Saw these quotes in a few national stories:
“Fireworks sales have been unprecedented and stronger than ever in the history of my being in this industry and I’ve been in it for 50 years,” said Bruce Zoldan, CEO of Ohio-based Phantom Fireworks, which has approximately 80 stores throughout the U.S. and supplies thousands of retailers nationwide.
Since around mid-May when states started phased-in reopenings, Zolden said sales have shot up and have not slowed down. He said the company was planning on a 15% increase in sales this year, but estimates sales are around 115% higher than 2019."
"Point blank, period, I'll tell you where the money is coming from: the unemployment stimulus, the extra $600 they're getting a week, 100%, because I'm swiping those red cards all day," Weitzel said. He added that regular customers have been spending much more than they usually would on fireworks."
We're at historic levels of unemployment and economic strife. What better time to splurge on fireworks?! I know one persons' hobbies are anothers' "wasteful spending", but to me this is a perfect example of my fellow Americans' budgeting skills. It's borderline unbelievable how dumb we are. As if I weren't cynical enough...