Wednesday Wats.

I got to admit. I didn't understand the Savvy Shopper article in the Bulletin today. Those guys could have just as easily shopped from a thrift store and looked the same. Instead it was all "branded" clothing.

Huh? So you'll pay 5 to 10 times more to look sloppy? Er...I mean casual?

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I've got to say, it looks to me like Romney is trying to buy the presidency.

And before you all jump all over me -- they are ALL trying to buy the presidency.

That's the problem.

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Housing prices are still dropping.

Just saying. In case you happen to read a lot of real estate blogs -- who would lead to believe the opposite.

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You know what I wish economic reporters would do? Not just tell me when a economic gauge goes up or down, month to month -- because what you get are constant, "Confidence is Up!" "Confidence is Down!" (for example) as stories. But what that doesn't tell you is if the Up gauge was up say 10 points, and the down gauge was down 2 points, followed by another up gauge of 10 points, and another down gauge of 2 points.

So instead of pointing to the obvious trend upward (or just as easily downward) what the reader gets is, Up, down, up, down.

I know trends aren't always obvious, but where they are....make it clear.

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Eagle Crest is taking on the Holiday Inn brand?

Hilton Hotel in the Old Mill?

So much for our unique destination resorts. Turns out, we're just like everyone else.

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So Amazon's stock dropped yesterday, for some silly reason like they grossed 17 billion instead of 18 billion or something like that.

But, their overall strategy of "growth" is "intact."

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but I think this is a very, very dangerous strategy on Amazon's part.

But they're HUGE! And getting HUGER!

So what, if they aren't making big profits? Instead, if I read it right, 1 penny on the dollar.

Here's the thing; think of it as a poker game. You win a hand, you put it all back, you win another hand, you put it all back, you win another hand, you put it all back.

So, say you started with a hundred, and now you've got 100,000.

But if you lose the last hand, you lose it all. Every freaking cent. Doesn't matter how big your stack got.

I don't see retail as much different, and I actually have a very specific example of that: if you'll pardon me, sports cards.

In the first 5 years I carried sports cards, they expanded exponentially. So every dollar I made was plowed right back in to buying more product. For five years. And I had incredibly impressive sales results. I borrowed money from the bank twice. I opened three more stores.

Then it all crashed. Not only didn't I make money, I was suddenly losing money.

What I had told myself was that the day would come when I could take my foot off the accelerator and start earning profits. Instead, that chance disappeared.

I don't see why Amazon is any different. A new technology, a new business model, could come along at any time and take a significant percentage of their market -- and it won't matter how big they got, if they start losing money and never made money.

It's just churning cash.