companies have tended to keep lean inventories. just in time inventory is fantastic in normal times. but it can create the dreaded out of stock message in times like this. and then there are the workers who stock the shelves and will the price you pay reflect the higher gas prices, the higher wages those workers are paid? or does it just reflect some company s desire to pad their b inflation. today president biden met with executives of some retail stores to discuss how they re working to get you your stuff by christmasccording to the white readout, the meeting highlighted steps companies have taken to overcome supply chain bottlenecks. walmart ceo doug mcmillon made
on retail stores, especially the smaller once that get caught up in some of the side effects of all of this. people stay away from in-person shopping because of this. we ll have to leave it there, but smauch for your insights, really appreciate it. the rash of robberies doesn t seem to be stopping people from doing a lot of holiday shopping. millions of americans went to the stores on the busiest shopping weekend of the year. but with supply chain bottlenecks and fears of inflation, shoppers will likely find higher prices and even a few empty shelves. polo sandoval has details. reporter: industry experts are expecting roughly 158 million people will be doing some of their holiday shopping by the time this weekend wraps up. the majority of those, according to those same experts, are expected to do some of their shopping in person. one of the reasons is because of that lingering fear about supply chain shortages. that lingering worry that maybe some of those goods and those gifts tha
last november. nearly a 30% increase. clothing sales led the way, almost doubling, but with supply chain bottlenecks due to the pandemic, shoppers may find a few empty shelves. many afghan refugees who fled to the united states after the taliban takeover had their first thanksgiving the week. volunteers from a nonprofit organization in california opened their doors to afghan families for the typically american holiday tradition. natasha chen went to one of those celebrations and has the det details. hi, how are you? reporter: kiki was already cooking a thanksgiving meal for a large group of friends. why is everything so much harder after the pandemic? i have forgotten how to do this. reporter: but she also wanted to open her los angeles home to some of the country s newest residents. she volunteers for an organization called mary s list that helps refugees settle in the united states. i just threw it out to mary, like, do you know any afghani
black friday shelled out less online than last year and flat lined on thanksgiving day this putting new pressure on cyber monday for retailers looking to bounce back from 2020. we expect over $11 billion to be spent online that day. reporter: cyber monday is expected to be the biggest online shopping day ever. the strength of the market and economy has put a lot more disposable income into people s pockets. reporter: the long weekend spending spree was likely diluted thanks to many retailers offering discounts in october and november i started holiday shopping back in july. reporter: the national retail federation found 61% of shoppers started stocking up ahead of the holiday rush. that was up 10% from a decade ago. in part to take advantage of good deals amid high inflation and beat supply chain bottlenecks. it is harder to find specific products that you want and really hard to find discounts on a particular item really popular. cyber monday.
if not returns, pretty rapidly by historical measures, real wages are engulfed by inflation and followed by something like 2% since january. that is real peril and even though the economy is growing in unemployment is folly, people don t feel that off because their wages are falling. paul, if you haven t been drinking the kool-aid they drink in washington. they actually believe they don t need to be on the break because the cause of the inflation are supply-chain bottlenecks and the pandemic and when they pass, we resume two to 3% inflation and satisfying suffer what biden believes in, wants to believe in, he s got the right guy in that chair. a different perspective in terms of how monetary policy should be run would generate a different