Black Friday

I went last year. K-mart was not pleasant. I wasn't going to go this year. I checked online retailers, and the ads, and decided to go to Staples for a hard drive, if I woke up. The baby made sure I was up. I arrived about twenty minutes before opening. It was warm, unlike last year, and it had rained. Nice morning, but I was tired. People were nice and cordial. There was a new line inside. Whenever I go, I flash on thoughts of the Soviet Union. But this is not for flour or sausage to feed your family. This is a scarcity of product at one particular price point. The stores are filled with other merchandise, often for negligibly more money.

The sale loses its value when you buy those other goods, or when you buy more than you need. I heard of two men loading five televisions into a cart at Walmart. The lines are full of lore. TVs are projected to cost less in a month and a half than the sale prices on Black Friday. Sounds like a losing business proposition.

But the sales are there. After the summer gas prices, I felt a sort of pride in the people for taking back charge of pricing. Democracy came at the polls on election day, but it also came in the stores on Black Friday. It is felt at the pump, at the OPEC meeting in Cairo, and in the Kremlin. The American consumer has shut down. Who is dependent upon whom?

Now, all efforts are geared at making the American consumer comfortable enough to spend again, as we are the engine of the global economy. If we do not spend, people lose jobs. If we do spend, we may be in a terrible spot ourselves as trouble comes our way. Capitalism works based on self-interest, except for when it doesn't, like now. The consumer is king, until he loses his job.