Black Friday

Posted on by

I don’t really like crowds, shopping, or lines. So Black Friday sounds like complete torture to me; I never really participate in it.  One person even told me that more people shopped on Black Friday than voted.  At first this surprised me and I thought this was yet another indication of how the public has little care for national politics but, then I got to thinking…  Is this not a somewhat rational thing to do?  Shopping might actually be better than voting if you think about it.  If I go shopping, at least I will be getting something cool at a cheap price (assuming I don’t get pepper sprayed or assaulted by the police).  If I vote, I will get more of the same. The creeps in politics never really change. 95% of the people in congress are complete liars.  Whatever party you vote for, they are all corrupt. So hey, if politicians are sending the country to Super Huge Financial Armageddon and can’t even reduce the deficit within a Super Secret Cloak and Dagger Committee that no one has access to except for lobbyists, we might as well go out with a big bang and rack up as much credit card debt as possible on Black Friday!  I guess the shopping public are smarter than I give them credit for. At least they know what a value is when they see it.  If the Republican primaries are any indication of what the mindset of the voting public is it means that the voting public can’t decide what the heck they want.  Primary voters will apparently forgive any transgression for whatever politician that is the media’s darling that week and can be led around like lambs.  Black Friday shoppers on the other hand are hard core idealists that will not let anyone stand in their way to get what they want!  You might not like their ideals, but hey, they have commitment!  Dreary primary voters will apparently clap at any made for TV slogan and like whatever flavor they are told, (sigh), it makes me bored just thinking about it.  Just look at any political debate in the last 30 years, totally boring, the only thing we can hope for is that some candidate will make some kind of gaffe that the media will hound him relentlessly about for a week until the next guy messes up.  Black Friday though, now that is ACTION!  I don’t even have to be there, I can just watch it on TV!  Maybe in the next debate someone will at least bring pepper spray or something, that should make things more fun.

 

Well, after getting a little side tracked there, what does interest me about Black Friday is how it is touted as some kind of economic gauge for the nation’s economy.  These economists say how great the day was because sales went up something like 6% over last year.  These are likely the same economists that never saw the crash of 2008 coming or thought that TARP and all the other stimulus packages would bring us to a new era of prosperity.  The first thought that came to my mind was the 6% increase has been about the same rate of inflation or lower even when considering real inflation which is around 12%.  So this statistic means nothing really, it is all inflation driven at best and most likely it is a worse year for buying than last year.  Then the next obvious thought that came to mind was, who cares?  Consumption does not equate to economic growth, production does.  If these people saved their money and put it into banks, these banks would lend it to people who would make long term capital intensive projects that produce things like cars and computers.  Instead, all this consumption in the present actually makes us poorer, because we are consuming our stock of capital now, in the present, when it could bring much more wealth in the future.  Lastly, even if consumption was a valuable economic indicator (it isn’t), this could actually mean that people are buying now instead of buying in the future because people are cash strapped in a bad economy. They are buying now when there are good deals rather than over the next month, overall consumption might be the same or even less during this holiday season.  This is similar to the Cash for Clunkers program, when people who were planing to buy cars in the fall, and instead came in during the summer to sell their “clunkers” so the government could pulverize them to save Gaia or something.  That is a whole other topic but, instead of destroying billions in economic wealth, we could have given all those cars to homeless people or single mothers or somebody like that but, Mother Earth comes before mere Human Beings, citizen!  So calm down and watch me poor salt in the gas tank.

Well, anyway, back to Black Friday.  The lack of understanding of economics concerning Black Friday is also pervasive in every other area as can been seen from cockamamie programs like Cash for Clunkers, to the Fed printing of 7.7 trillion in secret (that is currently blowing up the next super bubble).  The list could go on and on but, if people want to know how we got here just look at what pundits and most economists are saying on TV.

1,211 thoughts on “Black Friday”

  8. Excellent beat ! I would like to apprentice
    while you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a blog web site?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this
    your broadcast offered bright clear concept

    Reply ↓

  11. Hiya very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful ..
    I will bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally?

    I am glad to search out a lot of useful information right here within the
    publish, we’d like develop more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.

    . . . . .

    Reply ↓

  12. Everything composed was actually very logical. However, think on this,
    what if you wrote a catchier title? I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your
    blog, but suppose you added a title that grabbed people’s attention? I
    mean Black Friday | FreedomOmaha.com is a little boring.
    You ought to glance at Yahoo’s home page and note how they create article headlines to get people interested.

    You might add a video or a related pic or two to get people interested about everything’ve got to say.
    Just my opinion, it might bring your posts a little livelier.
    LA apparel photography

    Reply ↓

  23. What i do not understood is in fact how you are now not actually much more well-favored than you might be right now.
    You’re so intelligent. You realize therefore significantly in terms
    of this topic, produced me in my opinion imagine it from a lot of
    various angles. Its like women and men are not fascinated except it’s one thing to do with Girl
    gaga! Your own stuffs nice. At all times care for it up!

    Reply ↓

  24. Hey! I know this is sort of off-topic but I needed to ask.
    Does running a well-established website like yours require a massive amount work?

    I am brand new to running a blog however I do write in my journal on a daily basis.

    I’d like to start a blog so I can easily
    share my own experience and thoughts online. Please let me know if you have
    any ideas or tips for new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate
    it! Office paper products
    White Printing paper supplier
    manufacturer

    Reply ↓

  27. After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think.

    Reply ↓

  29. My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I
    may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you.
    Look forward to checking out your web page repeatedly.

    Reply ↓

  33. Hi there to all, it’s truly a good for me to go to see this website, it consists of priceless Information. ibeacon private brand
    ibeacon for sports

    My blog post: bluetooth low energy tag vendor – Jestine,

    Reply ↓

  34. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
    Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be
    bookmarking and checking back often!

    Reply ↓

  37. I have to thank you for the efforts you have put in writing this site.

    I’m hoping to check out the same high-grade content from you in the
    future as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own, personal blog
    now 😉 oz是什么意思及用法
    oz是什么单位的缩写

    Also visit my web-site: 盎司和千克的转换

    Reply ↓

  39. Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles?

    I mean, what you say is important and everything.
    However imagine if you added some great photos or video clips to give your
    posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this site
    could definitely be one of the greatest in its niche. Good blog!
    ibeacon transmitter factory

    Also visit my blog post; Mokosmart Beacon

    Reply ↓

  40. Cụ thể, cơ quan này sẽ tận dụng triệt để các hình thức online- offline, mở
    rộng quy mô để quảng bá rộng rãi về
    du lịch Nhật Bản đến du khách Việt Nam; tặng quà thông qua minigame trên các nền tảng mạng
    xã hội. Nếu quý khách đi nhiều tỉnh trong 1 chuyến để thuận tiện nhất
    nên chọn đi tới Sân bay Tân Sơn Nhất
    , Hồ Chí Minh rồi đi xe xuống các tỉnh miền tây.
    Đặc biệt hơn hết, chính nét chất phác, thật thà và mến khách của con người là
    điều đọng lại sâu sắc nhất trong lòng du khách khi đến du lịch Miền Tây.
    Mới đây, một bài review về chuyến đi đến thành phố Đông Hưng thuộc tỉnh Quảng Tây
    – Trung Quốc của một cô bạn đến từ Hà
    Nội đang nhận được nhiều ý kiến trái chiều từ dân mạng.

    Tuy nhiên, trong buổi phỏng vấn với Harper’s Bazaar,
    người mẫu sinh năm 1996 khẳng định cuộc
    hôn nhân của cặp đôi thành công đến thời điểm
    này đều nhờ sự nỗ lực và cố gắng của cả hai.

    Reply ↓

  41. Trong nhóm cần có một người vững tay lái, có khả năng xử
    lý tình huống nhanh vì các con đèo
    ở Hà Giang khá là hiểm trở, nhất là đường lên đỉnh đèo Mã Pì
    Lèng. Để có một chuyến phượt an toàn, hãy đảm bảo bạn luôn sẵn sàng với 1 mũ bão
    hiểm siêu bền, 1 đôi găng tay và tốt hơn nếu có thêm 1 áo phảng quang nữa.
    Tuy nhiên, nếu có thời gian bạn nên ra cửa hàng, vì các xe
    thường xuyên được bảo dưỡng, nếu có vấn đề gì thì sẽ được xử lý ngay.

    Như mình có chia sẻ ở trên, với địa hình đồi núi như ở Hà Giang thì bạn cân phải chọn một
    phương tiện di chuyển thật sự đảm bảo.
    Ngoài tham quan di tích lịch sử – văn hóa, du khách đến với Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu còn có thể hòa mình
    vào không khí của làng chài lâu đời nằm dưới chân núi Minh Đạm – đó là Làng Chài
    Phước Hải – thuộc huyện Đất Đỏ, chỉ cách trung tâm
    thành phố Vũng Tàu khoảng hơn 20 km. Đặc biệt, vào độ tháng 10-12, là thời điểm hoa tam giác mạch nở thì hầu như các khách sạn, nhà nhỉ đều full phòng.

    Reply ↓

  44. I’m no longer positive where you’re getting your information, however
    great topic. I must spend a while learning much more or figuring
    out more. Thanks for magnificent info I used to be on the
    lookout for this information for my mission.

    Feel free to visit my web site; Cannabis

    Reply ↓

  45. hi!,I like your writing so much! percentage we
    keep up a correspondence extra about your article on AOL?

    I require a specialist on this area to solve my
    problem. Maybe that is you! Taking a look forward to
    look you.

    Reply ↓

  46. I’ve been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this blog. Thanks , I will try and check back more often. How frequently you update your web site?

    Reply ↓

  48. I blog often and I truly thank you for your content.

    This great article has really peaked my interest. I will bookmark your site and keep checking for new
    details about once per week. I opted in for your RSS feed
    as well.

    Reply ↓

  50. What i don’t realize is in reality how you are not really much more neatly-preferred than you might be right now. You’re so intelligent. You already know therefore significantly when it comes to this subject, produced me for my part believe it from so many various angles. Its like men and women aren’t interested unless it is one thing to accomplish with Girl gaga! Your personal stuffs excellent. Always take care of it up!

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *