on these little gadgets or geek toys.

Virtual shopping too crowded

[PPH]

Some fat lady beat me to the last space in the domain parking lot.

It might not be just for large companies anymore

[RudeIota]

Yes, I have heard about a plan to directly address home owners who cannot pay their mortgages. It may not be a 'bailout' in a sense, but I'll share what I know.

I only heard a blurb about it on the news a week ago or so, but I remember hearing something about $300 billion, more affordable loans and that it applies to those who have consecutively missed 3 or more mortgage payments and something about extending loans from 30 to 40 years in some cases, with lower interest. Eligibility supposedly depends on income in proportion to mortgage payments as well as some other fine print. I also remember hearing that people who HAVE been making timely payments but are still struggling are upset (obviously). And lastly, I don't know if it was a proposal or something that was actually passed, but maybe you can find more information about it -- if it peaks your interest.

I did a quick search, but couldn't find what I'm talking about, at least not apart from all the usual mortgage and bailout nonsense in the news. Otherwise I'd provide a link. I may be completely wrong too. ;)

Is it just me...

[kenh]

But isn't this just a contrived "media" event?

This reminds me of the College Basketball Tournement that is supposed to bring corporations to their knees as the final four basket ball games are being played - it never happens, yet every year broadcasters announce the impending Billion Dollar plus hit to our economy due to the college basketball season championship.

Stories from 2003 and 2007

What a load of rubbish...

No work, no fast, secure line for ecommerce

[deanston]

I can hear The Man chastising now: Perhaps it's because everybody was surfing and nobody was working that our economy-productivity-innovativity-earnings are down, eh? Kidding aside, I think the Market just demonstrated that in our economy value is entirely relative. Even if the ecommerce volume is up this year, the bottom line may not be enough come January.

+1 Enlightening

[KlaymenDK]

Thanks for a simple, easily-understood, and non-panicky explanation of why losing 900K may not (necessarily, at least) make much of a difference.

Re:Can we stop using the term "cyber"?

[g0at]

No kidding.

I didn't get the memo; what is it that's happening with robots on monday?

-b