Earlier today, my husband and I were discussing the origin and meaning of the term, "Black Friday". He said he has heard this term since his childhood, while I thought it was a far more recent phenomenon. Personally, I associate the term more with stock market crashes than store and market rushes. I also thought that the Friday after Thanksgiving might be labeled so since retailers tend to use it as a yardstick of how successful the Christmas shopping season will be. According to Wikipedia, we were both right on each count.
According to that online encyclopedia, the use of the term Black Friday dates back to around 1966, just as my husband thought. It has been used much more frequently over the last decade, however. Also, the term was used to describe a stock market crash, back in 1869. It is referenced as the heaviest shopping day of the year, although Wikipedia states that this is not necessarily so, at least according to SEC data. Many retailers still declare it the day they begin making their profits for the year, however.
When it comes to capitalists, money and the consumer, there is never enough propaganda to go around, it seems. In their yearly quest to post the biggest profits ever, hawkers of all manner of widgets and gizmos do their darndest to make us believe that without these things they sell, our lives are nothing more than empty shells. They use sales, price reductions, psychology and, when all else fails, guilt toward this end. Watch the news reports on Saturday and just see if they don't whine interminably about how their sales did not meet their projections. And why didn't they? Because you, the selfish consumer, refused to buy their useless thingamajigs so they could have themselves a merry little Christmas. For shame!
Am I being too hard on them? I don't think so. Think about the stupidity of a system that relies so heavily on the last five or six weeks of the year to make the bulk of one's profits. What do these merchandisers do for the previous ten-and-a-half months of the year? Well, they do make money, of course. But they still feel the need to make the working Joes and Janes feel small when they don't mortgage the house in order to splurge on Christmas gifts. Anyway, who ever decided that basing 70% of any economy on consumer spending is a rational idea?
If you're like most people, the recession has tapped out your resources and you're not planning to go on any Christmas spending sprees. Stand your ground, and don't let the profit makers make you feel guilty. Remember the basic tenet of capitalism: If they are unable to make a profit in a competitive environment, the government will bail them out. There, now don't you feel better?
According to that online encyclopedia, the use of the term Black Friday dates back to around 1966, just as my husband thought. It has been used much more frequently over the last decade, however. Also, the term was used to describe a stock market crash, back in 1869. It is referenced as the heaviest shopping day of the year, although Wikipedia states that this is not necessarily so, at least according to SEC data. Many retailers still declare it the day they begin making their profits for the year, however.
When it comes to capitalists, money and the consumer, there is never enough propaganda to go around, it seems. In their yearly quest to post the biggest profits ever, hawkers of all manner of widgets and gizmos do their darndest to make us believe that without these things they sell, our lives are nothing more than empty shells. They use sales, price reductions, psychology and, when all else fails, guilt toward this end. Watch the news reports on Saturday and just see if they don't whine interminably about how their sales did not meet their projections. And why didn't they? Because you, the selfish consumer, refused to buy their useless thingamajigs so they could have themselves a merry little Christmas. For shame!
Am I being too hard on them? I don't think so. Think about the stupidity of a system that relies so heavily on the last five or six weeks of the year to make the bulk of one's profits. What do these merchandisers do for the previous ten-and-a-half months of the year? Well, they do make money, of course. But they still feel the need to make the working Joes and Janes feel small when they don't mortgage the house in order to splurge on Christmas gifts. Anyway, who ever decided that basing 70% of any economy on consumer spending is a rational idea?
If you're like most people, the recession has tapped out your resources and you're not planning to go on any Christmas spending sprees. Stand your ground, and don't let the profit makers make you feel guilty. Remember the basic tenet of capitalism: If they are unable to make a profit in a competitive environment, the government will bail them out. There, now don't you feel better?
No comments:
Post a Comment