The Blackest Of Black Fridays

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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This was not the happiest of Thanksgivings.

A nation which was shaken by an economic crisis that no one seems quite certain how to repair was horrified by the awful tragedy that unfolded in India.

No matter how terrible, tragedy always seems more cruel on a holiday.

Against that background came news on Black Friday that an angry mob pushed in the doors at a Wal Mart on Long Island and trampled a sales clerk to death.

Bargain hunting on Black Friday has gotten dangerous in recent years - pushing, shoving, the occasional fistfight and injuries were reported at other stores on Friday - but the Long Island incident marked the first-ever Black Friday shopping fatality.

It made me wonder: What were they shopping for? Christmas gifts? They didn't show much Christmas spirit.

When store officials ordered the mob out of the store because someone had died, many called it unfair, because they said they had been waiting hours to shop.

The terrorist attack in India will cause us to redouble our anti-terrorist efforts, and economic recovery plans are already in the works.

But shouldn't the death of that poor sales clerk give us some pause as well?

If we have become a people so self-centered that we are willing to step over a lifeless body to get a bargain, we have problems that go beyond terrorists, a credit crunch and bad mortgages.

Surely we can do better than that.

[hillarynow]

Are we really, seriously this stupid? Americans must be drinking some tainted water or something these days, first Bush was re-elected and now this! Concerts, sporting events, festivals, any event where there are a large number of people that need to enter a building or venue all have the same exact basic elements in common. There is something inside everyone wants and people are anxious, excited and want to get inside first. How completely stupid have we become? I see people saying, do away with it altogether, get extra security, make new laws, arrest people who do not comply etc etc. All that needs to be done at large stores like this is for them to set up a rope line and instruct everyone to get in it or they don''t get in, period. Open one door, make them file in single file and train the security to speak loudly and clearly to please do not run or you will be asked to get back on the end of the line or leave the property. Then you have a few police officers patrol past the line at opening time to back that up and guess what? NO MORE PROBLEMS, why are people so stupid? This is not rocket science.

[rofo7]

I was wondering about the origin of "Black Friday" too. CBS''s competitor CNBC actually defined it over the weekend. Many businesses don''t start making a profit (or being in the "black") for the year until they receive the proceeds of this shopping day. Hence, "black" Friday.

That said, how awful that being in such a mob scene seems necessary to so many Americans. Why do we need to buy and buy and buy anyway? We shouldn''t force loved ones to think they NEED to buy us gifts. That said, if it is true that people objected to being sent away after this man died, they deserve the biggest lump of coal ever bestowed on the recipient of a gift.

[rofo7]

I was wondering about the origin of "Black Friday" too. CBS''s competitor CNBC actually defined it over the weekend. Many businesses don''t start making a profit (or being in the "black") until they receive the proceeds of this shopping day. Hence, "black" Friday.

That said, how awful that being in such a mob scene seems necessary to so many Americans. Why do we need to buy and buy and buy anyway? We shouldn''t force loved ones to think they NEED to buy us gifts. That said, if it is true that people objected to being sent away after this man died, they deserve the biggest lump of coal ever bestowed on the recipient of a gift.

[noloyalisti]

Yes, I have heard also that Mall Wart takes out life insurance policies on their employee with themselves as the beneficiary. It may have been in the Robert Greenwald movie Wal-Mart, the High Price of Low Cost. I recommend it highly.

[mbourn2]

The most messed up thing about this man''''s death is that WalMart likely had a $250,000 life insurance policy on him with WalMart (not this employee''''s family) as the beneficiary...Now THAT''''s some truly evil isht. They make you agree to it when you''''re hired... Boycott WalMart!!!


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Posted by Zendigity
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Just curious but do you actually have anything to support this? Please give your source.

[rozzzzzzy]

The mob was not made up of the people who live in that neighborhood.

[noloyalisti]

We are worried about one poor sucker who was dumb enough to got to work for these right wing Mall Wart corporatists. How many people has Wal Mart been responsible for killing in China through their race to the bottom sweat shops? How many lives have they ruined here through their ruination of local economies?

[Cas2dy]

If we have become a people so self-centered that we are willing to step over a lifeless body to get a bargain, we have problems that go beyond terrorists, a credit crunch and bad mortgages.

[noloyalisti]

Mall-Wart is run by a bunch of greedy corporate pigs who also happen to be right wing wackos (no surprise there). They have almost singlehandedly driven small business out of many places in America and have shipped manufacturing to China, a communist dictatorship.

Therefore, if you shop there you are complicit and as anti-American as those slimewads.

[concorde5]

Wal-Mart is a horrible corporation for many reasons. This company is single handedly responsible for many of the jobs that have gone overseas. They actually argued in favor of China in a lawsuit filed by an American company against the gov of china. Wal-Mart supported China and the american company went out of business. The employees were offered minimum wage jobs at Wal-Mart to replace the jobs they lost.

I could go on for days railing against wal-mart but I digress.