In the retail world, this Friday is known as "Black Friday". It's the busiest shopping day of the year.

Watching the morning news, I see that Mervyn's and Kohl's are opening this Friday at, unbelieveably, four in the morning. Target's opening at 6:00am.

Are people so amped up that they'll go shopping at four in the morning??

My wife and I have decided that, this year, our gift to each other will be a trip. We're "empty nesters" now, so there will be no big Christmas morning festivities. We still haven't decided on where to go, but we're beyond the point of wanting to receive some trinket or item of clothing that'll end up buried in a drawer in six months.

Four in the fuckin' morning, man. That's insane...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Indications I have seen are saying this will be a "gray Friday" as sales are expecting to be lower than before....indeed the retail giants are offering HUGE discounts on popular items to get people in the stores.
Every single person I know is saying they are spending less this Christmas...including us.

We're in a position to spend more than ever before but, yeah, we expect to spend less. We'll be buying gifts, mainly, for my niece and nephew.

As for each other, well, the wife and I are thinkin' that Moab is lookin' good right now...

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Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Agreed. I don't understand it myself. Perhaps it's because I make enough money that I don't really give a fuck, but I would be willing to pay the savings from shopping at that hour and then some not to have to slog through those crowds. That is to say that if someone told me that I *had* to shop on "black Friday", I would offer them money not to make me do that.

When I first got out of college, I had a lot of trouble finding a job (the .com bubble had just burst and it was a bad time to be a programmer). So, I went to work at Radio Shack for about six months so that I could put food on the table for myself and my girlfriend at the time. We were required by "corporate" to open at 6 AM the day after Thanksgiving. My manager thought that it would be a real coup if we opened at 5 AM (to claim all of those extra profits). I had to be at work at 4 AM (which really sucked, cuz my ex's dad wanted me to come over, get drunk, and watch Lions/Cowboys games with him). A few people came in to "take advantage of our deals", but I remember thinking that the whole absurd charade wasn't worth it. I remember wondering, "what kind of proles would get up at 4 AM the day after a holiday so that they could spend 50 dollars, instead of 75 dollars, on a fucking DVD player?!? I would pay that $25 just not to have to be out shopping with them."

And, that is my experience with "Black Friday".

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Agreed...say I was wandering..wonder how many of them are women compared to how many are men...I would guess about 20 to 1.

As usual, the success/failure of the holiday shopping season will be dependent on how much personal credit is available. The thought of paying 18%+ interest on their holiday purchases, perhaps forever, never seems to enter the minds of those queued up at 4am to purchase 'bargains' that will either be technically obsolete or out of style before the next round of heavily promoted consumerism.

Here's another fact of life about the fiscally responsible American consumer:

"About 31.2 million travelers were expected to drive to holiday celebrations in spite of gas prices that were nearly 85 cents more per gallon than they were a year earlier, according to AAA. The national average for regular gasoline on Nov. 16 was $3.09 a gallon, up from $2.23 on Nov. 17, 2006."

I wonder how many of those drivers received a proportionate 27% increase in income over the past year?

Traveling on a national holiday? That has to be one of the most popular forms of self-imposed abuse available.

We don't buy Xmas or Chanukkah gifts and if we did they'd be Internet purchases, just like everything else I can buy without the hassle of brick and mortar shopping or team members. 4am at a mall or big box for anything but valuable free goods is nuts.

From my experience, you're right. Granted, however, that it was only in one store, at one time, during one year.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Dude... that was one of the most cynical things I've ever read - I love it

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

That would be my guess as well. I asked my stepmother about it once, my stepsisters go shopping at the butt crack of dawn.

Apparently the savings are so amazing, it makes it worth it. *shrugs* I think they just haven't heard of overstock.com.

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"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." - Oscar Wilde

It's cuz wimenz are crazy!!!

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"Jesus said: I have cast fire upon the world, and behold I guard it until it is ablaze."
Gospel of Thomas

None of this insanity exists thankfully at my house, we internet shop, so I pay shipping..so what? Its better than getting body checked by some witch in curlers smelling of talc…speaking of which… my mother in law would walk 10 miles over hot coals for a dollar store sale and always gets up for this horror ( I am watching my wife carefully, as to whether she begins to accommodate these possibly genealogical traits, in which case, I'll be the guy that left for a pack of cigarettes and never came back...)….

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No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor

And another prediction of utter doom and gloom goes down in flames!

Seems like "gray friday" was rather pitch black after all, with retail sales increases by much more than predicted (raising 7.2% vs. predictions of 3.5-5.0%, beating expectations by 44-100%) FANTASTIC!!!!!!

This is an amazingly strong and resilient economy we have...as it really has been fundamentally to a greater or lesser extent since 1983 when Reagan unleashed the genie from the bottle in the form of broad-based growth oriented tax rate reductions.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Thankfully the few shops in my community dont practice this. The hype and hysteria are generally unwarranted.
Now if they were advertising free beer...you might see me show up.

While I am happy for the retail giants who did well, the de-valuation of the dollar, high prices for commodities and the continuing out sourcing of jobs is a real concern to me.

There are two weekends that I avoid the stores like the plague - the weekend after Thanksgiving and Tax-free weekend. My best friend did get up and go shopping Friday after Thanksgiving and I know she was up at 3:something. I do like buying Christmas stuff when it goes on sale after Christmas, but just like the other two weekends, my ass is not getting to the store before the sun comes up - I'll just pick through the leftovers as I'm at the store instead of make any special trips.

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