Black Friday

They dubbed today, the day after Thanksgiving, "Black Friday". Sounds omenous, but it refers to the kickoff of the Christmas shopping season. The black refers to the black ink retailers will have if we all cooperate and spend, spend, spend. Every years there are dire predictions by newpeople that this year people won't spend as much and retailers will be stuck with excess merchandise and go broke. Duh. Couldn't they anticipate that and stock less? Doesn't merchandise move as "just in time" supply? Anyway, it is a predictable story much like the July news stories of crop failure if it doesn't rain soon. It always rains little in Minnesota in July. Shopper's are always concerned about money. Every year someone is out of work or otherwise pinching pennies. The price of gas is always too high (but they are really pushing the limits this year. I said the same thing last year when it was $2.)

Good news. Foreigners to the rescue. With the drop in the value of the US dollar, an influx of shoppers from other countries is expected. We have experienced Japanese shoppers at the Mall of America for years. Now Europeans having the exchange rate of euros / dollar in their favor are buying here. New York and Boston have them. I wonder if the MOA will have the same catch. If not, we can depend on those neighbors to the north, Canadians, to be big spenders. Times past, Minnesotans drove across the border to get bargains. There are duty-free shops on the Canadians side of the border to purchase their goods. They probably are not doing well now that the US and Canadian dollar have equaled. Oh well. Might as well see the bright side of the picture. Doesn't our economy thrive by peoples purchases? Eh, come on down Knucks! Ciao Italians. Guten Tag Germans. Top of the Day to the Irish. Come and buy. We are the new Europe. No need to greet an influx of Mexican shoppers. They are here already working in the stores and restaurants.