I have to give credit to my wife and friend Judy for this idea. She in turn heard various tidbits on NPR and read local newspapers to synthesize her explanation.
Black Friday is the point in the fiscal calendar when a business finally meets all of its expenses and goes ‘into the black’. The outrageous mall rent. Insurance. Minimum wage salaries (and NO BENEFITS) for its horde of ‘part-time’ employees. Cost of good sold (send the check to China, if you please.). Electricity. Advertising. Etc Etc Etc, to quote the king of Siam.
Finally, that greed-possessed mass of brain-washed uber-consumers fills the tills with enough filthy lucre to turn the tide from net loss to net income, and just in the nick of time, too.
What is this tiger whose tail we have grasped so desperately? Will it prove strong enough to pull the majority of Americans into a future of economic well-being?
Nope, sorry. We pay $1 per hour to chinese slave-laborers to make the bulk of our holiday gifts and impulse purchases. We pay central american sweat-shop ladies and girls $.75/hr to make our trendy fashion apparel and must-have geegaws and bling.
Meanwhile, the guy who used to have a $28/hr job at Goodyear or Ford or Republic Steel is eating macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while he waits to hear the results of his mortgage foreclosure and his bankruptcy proceedings.
Ho Ho Ho.
Enjoy the spirit of the season.