Almost every morning without fail there is a
report on the news about consumer confidence
being at the lowest point in years, and one
report I heard said it was the lowest since
the statistic started being kept.
How does that old saying go?
"There are lies, damn lies, and statistics."
I've been working steadily since all this topsy
turvy stuff started happening a few weeks ago,
and no one I talk too has slowed down there
business or buying habits. The agency has
been booking more ads, not less, and we're
booking them for longer periods, say six months
instead of three.
Two weeks ago I attended a sold out football
game in Tampa, and there was a soldout
baseball game in St Pete the same night. A
single beer was 8 bucks, and there were guys
and gals drinking them down at a good pace all
night.
Sunday I had to go with my wife to the mall, and
the place was jammed. You would have thought
Christmas was in a day or two, not weeks away.
So where are all the people who being affected,
where is the epicenter of all this doom and gloom?
Well, its in two places. Washington D.C., and
New York. And guess what's there folks?
Major media, who rarely ever leave the Washington
to Boston corridor. They sit in their plush offices and
pontificate on the "people." They purport to know
what's going on, but they very rarely leave their
desinated squats, or talk to anyone who isn't at least
an equal.(in their eyes anyway)
In other words, the closest they've ever been to an
Indian is Cleveland.
It's all theory and no substance.
In my favorite diner the other morning I asked a
couple of guys who have been around a bit,
(They're in their 80's), what all the doom and
gloom was about.
"Beat's me," said Tommy, a retired electrician.
"I stopped watching television years ago."
His buddy Bill, a retired salesman, said this: "It's
always been that way with the press. Go back
and read what they were saying during World War
II and Korea. The sky was falling then too. The
thing is, I had a family to take of. I never had time
to pay any attention to what they said. I remember
back in the 70's they were saying that no one was
buying, and if I'd have listened to any of that
malarkey we would have starved. Somedays it was
tough, sure, but I never went home without a sale.
I remember knocking on peoples doors when it was
dark, and I was tired, but somebody was always
ready to buy. These guys in the press today are
just like they were years ago...soft. Soft...hell if you
hit them they wouldn't get up."
I'm betting that both of these guys could still do
their old jobs today, and test the mettle of many a
young man.
They're not wimps, whiners, or complainers.
You need an Ivy League degree for that.
From the big saddle,
Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board
P.S. Ain't no stinkin Ivy Leaguers here!
thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124
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