Failing Home Ec

[jenk]

I got some chuckles from this article over things like...

When Best Buy announced its latest sales figures last month, the company reported “an unprecedented drop in consumer buying of items like flat-screen televisions,” said Ori Brafman, a business expert and an author [...] “But when Wal-Mart released its report last week, there was a surprise. Consumers had increased their flat-screen purchases.....

Then there's “people signing up for discount stores that sell in bulk and over-purchasing ‘bargains’ that are so enormous they will not live long enough to use the item,” and:

Last month, Terence Lance Buckley, a Manhattan public relations executive, spent $400 at Overstock.com on an electric fireplace, hoping to keep his thermostat off this winter. Mr. Buckley had just moved, and the rent on his new apartment includes electricity but not gas. He now has a beautiful fake fireplace and mantel, but the thing gives off barely enough heat to warm his hands. “Now I’m cranking up the thermostat to stay warm,” he said, “leading me to believe that my brilliant budget plan to save money on heating costs was a waste of $400, money that I could have put towards holiday gifts.”