Ok, I don't believe this. Bloomberg news leaked internal memos allegedly from Walmart saying that February sales are the worst ever and they are trying to pin it on the payroll tax hike. This sounds like phony journalism to me.
I went to Target today (as I do try to avoid Walmart like the plague, but it is not always possible). I bought a couple of things, but I was prepared to buy more stuff, but it looks like a lot of their supply of certain things, especially toys hasn't been replenished since December.
How can consumers buy anything if there is nothing on the shelves? Walmart's issue may be not meeting demand with enough supply or they have run out of supply particularly for the items that people want to buy. Retailers anticipate slower sales and do not bother to restock too many items and sales slow down because shelves are empty not because there is a lack of people able or willing to spend money.
There is also a possibility that Walmart executives want to short-sell their stock, so they leak a couple of memos and a month or two later they will buy their stock back shortly before they announce that they had record profits in the first quarter of 2013.
Whatever the case may be, I don't like it. It looks like the wealthy are trying to use the media to get Americans to join the GOP in their anti-tax rantings. I do not think the payroll tax would have that big of an impact on spending so quickly. I think mega-companies like Walmart are just promoting their anti-tax, anti-government and anti-middle class agenda.
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