When I used to work in TV news, we used to sit around on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and formulate our plans for covering the holiday travel crunch. In the DC area, this would mean a reporter at National Airport, one at Union Station, another at the Mixing Bowl in Springfield, and a final reporter stationed a rest stop on I95 in Maryland.
"Why do we bother?" someone would inevitably ask. "Who cares that people are sitting in traffic or stuck at the airport? Is that really news?"
"There are two types of people at Thanksgiving," our news director would tell us. "Those who travel, and those who delight in spending the night before Thanksgiving on their couches shaking their heads at the people dumb enough to try traveling tonight." (Note: This statement could also be applied to major snowstorm coverage.)
This year, we're hearing how the recession will keep people off the roads this year -- concerns about jobs and mortgages, high ticket prices and a lingering hangover from high gas prices.
Quick poll -- what are your Thanksgiving travel plans? Have they been affected by the economy?
When you are depressed from the bad economy, who better to be with than family to cheer you up?
Christmas sales may be down, but I think we can expect heavy travel this Thanksgiving. Also, many people put off trips last year because of the cost.
If we have strong weekend sales after Thanksgiving, the stock market is going to rally in a big way. If we have poor sales, not much will happen because we are already expecting that.