Hey Shoppers, Stimulate that Economy!

It's hard not to notice that literally every retailer is slashing prices with wild abandon these days in an effort to attract any sort of consumer activity. Exciting and devastating at the same time.

Case in point: This afternoon, I popped into a Club Monaco in Beverly Hills to kill some time, and the salesgirl hurried over to me and said in a urgent-yet-softspoken voice, "By the way, everything in the store is 30% off."

Excuse me? Everything? If even the sparkling new holiday duds on display are being pushed out in such a pathetically desperate manner, what the heck am I supposed to lust over and look forward to now? Talk about a case of consumerism Catch-22.

The salesgirl locked pensive eyes with me and bobbed her head in a forced peppy way as if pleading me to buy something. I walked out empty-handed rather quickly.

I know the economy's in a crunch, and desperate times call for desperate measures; but it's so sad and might I add, really unnerving to see retailers whoring themselves out like this. With sales so ubiquitous, it's starting to have the reverse effect on me as a shopper. Anyone else with me here?