Shopping day

The other day the raincoat I bought to go to Moscow to work on my dissertation in 1997 and which I have since then thought of as my "new raincoat" sprung a new rip, so I decided to throw it away. I would run right out to Eastern Mountain Sports and buy myself a new Goretex thingie, if only I had the time.

I always say I hate shopping, but the fact is, I don't. I just don't like taking the time to do it, when I could be taking care of kids or working or doing sports or something more pressing.

But I'm an example of pent up demand. I'm 30-year fixed and I have cash on the side that I know could be allocated well right now to "durable" goods like Goretex. If I had more time, I'd go out and avail myself of the bargains that are out there, right now. A few of them, at least. And I doubt that I'm alone. So maybe, as a form of stimulus, the government should through soem tax code tweak encourage employers to give employees "shopping days", or half shopping days, on top of vacation benefits. Maybe stipulate that employees have to go out and spend n dollars and return receipts.

I'm sure it would be a trivial way to stimulate sales, but every basis point counts.