Posts Tagged “holiday season”
By Larry Oscar
During the holiday season we often get caught up with all the commercialism and bombardment of TV adds for new cars, perfumes, and law suits for bad drugs.
With all this commercial madness it’s sometimes hard to reflect on what the true purpose of the season is. I was reminded of that a few weeks ago by one of our lake association members. I asked one of our members whom I had not seen for several months how she was doing. She replied, “I’m blessed.”
No big deal, just a simple statement of fact with a smile. Now if you stop all the hustle and bustle of the season and just think about that you will find it speaks volumes. There are about 195 countries in this weird world of ours. Yet the United States is the only country in the world that people are immigrating too by the millions every year.
In 2017 there were over 1.5 million legal immigrants allowed into our country. And even with that huge number there were tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. Now if you listen to the news media you would have to ask yourself why? According to the news media we are a bunch of racist, homophobic, privileged, rich people who are oppressing the poor workers with evil corporations. And we are doing this by consuming the earths natural resources and responsible for global warming that will cause the seas to rise and drown over half of the earths population.
Now why would anybody want to immigrate to a country like that? After all, according to the news media, we are just a capitalist evil empire. There must be some underlying factor here that we don’t know about. Somehow I don’t think we get all this immigration because people really like moving to a racist bigoted country of oppressors.
The United States is only 5 percent of the entire world’s population, yet we are 25 percent of the world’s economy. Just maybe people are immigrating here because we offer a much better quality of life and opportunity than where they are currently living.
Our top poverty income in the US is about $24,000/yr. Do you know that our closest economic competitor, the EU, has a median income of just $29,000/yr? Our median income is double that. No other continent even comes close to the US in providing economic opportunity. The absolute fact is that if you are born in the United States you are in the top 5 percent of the worlds privileged population.
Now isn’t that a kick in the shorts for all of you people that like to play the victim? All those victim lovers who want to whine about how downtrodden their ancestors were and how miserably they have been discriminated against are actually one of the worlds most privileged. Say it ain’t so Joe! Yep, it is so.
If you don’t believe this just listen to one of those immigrants who walked across Mexico just to get the opportunity to climb over or dig under a fence to set foot on U.S. soil. Would you do that? Would any of us have that much motivation to do that? I think not. We have become a spoiled nation.
We don’t know what it’s like to live under true oppression and tyranny. We see all those idiots who complain and cry out for socialism in our country, but not a single one of them is willing to immigrate to Venezuela to help their socialist brothers out. After all, there is a shortage of latte in Venezuela. If you can’t make it in the United States then you can’t make it anywhere on this planet, period.
We are the world’s land of opportunity. Opportunity is what you make of it. It is not the governments responsibility to give it to you. It is your responsibility to earn it. We strive for equality before the law in our country, but true equality in life is a myth. All of us have differences that tip the scales of opportunity. Life is not fair. Don’t expect it to be. Life has its ups and downs. But one thing is for sure. We are all privileged to live in the United States. So as the new year approaches take some time to think about it. When you are sitting in your warm heated house with indoor plumbing sipping your tea or coffee just contemplate those living in places like North Korea or Somalia.
Think about how your house is stocked with food. How you have a choice of what vehicle to drive to dinner with friends. And how your closet is stuffed with clothes. Most people in this world just have the cloths on their back. Maybe, just maybe, all of you victims will come to the same conclusion as most of us already have. The United States is an independent sovereign capitalist nation that is free of socialist dictators. We are the envy of the world and we are all truly blessed.
(Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.)
Strong fresh produce sales are predicted for the autumn holiday season, 
according to a recent forecast by a retail analyst, based in Chicago. (This should also bode well for produce haulers because more product should be available.)
The report from the Nielsen Perishables Group says momentum is good following a solid summer selling season.
35 of 44 fresh produce categories posted volume gains in the summer of 2012, in large part because there were no significant losses of crops or food safety issues, according to the report.
The Nielsen Perishables reported both volume and sales of fresh produce were up 4 percent compared with the same period a year ago, for the 13 weeks ending August 25th.
Retailers offer smaller discounts on fresh produce items, which the Nielson report believes led to the volume of fresh fruits and vegetables purchases on promotions declining last summer.
Cherries were among the most successful produce items becasue of a huge 2012 crop driving a 20% growth in sales, the report notes.
There was nearly a 30 percdent price drop in avocados, driving sales up an anstounding remarkable 46percent. Value-added vegetables were also strong performers, with new products boosting sales, according to the report.
Nielsen projects continued strength in the fresh produce department for fall retail produce sales.
For produce alone, Nielsen forecasts holiday dollar and volume sales to grow 5 percdent and 4 percent respectively. Consumers may be troubled by economic uncertainty revolving around November elections.
“If consumers revert to their focus on price, expect to see steeper discounts designed to draw in shoppers during the vital holiday season,” according to the report.