NY mall tries cash handouts to stave off recession

[question everything]

NY mall tries cash handouts to stave off recession
Reuters

Fri Feb 22, 4:37 PM ET

A New York shopping mall is doing its part to stimulate the struggling U.S. economy by giving away $20,000 in cash to unsuspecting passers-by, hoping that handing out $50 bills will boost consumer confidence. People dressed as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty started handing out $1 bills around the borough of Queens earlier in the week, then began shelling out $50 bills at the Atlas Park shopping center on Friday.

Recipients are asked to spend or invest the money and told that if people have confidence in the economy it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The handouts will continue for two months until reaching $20,000, equivalent to $0.05 per square foot of retail space.

The mall owners say the private-sector effort will "supplement" the $168 billion stimulus package signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on February 13. Atlas Park owner Damon Hemmerdinger noted that tax rebates in the stimulus plan won't reach consumers for months.

(snip)

One economist, while acknowledging the giveaway may not have much impact on the $13 trillion U.S. economy, but said the gesture could boost consumer confidence. "It moves us in the right direction," said Frank Tinari, professor emeritus at Seton Hall University. "It's taking money out of savings or profits and pumping it back into the economy."

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080222/us_nm/usa_economy_stimulus_mall_dc

[lonestarnot]

1. bbbwwaaaa ah ah ha ha ha ha

:rofl:

[DS1]

2. wow

[Dr. Strange]

12. just wow

[NightWatcher]

3. that reaks of desperation

[RuleOfNah]

10. I'd say bad marketing.

However, the smell is so richly funny it is difficult to make out individual elements.

Desperate is when they start handing out bags of breathable air to random browsers. "But it increases their ability to be tempted. Breathing = potential sales!"

[dkf]

4. I guess this is how scared they are...

they will actually give away money.

I'm sorry but I find this scariest thing yet.

[AlCzervik]

5. "but said the gesture could boost consumer confidence" rofl.

:rofl:

[barb162]

6. I'm sure it boosts confidence for a few minutes and then reality hits again. n't

[CoffeeCat]

7. Holy buckets!

This is really bizarre.

Malls are really hurting. They were hurting before the economy started
tanking and the housing market started crashing.

I really look for malls do have some serious damage inflicted upon them.

People can shop for anything, within a few miles of their homes. They need
a reason to go to the mall. With prices much higher in the malls, people
just aren't going to be shopping there--as money becomes tighter. Why drive
out of your way, to be gouged--when gas prices are so high and money is tight?

Plus, you can shop on the Internet.

I suspect that many malls will go the way of the dinosaur. Some of this will
be due to economic conditions, but a lot of it is really a sign of the times.

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. I heard on NPR the other day that the mortgage crisis is starting to

move from the residential to the business sector -- IOW, those multi-million dollar malls and office parks were ALSO funded by speculation, and though it's taken a little longer for them to get hit, they are facing default on their payments, too.

I remember the end of the 80s, when the S&Ls crashed, all the empty strip malls that were built on speculated S&L money, sitting empty and crumbling in disrepair.

Reagan/Bush & BushCo looting the S&Ls then; BushCo, and the mortgage industry collapse (leading to bank failures?) now.

If only there had been somebody between the two who could have investigated the S&L disaster, and pinned it on the Bushes - keeping them from doing it again. Gee. If only...

[Generic Brad]

8. I'd take the money and run

All the way to the grocery store.

What a bunch of ass hats.

[caligirl]

9. bringing executive compensation down to earth might do more. Then real

middle class people could get a real paycheck to spend as they see fit.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. No kidding. A 4 million dollar CEO salary could be an extra

$5,000/yr for 800 employees (and other variations/divisions thereof). For a lot of CEOs, 4 mil is chickenfeed. But can you really live that much better on 4 mil/yr than on 1 mil/yr? A better compensated workforce is a secure, loyal workforce, which creates a better run, more efficient company.

What do they teach those MBAs, anyway?

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. Yeah. Savings are a BAD thing.

Sorry, I don't buy it. (Or much of anything else that I don't need. I'm a LOUSY consumer.)

[KatyaR]

15. $20,000 is going to save our economy?

In increments of $1 to $50? Are they KIDDING?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

What a bunch of idiots. And Professor Tinari is the biggest one of all of them. :banghead:

[Canuckistanian]

16. I'd hate to have that gig

Handing out $50 bills in NY?

It practically screams, "beat me up and take my money".