TV sales = Consumer confidence

Believe it or not, but the largest segment of the electronics industry is…TV sales. It is not too surprising. America has placed its chips all in with the television and the broadcast apparatus–the networks, cable providers, etc.–since the advent of mass television watching in the 1950s. And as we are facing the first holiday season of what many economists and other experts consider to be at least a 14-month long recession, many are looking towards TV sales as a sign of the recession’s effect on the “real economy.” (I actually do know what this means, but really, what the EFF does this term mean?) All the retailers are slashing prices like crazy, so if you have some cash to spare, it may be good time to start shopping for a TV. I should be telling myself this but really, I kind of like the small TV that I stole from Mike Shamoon after college. 

But one thing that the NY Times article from which I’m drawing mentions in passing which I think may be something worth looking at is whether there is an unintended consequence of the terrible recession that will help retailers. What if people opt for some sort of “retail therapy”? In this instance, won’t many of them be attracted to the slashed prices of flat-panel TVs, since it is clearly the MOST displayed item in the stores this season? In that case, we may actually see TV sales go up, in spite of very low consumer confidence.

X-posted at Human Potential.