Black Thursday, a Harbinger?

The economy is tanking (or has already tanked for those of us trying to sell houses or standing in the unemployment line), yet Americans have a prodigious need to shop for more stuff, so prodigious that stores are planning to open Thursday evening so shoppers can get a head start on Black Friday. (Toys-R-Us will open its doors at 9:00 p.m).  Mind you, we're not speaking of any Thursday, but Thanksgiving, one of the most (if not the most) important holidays in this country, the day we're supposed to give thanks for our blessings.  Perhaps those who can't wait to finish their turkey and pumpkin pie to get in line at Walmart's should reflect on the history of Black Thursday, the name retailers now give to Thanksgiving. It has a long undistinguished history as a day of infamy:

• Thursday, September 18, 1873, during the Panic of 1873 when the U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declared bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures.
• Thursday, October 24, 1929, the start of the Wall Street Crash of 1929
• Thursday, May 6, 2010, when the Dow Jones briefly lost more than 900 points 

Let's declare a ban on the greedy mega retailers who open their doors on Thanksgiving, and not shop there on Black Friday, or any day for that matter. I've reached the age of curmudgeonry no doubt, but the notion that Americans must shop until they drop to buy more gadgets that they don't need, won't miss, and in an economy where so many are without jobs, is obscene.  The "right to shop" was not what Abraham Lincoln had in mind when he proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday.  Really!

Shop Small this Saturday!