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Many are likely to have a "blue Christmas" instead of a "white Christmas" this year, as most countries enter a long and cold spell of depression in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
This time of year is traditionally the busiest shopping season in the U.S., a consumers' paradise. The high season from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas accounts for as much as 80 percent of the total consumption made during holiday seasons.
However, much of the excitement is likely to disappear this Christmas. Citing data from the U.S. National Retail Federation, a financial company forecast that U.S. retail sales during holiday seasons would rise by 2.2 percent, 0.2 percentage points down from last year.
Korea is not the exception. A wave of painful restructuring is already sweeping the financial sector. China is expected to see Christmas under the cloud of increasing unemployment. The Chinese government forecast that as an increasing number of businesses go bankrupt, the urban unemployment rate will increase from its current 4 percent to 4.5 percent by the end of the year.
Not expecting a year-end bonus, workers are more concerned with survival. Although nobody knows how long the economic slump will last, the natural course of the economy is to recover from this cyclical downturn. Let's hope this is the last blue Christmas in the foreseeable future.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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