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You could not pay me to be part of a crazy mob in a store. I don't shop like that anyway. I go into a store to buy something I need not looking for bargains on anything they have. I most likely would not need it anyway. It really is a good thing however that most people are not like me. Around 75% of our economy is consummer spending and without that we would be in big economic trouble,LOL, as if we arn't already, but it would be worse if people just started buying what they need and not just because it's a good deal.
You could not pay me to be part of a crazy mob in a store. I don't shop like that anyway. I go into a store to buy something I need not looking for bargains on anything they have. I most likely would not need it anyway. It really is a good thing however that most people are not like me. Around 75% of our economy is consummer spending and without that we would be in big economic trouble,LOL, as if we arn't already, but it would be worse if people just started buying what they need and not just because it's a good deal.
Well, not all of us can afford to shop w/o looking for the bargains. Lucky you!
Well, not all of us can afford to shop w/o looking for the bargains. Lucky you!
Every single thing that I buy is a bargain or I don't buy it. If I really need something, first I'll look for a good used one for no more than 30% of the cost of a new one. If I can't find a used one, I'll wait for whatever it is to go on sale. Because I'm really an anti consummer guy, there is nothing I need to buy except food and clothing. I come from a background where my family really bought almost nothing at all. My parents had mostly the same things for 50 years. When something broke or wore out then it would get replaced. People today are always buying new stuff and most times this stuff are things they already have or really don't need.
Did you ever go into a dollar store and look at the things the poor people are buying? Tons and tons of absolute junk. Many people seem to have this buying mania. It must somehow validate their existence or something. I have a nicer house, car, furniture and lots of other things than many people I know that have twice the income I have. These same people claim they don't have enough money to make ends meet and are always in financial trouble. Well of course they are in trouble because they spend tens of thousands on things they don't need or even use much once they get them. That is why the thrift stores are full of almost new things and there is a yard sale on every corner all summer.
AS I said before, this seems to be the real engine of the economy and in that respect I guess it's important but personally, I want no part of it. I can't be totally ignorant about it though because my wife likes to buy nice new things so I give her a little slak. She makes her own income so that is only fair. She's a retailers nightmare though and I doubt anyone ever makes any profit off of her
I spent my life in different sales fields and I can tell you this. A huge % of all consummer buying is impluse buying. Nothing could be worse than buying on impluse. You won't get a good deal, there is a very good chance you are buying something you don't need or can't afford.
This also shows how over populated we are. Too many people not enough hours in the day to sell sell sell. Of course those bargains are really on products they only about 2 of left but hey go for the advertisment anyway. They will buy something else because they are there.
If times were really that tough, people wouldn't be buying most of this crap in the first place.
Times are tough enough for them to go shopping like that just to chance getting a bargain. But I see what you mean if they really had it hard they wouldn't be there looking to buy stuff. Basic necessities would come first.
My question is: What happens when we run out of rental assistance, food stamps, SSI, disability and all the other Gov't, employed public assistance paid out? A lot of people would be shocked to find out how many of those shoppers are on some kind of assistance. That is why it seems like the economy isn't so bad with all those shoppers on Black Friday.
Black Friday should give us insight into what needs to change about the American cultural psyche. We are raised with the mantras "consumerism is the best" and "to each for himself". We are expected to "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps" and told that if we want to support a cause, we should do so with our wallets. The downside of that thinking, manifest into one day, turns into the kind of psychotic greed we read about every Black Friday. It's awful but it's not surprising, IMO. It's a manifestation of the downside of the culture we are raised in.
That isn't to say everything about American culture is bad, but the ideals of working one's way up the ladder also come with downsides of greed, competitiveness, and selfishness. If each person is so busy climbing up their own ladder, they don't have any time to help others climb up. However, if we climb up together, we benefit more individually as well. We need to acknowledge that downside and learn how to transform it into positive values.
The upside of competitiveness is teamwork. Americans definitely have the potential to be team-workers and there are situations in which this ability comes out, such as during 9/11 when the firefighters in New York came together to help save as many victims of 9/11 as possible. We need to learn how to apply that kind of mentality to the corporate world so that selfishness and greed is replaced by collaboration and cooperation towards a common goal. United we stand, divided we fall.
Times are tough enough for them to go shopping like that just to chance getting a bargain. But I see what you mean if they really had it hard they wouldn't be there looking to buy stuff. Basic necessities would come first.
My question is: What happens when we run out of rental assistance, food stamps, SSI, disability and all the other Gov't, employed public assistance paid out? A lot of people would be shocked to find out how many of those shoppers are on some kind of assistance. That is why it seems like the economy isn't so bad with all those shoppers on Black Friday.
What people buy on one day isn't really indicative of how much they have. The difference between being rich and poor is that if you are rich, you can go shopping every week. If you are poor, you can go shopping every year. Black Friday might be that one time of year all the poor folks who can't usually afford to shop come out of the woodwork to benefit from the best deals.
In addition to that, I spoke to many store clerks who said that they could find a lot of their products on eBay half an hour later. If someone spends $200 at a store only to sell it all for more online half an hour later, they're not really spending $200. More likely, they're making money and that initial $200 was just an investment for online bidding.
I do think that Black Friday tells us a lot about what's going on economically right now, and also tells us a whole lot about the socio-political climate today, but I don't think that we can accurately gauge how well people are doing financially from one day of shopping.
It all reminds me of a joke that my friend made up. It's a little routine about how he's always watching the news and seeing people in foreign countries talking about how they hate America, and he always wonders why they could hate us.
Then he changes the channel to something like TLC and sees shows like "Hoarders" where HAVING TOO MUCH STUFF is considered a "disease" and how you'd never see something like "Hoarders: Africa Edition." So yeah, when we live in a place where people try to kill each other to get cheap televisions, I can see why some people would be a little critical of us.
Black Friday - only appealing to low-wage and Ghetto types.
I wouldn't be caught dead waiting in line to spend money but somehow, people have been brainwashed to eagerly await getting rid of their hard-earned income.
Certainly, everybody likes a good deal, but it takes a special person to buy into this type of commercialism. Of course, some people really don't have much of a choice. Like somebody said above, some can only afford to purchase when they think they are getting an exceptional deal.
At last, they've finally managed to ruin one of the last remaining meaningful American holidays. Are there any holidays left that don't revolve around shopping? It's disgusting.
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