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Black Friday: A Shameful Orgy Of Materialism For A Morally Bankrupt Nation
theeconomiccollapseblog ^ | 11/29/2013 | Michael Snyder

Posted on 11/29/2013 4:53:58 PM PST by SeekAndFind

It has been called "America's most disturbing holiday". Black Friday is the day when millions of average Americans wait outside retail stores in the middle of the night in the freezing cold to spend more money that they do not have for more cheap Chinese-made products that they do not need. It is a day when the rest of the world makes fun of Americans for behaving like "rabid animals" and "zombies" as we indulge in a tsunami of greed. It truly is a shameful orgy of materialism for a morally bankrupt nation. It is being projected that approximately 140 million Americans will participate in this disgusting national ritual this year. Sadly, most of them have absolutely no idea that they are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States. If you don't understand why this is true, please be sure to read this entire article all the way to the end.

The amount of merchandise that is purchased on Black Friday is absolutely staggering. For example, just consider how much stuff is sold at Wal-Mart alone...

Wal-Mart said it recorded more than 10 million register transactions between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday in its stores and nearly 400 million page views that day on walmart.com. It sold 2.8 million towels, 2 million televisions, 1.4 million tablets, 300,000 bicycles and 1.9 million dolls. Big-ticket electronics like big-screen TVs and new videogame consoles were among the top sellers.

But each and every year, Black Friday also seems to bring out the worst in many people, and this year was certainly no exception. The following are just a few of the national headlines about the rioting and the violence that we witnessed...

-"Holiday shopping season kicks off with fights, arrests"

-"Violence flares as shoppers slug it out for best Black Friday deals"

-"Watch Screaming Mobs Fight Over Televisions At Wal-Mart"

-"Two Arrested After Stabbing Over Parking Space At Wal-Mart"

-"Rialto Walmart Thanksgiving brawl sends one police officer to hospital"

-"Walmart Ejects Customer For Filming Violent ‘Black Thursday’ Mobs"

-"Cops: Shoplifting suspect shot after dragging officer"

And sometimes the violence extends out into the parking lots and into the surrounding neighborhoods. In Las Vegas, a man that was carrying a big-screen television home from Target was shot in the leg...

According to police, a man purchased a big-screen television from the Target store near Flamingo Rd. and Maryland Pkwy. While he was walking to a nearby apartment complex, a man approached and fired a warning shot, causing the victim to drop the television, police said.

Officers tell 8 News NOW the gunman then took the television to a nearby car that was waiting, where a second man helped the gunman load the TV into the car.

The victim approached the two men and tried to get the television back. That prompted the gunman to fire several more rounds, shooting the victim in the leg.

Every year I go over to YouTube to check out the madness that breaks out on Black Friday night all over the nation. Posted below is the best compilation video from Black Friday that I could find. In particular, I love how this video compares American shoppers to zombies...

And there is one more video that I wanted to share with you. In this video, activist Mark Dice dresses up like Santa Claus and mocks Black Friday shoppers for being "parasites" and for ruining Thanksgiving...

Meanwhile, as retail stores all over America actively encourage this zombie-like behavior, police are actually cracking down on other groups of Americans that are actively trying to make this country a better place. For example, a Christian group in Lake Worth, Florida was kicked out of a public park for trying to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving. Of course this kind of thing happens all the time. In fact, dozens of major cities all over the country have now passed laws that make it illegal to feed the homeless. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "One Lawmaker Is Literally Smashing The Belongings Of The Homeless With A Sledgehammer".

At the beginning of this article, I stated that those who go shopping on Black Friday "are actively participating in the destruction of the economic infrastructure of the United States".

How could that possibly be?

Aren't they helping the economy by spending their money?

Actually, it isn't that simple.

Just think about it for a moment. Where are most of the "advertised specials" that people go crazy over on Black Friday actually made?

If you guessed "China", you would be correct. In fact, it is very difficult to find any "Black Friday specials" that are actually made in the United States.

When you buy stuff made in China, you support workers and businesses in China. As I mentioned in a recent article, the U.S. economy loses approximately 9,000 jobs for every 1 billion dollars of goods that are imported from overseas.

Overall, the U.S. has run a total trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than 8 trillion dollars since 1975.

So when you look around and see lots of unemployed people, it should not be a surprise to you.

Right now, the labor force participation rate is at a 35-year-low and more than 102 million working age Americans do not have a job. That number has increased by 27 million just since the year 2000.

Because the American people are not supporting American businesses, our formerly great manufacturing cities are being transformed into rotting, festering hellholes. Just take a look at Detroit. At one time Detroit had the highest per capita income in the entire nation, but now it is a dying, bankrupt ghost town.

And of course this is happening to manufacturing cities all over the nation. Since 2001, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. have permanently shut down and we have lost millions upon millions of good paying manufacturing jobs.

Back in the 1980s, more than 20 percent of the jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only about 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

Good job America. And the following are some more facts from one of my previous articles about how our massively bloated trade deficit is absolutely killing our economy...

-There are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.

-Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

-When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. By 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.

-Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was approximately 6 million dollars (million with a little "m") for the entire year. In 2012, our trade deficit with China was 315 billion dollars. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.

-According to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.

-According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.

Unfortunately, most Americans never stop to think about what happens when we buy stuff from China.

When we buy stuff from them, our money goes over there.

At this point, they are sitting on trillions of our dollars and they have purchased more than a trillion dollars of our debt.

Up until now, Chinese demand for our dollars has helped keep the value of the U.S. dollar artificially high. This is one of the reasons why Wal-Mart can sell you those Chinese imports so inexpensively.

And up until now, Chinese demand for our debt has helped keep long-term interest rates artificially low. So the U.S. government has been able to borrow money at ridiculously low interest rates and U.S. home buyers have been able to get mortgage rates that are well below the real rate of inflation.

But no irrational state of affairs ever lasts indefinitely, and the Chinese recently announced that they are going to quit stockpiling U.S. dollars. Many analysts believe that this means that the Chinese will soon stop stockpiling U.S. debt as well.

So enjoy those super cheap "Black Friday specials" while they last. That era is rapidly coming to an end.

Now that the Chinese have stolen tens of thousands of our businesses, millions of our jobs and trillions of our dollars, perhaps they feel that there is not much more looting to be done. Our economic infrastructure has been essentially gutted at this point. Moving forward, China can afford to let the value of the U.S. dollar fall and the value of their own currency rise because even Barack Obama admits that "those jobs are never coming back".

And every single American that went shopping on Black Friday and bought Chinese-made goods actively participated in the ongoing destruction of the U.S. economy.

Good job America. You are a nation that is utterly consumed by materialism and greed, and you don't even realize that you are destroying yourself with your own foolishness.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: blackfriday; mammon; mammonism; materialism; thanksgiving
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To: DuncanWaring

Well, just as it is with you, the world isn’t exactly the way I would like it to be — but I do try to adapt, improvise, overcome.


41 posted on 11/29/2013 5:58:56 PM PST by Usagi_yo
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To: Gluteus Maximus

If you are subjected to large crowds of Holder’s people, it will only make you prejudiced.


42 posted on 11/29/2013 6:01:22 PM PST by txrefugee
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To: SeekAndFind

Barely paying the billls under Obamanism myself so didn’t miss anything by wasting time going Black Friday Shopping. Couldn’t have done anything unless I charged it to my credit cards anyway. Five years ago I was aking 6 figures and had plentyof savings in the bank but 0 has changed all that...


43 posted on 11/29/2013 6:06:04 PM PST by jsanders2001
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To: a fool in paradise

Does the shopping cart contain bottled water, and a bottle of Fabreeze? Odd, the place is well lighted? Why all the lighting if nothing is on the shelves?


44 posted on 11/29/2013 6:08:50 PM PST by healy61
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To: healy61

Shelves generally look like that after media scares about impending category 11teen hurricanes (caused by global warming, for sure, sinners we all are).

“Shelter in place”
“Hunker down”
“Cause a run on provisions at the local stores!”

Bottled water and air freshener are the sort of things you’d need after flooding (unsafe drinking water and mildew).


45 posted on 11/29/2013 6:17:04 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: txrefugee

I stay out of the stores (and do my shopping throughout the year). However, even avoiding traffic congestion areas isn’t enough to avoid the madness of drivers (for the next 30 days) who will just run stop signs out of turn, drive the wrong way down streets, make u-turns over a middle island, etc. They will exhibit no patience or tolerance for any other drivers. Beware. The shoppers are nuts.


46 posted on 11/29/2013 6:19:37 PM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: SeekAndFind

Junk in the yard...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s9R8nUYtdg


47 posted on 11/29/2013 6:27:18 PM PST by tflabo (Truth or Tyranny)
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To: allendale

The religion you are detailing is secular humanism and turkey day and all the other man made holy days are the perfect examples of that secular humanist country cloaked as Bible believing/governing country .....

Thankfully some stores were open and business could still be done... it is tougher on the next secular holy day Christmas... another non biblical man made holy day of pagan rituals.... black Friday is just a precursor to December 25th..
Even less is open that day.....

Makes me think of the mark of the beast and no one can buy or sell.... just a thought.....


48 posted on 11/29/2013 6:27:58 PM PST by delchiante
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To: SeekAndFind
WELL I SAY WE WERE ALL BETTER OFF WHEN THE HUMAN RACE BARTERED WITH EACH OTHER AROUND DUNG FIRES..... BOY HOWDY, YOU NEVER HAD ANY OF THAT CARNSARNED WILD AND WOOLLY CUTTHROAT POWER SHOPPIN GOIN ON BACK THEN LIFE WAS PEACEFUL AND GOOOOD...

STILL, ALL IN ALL, THESE MODERN DAY HOMES WITH THEIR SMART ALECKY CENTRAL HEATING AND A/C SYSTEMS, FRIGIDAIRES, WASHER DRYERS AND MICROWAVE OVENS .... HAVE GOT A LOT OF PEOPLE CONVINCED WE'RE BETTER OFF THAN THE NEANDRATHAL...SO ALL IN ALL ......I THINK THIS GUY'S IDEAS ARE PRETTY MUCH NUTSO...



WHAT THE HELL'S A MICROWAVE?

49 posted on 11/29/2013 6:34:22 PM PST by jimsin
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To: delchiante

Bookmark


50 posted on 11/29/2013 6:35:04 PM PST by publius911 ( At least Nixon had the good grace to resign!)
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To: tioga

Petsmart is the very place I’m headed to tonight. They have a screaming deal on Tidy Cat.


51 posted on 11/29/2013 6:37:49 PM PST by crazycatlady
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To: Gluteus Maximus

I took no offense at all. I wouldn’t have been within 100 miles of the place otherwise. Very high “Amish” contingent where we are.


52 posted on 11/29/2013 6:42:53 PM PST by refreshed
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To: Sacajaweau

have you been to Canada’s Boxing Day?

It occurs on Dec 26 and it’s I’m not making this up: a federal holiday for you to shop. Every idiot canadian is in the mall to make up for the sales. Boxing Day makes Black Friday look like a picnic.


53 posted on 11/29/2013 7:12:14 PM PST by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: allendale
Sorry but it is best to realize that this vile man was elected twice. America has changed.

No. America WAS changed -- by DESIGN -- precisely to elect a racist, Socialist demon like Barack Obama. It started with the 1965 Immigration Act, and continued with the "Great Society" programs. That very year was when the tumor metastasized. We have been terminally ill ever since.

54 posted on 11/29/2013 7:24:52 PM PST by montag813 (NO AMNESTY * ENFORCE THE LAW * http://StandWithArizona.com)
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To: SeekAndFind
Yeah, instead, I should camp out for three days in order to score a loaf of government produced bread to give to my sweetie for Christmas, er, winter holiday.

No thanks.

55 posted on 11/29/2013 7:40:11 PM PST by Washi
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To: gitmo

I stayed home.


56 posted on 11/29/2013 7:40:13 PM PST by luvbach1 (We are finished.)
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To: SeekAndFind

This is overblown. There was very little in this year’s black friday sales that would get me to stand in a line - prices are so inflated on most things that taking 30% off just gets you back to what it should have cost in the first place if the fed wasn’t pumping funny money into the economy. I was in a mall during the afternoon - there were lots of people walking around but very few had bags. I suspect retailers are in for another disappointing year.


57 posted on 11/29/2013 7:49:46 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: SeekAndFind

I needed to replace a set of mixing bowls and used the opportunity of the stores being open to acquire them.


58 posted on 11/29/2013 7:52:05 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Vendome

I need to replace my cracked set of Texas Ware (speckled blue hard plastic, basically). When I bought them originally, or rather my Mother bought them as a wedding present forty years ago, they were $20 for the three nested bowls. Now, they’re $20 each bowl! Buy stainless and put them in your will.


59 posted on 11/29/2013 8:06:39 PM PST by MHGinTN (Being deceived can be cured.)
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To: MHGinTN

Nice.

I needed Kitchen Aid Red but, picked up Cuisinart Red.

May go back out Monday to see if I can find Kitchen Aid.

Still, the old stuff lasts forever.


60 posted on 11/29/2013 8:21:44 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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