Free Republic

Tight budgets, bargain hunting change consumer habits... It's Christmas 2012, and economic conditions have ushered in big changes in shopping habits. The problem, one retail expert said, is consumers' recent loss of income, personal wealth and jobs. "Eighty percent of Americans have lost 40 percent of their net worth since Obama has been president," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail consulting and investment banking firm headquartered in New York City. "Median family income is down 10 percent. Unemployment and underemployment is at 14 percent. And if we grow at 2 percent, we can't gain...

the poor turnaround that Ron Johnson has engineered at JCPenney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP). Our take is that this is the beginning of the end and is a prelude to Ron Johnson's termination. Shares have gone from $60 five years ago to under $25 again, and the 52-week range is $19.06 to $43.18. Johnson has been on the job now for just under a year ... Perhaps chimpanzees could have done as well. Howard Davidowitz, of the retail consulting firm Davidowitz & Associates, said on Bloomberg TV that Ron Johnson will "be a goner" in another nine months if this...

In his own inimitable style, Davidowitz explains why the consumer is in "terrible shape" and why "it's going to get worse," citing the following: Crushing Debt Load: Consumer debt is 117% of disposable income. Help Not Wanted: Even November's "strong" report included more people dropping out of the labor pool (315,000) vs. those who found work (278,000), according to the Labor Department's household survey. Reverse Wealth Effect: Household net worth fell 4% in the third quarter, a drop of $2.4 trillion, according to the Fed. That's the biggest drop since 2008 and would be hard to overcome even if wages...

Tech Ticker conducted hundreds of interviews this year with dozens of guests on numerous topics. But one guest consistently garnered massive amounts of excitement and (for the most part) positive reaction from you, the audience. Without question, Howard Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates is the audience's favorite guest of the year. Davidowitz is a straight shooter who always tells it like he sees it. Whether it's his bearish predictions on the economy or his criticism of the government's bailouts, Davidowitz is always an impassioned observer. His 'end of the world' forecasts haven't exactly panned out, but what he lacks in...

Many economists draw comparisons between the United States now and Japan in 1990. For those who aren't familiar with Japan's recent economic history, this is not a good thing. Japan's stock market peaked in 1989 at about 40,000. It now trades around a quarter of that level, or 10,000. GDP, meanwhile, has barely grown at all. Economists used to refer to Japan's malaise as "a lost decade." Now they're saying "lost decades." Our guest Howard Davidowitz sees a similarly horrific future in store for the U.S. He calls America's current path, rich in deficit spending and weak in currency a...