And the Winner is...

Tonight are the Primetime Emmy’s (definitely not to be confused with Daytime).  The who’s who of TV will be out in force, and Jane Lynch is hosting.  Isn’t she great (maybe even greater than last year’s Jimmy Fallon).  But the real question of the night (aside from who’s going to win) is who are they going to be wearing?  The dress! The shoes! The jewels!  The hair!  Even men are scrutinized, although unknown spouses seem to catch a break.  For those of us who (so sadly) missed the VMAs last month we are hoping to redeem ourselves with this not to be missed TV event.  We can only hope Kayne will be there, or that we somehow get our fill of shock with a Kayne-esque event.  Something has to keep our attention besides shiny dresses and pretty people.  We are committing 3 hours (plus red carpet time) to this and we do not want to be disappointed.

As with life, there are winners and losers.  The Emmy’s have a particularly ugly ratio of 4 losers for every winner, dangerous territory.  Hopefully you are a winner, or at least can count on winning more than once every 5 tries (poor Susan Lucci, it took her 19 tries).  You may have noticed that life has been giving us lemons lately, while the lemonade (or cherries a la Louis Vuitton) seem to be overseas.  Anyone frequenting designer boutiques may have noticed the clientele is more non-Americans than Americans.  Running the numbers, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to learn that people in China are spending more on Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel than we are.  Data released Wednesday showed American’s retail spending was flat in August, lower than expected.  The fact is demand is so high from non-Americans designers are raising prices in America and Europe to keep up with the prices in Asia.  Stores are designing their business development plans around their new clients: non-Americans.  Meanwhile we are worried about where next month’s rent is coming from, and what’s going to happen when our unemployment benefits expire.

What’s going on America?  Are we letting other people get ahead because we’re too busy watching Snooki and Kim K’s every move?  (What about that wedding, huh?)  Of course we can’t also forget the “Real” Housewives, because certainly when you think “winner” they come to mind.  Seriously, though, we need to take stock.  Here’s what’s happened this week:  The Federal Reserve’s New York and Philadelphia surveys for September  reveal large pessimism (coming in at -9 and -17 respectively) from the business community on current sales and future business, which affects hiring levels over the coming months.  Meanwhile, even with the economy in a continued delicate state, consumer prices are on the rise more than we would like.  Data released Thursday shows the prices we pay (“Consumer Price Index”) rose by 0.4% in August, and by 3.8% year over year.  The target rate of inflation in 2%; higher prices eats into our purchasing power and quality of life.  You might think there is no time like the present to focus on being a winner, or not letting our winning status get taken away.  Why watch everyone else wear the jewels instead of working to be able to actually afford them ourselves?

But that will have to wait.  Right now the Emmy’s are on.  Then we need to be on tap tomorrow for more excitement from the Emmy’s – didn’t you know it only gets better?  Tomorrow night Joan Rivers and her Fashion Police crew will break it down in excruciating detail in case you missed it, or just want to re-live the moment.   Even Fashion Police knows how to win by going overseas and is complete with a fantastic import from Britain (Kelly Osborne). 

(Bureau of Economic Analysis, Federal Reserve, Bureau of Labor Statistics)