At the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. a crowd of people ‘ripped’ the doors off, in their excitement and rush to get to the merchandise within. Four other shoppers, including a 28 year old pregnant woman, were injured in the mob’s rush to get in the store.

Have we truly turned into such a consumer nation that we’re willing to literally kill to get a good deal? I’ve heard anecdotal reports for years of people getting into scuffles, and even fist-fights sometimes to get that ‘hot toy’ or ‘perfect gift’. They even made that somewhat abysmal movie ‘Jingle All The Way‘ where Arnold Schwarzenegger spends the entire movie trying to get the years’ ‘it’ toy for his son. For those not wanting to suffer through this movie, let’s just say that it didn’t work for him either. Presents are ok, but your children would much rather have your time than your stuff.

But back to the subject at hand. When I read this article originally, I was stunned. The only thing that came to mind is “What were they selling at that Wal-Mart that was worth stampeding a person to death for?” I can’t think of ANYTHING in this world, that would be worth stomping a person to death for.

I don’t imagine the customers waiting just outside the doors were thinking to themselves “I’m going to get that <insert item here> for Christmas, even if I have to kill someone”. But all the same, that’s what ended up happening. The mob mentality, coupled with the seasonal must-buy-perfect-gift fever co-mingled with deadly results.

It’s not like there’s a dearth of Wal-Marts around either. I can travel about 2 hours in any direction and hit at least 3-4 DIFFERENT stores. They’ve popped up like evil little mushrooms (or more accurately, like hurkin’ big box store mushrooms) all across the country. Sold out of whatever favorite goodie you want at one? Call the other half-dozen stores in the surrounding county, have them hold one of whatever for you, and drive 10-15 minutes to go get it. If that doesn’t work, check back in with them periodically until another of whatever it is you can’t live without comes in.

Take Ten Deep Breaths and Call Me in The Morning

People, relax! The rampant consumerism isn’t going to make the holidays any better. It’s just an attempt to fill that empty area in your heart with ’stuff’. And no matter how much ’stuff’ you try to put in there, it’s never going to work. Relax, and let sanity slip back into place.

Also, with the way the economy is now, shopping is way down. That means that there is more STUFF for those that are going to buy this year. The rest of us are going to do our best to just ’sit this one out’. It’s been predicted by most of the financial media that this is going to end up being one of the worst years for consumer spending in decades. So that’s a LOT of us sitting it out.

For everyone else that plans on splurging this season, Bon Appétit! We salute your individual attempt to infuse capital into our economic system, much like our government is attempting to do, to re-energize the market. We need to get the good little consumers back out on the streets moving that money around so things can get back to ‘normal’ again financially.

Personally? I’m hiding under the bed today until the sales are over.

Are you braving the Sales of Black Friday in search of Christmas goodies?? Leave us a comment and let us know!

The funny thing is that I spent quite a bit of the day with a nagging thought at the back of my head; “Will they fire me for being sick?!??”

Now, I know that wouldn’t be the case, but it still bothered me. Just a bit of background. I’m a consultant with a smallish company working on a fairly long-term contract. By all indications the work could go on for years (or, frankly, it could stop overnight). I’ve been doing a good job, and have had no complaints from either the client or my bosses. So why this idea that being sick might cause me to lose my employment?

Let Me Count the Ways

I’ve come to the conclusion it’s not just one reason for this strange reaction, but several.

The News – With all the discussion of rising unemployment and the loss of jobs, it seems scary to do anything in this work environment that might give cause for a pink slip. Yes, I know that businesses can’t fire you for just being sick. But I’m also working in an ‘at-will’ capacity. So everything’s fair game.

At-Will Employment

An employment agreement between the worker and employer where the worker can leave or be fired for any reason whatsoever. The position is filled ‘at-will’. If either party has any reason to dissolve the arrangement, there is little recourse other than specific state employment laws that can either prevent the job loss, or bring up various job-related charges. And in the case of legal charges, only if the employee has broken any state employment laws. This type of employment is becoming the norm for most jobs in our country today.

So, even though I’m doing a good job, on a long-running contract, there’s still the small fear of getting the ‘phone call’ (since I work remotely, it would be that probably, versus an in-person discussion with my boss). It doesn’t make much sense, but that’s how it it.

The Past – My company was acquired a year ago by another company, and there have been a steady stream of firings re-adjustments in all parts of the acquired companies. These ‘adjustments’ have continued on for the whole year, as the company tries to digest it’s acquisition, while fighting to survive in a down economy. I’m not wild to be ‘adjusted’ any time soon, but then again, I’m sure the others weren’t either.

The Sickness – No one who is sick, is firing on all cylinders, so, much of this could be in my head. This time I’m chalking it up to the flu. Being sick doesn’t completely discount the other points, but it does tend to inflate them beyond what they would normally be. Also, when you’re sitting in bed with a roaring headache, with nothing more to think about, you tend to drift into worst-case-scenarios. Or at least I do.

Maintaining the Balance

People crave stability, myself as well. We want things to be ‘guaranteed’ and ’safe’. This is an unrealistic expectation in this day and age. In the past, people were able to work for the same company for their entire life, and the company rewarded their employees for their hard work with loyalty and continued employment.

Fast-forward a few decades, and the idea that someone can work for the same company their entire life is almost laughed at. Employers show little or no loyalty to employees that have, in turn, done the same. It’s a vicious circle of ‘who-can-stab-who-first?’ In an on-going series of cost-cutting measures, even retirement arrangements like defined pensions, and employer retirement plans have been all but eliminated. The 401k is the de-facto standard, causing the day-to-day employee to also have to become an investment expert, or suffer through a retirement of Wal-Mart side jobs and ramen noodles for lunch.

Instability is the call-sign of today’s employment environment. You can be let go at any time, for pretty much any reason, losing your health and retirement benefits. It’s no wonder that people are mad at big businesses that callously treat their employees as disposable.

It’s past time that things change. More stability causes better work. If you’re not constantly looking for the next position, you can get a lot more done. Happy employees are productive employees. While scared or fed-up employees might seem happy, there’s a good chance they’re just waiting for the first opportunity to jump ship for some hopefully greener pastures.

Does your company promote stability and a good work environment, or are they one of the ones causing this problem?? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Have we already gotten so jaded with the government handing out Trillions of dollars, that half a trillion doesn’t even get us excited anymore? This is 2/3rds the amount of the initial bailout bill, that the House and Senate had to debate and vote over for a week! Now the Fed can just roll out the dumpsters of money, call “Soooieee!! Sooieee Bank!” and wait for all the little companies to come feed.

We’ve moved from a state of panic and indecision to a state of near indifference. I’m not sure if that’s because no one really knows what to do, or everyone feels that there’s nothing they can do for the situation.  Either way, it’s definitely an interesting change.

For Better or Worse

On the good side, that means Joe Public is calming down about the whole thing, and getting used to the fact that we’re in a (possibly deep) recession. Live with it. Get used to it. Life goes on.

On the bad side, it shows how little involvement in the process we either have, or think we have, to give up this early in the game. Government has basically thrown up its’ hands, and said “Well, we’ve done everything we can think of, how about you Fed?”

I’m hoping that this new infusion of cash has the desired effect of getting the flow of money going again. Something’s got to work, and hopefully soon, or this ‘economic downturn’ (can’t dare say it’s a recession or depression) will stretch out for years or decades.

My only fear is that the cure is going to be worse than the disease. We still have to pay those Trillions back someday, somehow.

The straw that broke the camel’s back is the announcement that Sen. Hillary Clinton is trying to put forward a measure to save the poor idiots that bought the huge houses with the interest-only Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs).

Here’s the deal. Sen. Clinton is talking about putting ~$30 billion (same amount as the Bear Stearns bailout EARLIER this week) into a fund to guarantee loans for people that are about to default on their mortgages because of upward adjustments of their ARM’s. In addition to that, she wants to put a moratorium on interest rate increases, AND LOWER EXISTING RATES TO ~3.5% for 5 years.

Now, I’ve GOT to throw down on this. I realize that there are a lot of people out there that are facing foreclosure, but it’s because they DID SOMETHING STUPID. There wasn’t a mortgage bandit going around the neighborhood forcing people to sign up for mortgages at gunpoint. If they got into something they can’t handle, then they should have to face the consequences.

What About the Responsible Ones?!??

If you were responsible and got a mortgage you can handle, you’ve been paying on it and watching the whole Subprime show from the sidelines. But now, it’s turning out that you really should have acted stupid and gone out and gotten the super-sized house and run up all your credit cards. The government has gotten into the habit of bailing out any sector that seems to be having any troubles, now they’re shifting to individuals. Where’s the justice?

How is it fair, that being a fiscally responsible person in America nowadays nets you zilch, but being a fiscal IDIOT get you rewards and special treatment by the government? We started down this path by bailing out any big business that did something stupid (Airlines, Telephone companies,etc,. With the exception of Enron, which had already turned into a business black-hole before anyone noticed). Why SHOULDN’T the government decide to start rewarding failure in individuals. That seems to be the life lesson that’s taught in America nowadays.

Compare Apples to Oranges

As a person and family that’s always paid their bills, lived within their means, and have never been late on the mortgage, I don’t QUALIFY for a refinance, rate reduction, handout, or anything else that the other families qualify for.

For the families that have maxed out their credit cards, gotten the house you can play baseball in, and the 57 1/2 year interest-only ARM mortgage, they get financial relief and a refinanced mortgage AT A LOWER RATE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY FOR 5 YEARS!!.

This sends mixed signals to me and my children. America is now saying that it’s the land of opportunity AND we’ll bail you out if you screw up, in preference to those making good choices. Why even bother anymore! Do something stupid, get a handout, buy something you can’t afford, get a rebate. The whole cause-and-effect cycle is out of whack in the U.S. nowadays.

Rewarding stupidity isn’t going to make anyone learn from their mistakes. America is the land of opportunity, but that opportunity also includes the opportunity to fail.

What do you think of all the handouts and bailouts going on recently?? We’d love to hear your comments.

Trent, over at The Simple Dollar has taken an extremely bold step for a blogger; He’s discontinued  AdSense on his web site. For a blogger, that’s akin to taking a chainsaw to an extremity. And for Trent and TSD, probably moreso than most run-of-the-mill blogs.

AdSense – is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis.

From Wikipedia – AdSense

With a subscriber base of over 21,000 he’s got quite a bit of remaining revenue and clickthroughs to support his writing, but still it’s been estimated in various discussion forums I troll around in that he’s losing on the range of $3000/month in ad revenue.

That’s no small number, considering that the median U.S. income is $48,201.00 that’s about 3/4 the income of your normal Joe Average. If I say nothing more, I’ve gotta admit, he’s got a big ‘ole pair made of pure brass, if nothing else.

Must be Nice

Speaking as a relatively new and somewhat obscure blogger in the Personal Finance world (and with just a hint of jealousy) what Trent’s doing has really kicked off a whole flurry of sparks at all levels; his readers, his blogging peers (as few as there are) and the rest of us PF wannabees and hopefuls. Opinions range from "Are you Crazy?!??" to "You’re Crazy, but I respect that kind of Crazy."

Trent has the opportunity to back up his morals with action. Unfortunately, a lot of the second and third-stringers don’t have that same opportunity. Blogs aren’t the moneymakers that everyone hopes and on an hourly basis, you can make more money throwing pizzas than writing blogs. But once in awhile something magical happens and you get a blog like TSD that appeals to the masses.

Now by no means am I attributing it to luck. Trent writes like his life depends on it, and the stuff he writes strikes a chord in people; common feelings, common events, whatever, people respond and have a (temporary) feeling of connecting with the wider world. That’s really the payoff of blogging, and Trent’s already got that in spades.

Here, but no Farther

Trent’s stand is that the ads from AdSense are marketing products that go against the very spirit of his web site; payday loans, credit card offers, and other financially risky or questionable products. So he’s drawn a ‘line in the sand’ and made his stand.

Advertising is a tricky beast, and as small as my little blog is, I’ve already had to turn down a payday loan advertisement offer. It hurt, since I’m not making $6-7k/month like TSD and since my little , but I felt it was the right thing to do. My own micro ‘line in the sand’ didn’t get crossed.

But if the blog were my only source of income, as Trent’s is now that he’s gone ‘pro’, I might think twice about such a significant decrease. See, it’s not just about me, I have family to support too. When times get tough, your morals get a little slippery if you see your child going hungry. Priorities change as options decrease. I’m pretty sure that there’s not a woman out there that thought "Gee, I want to be a prostitute when I grow up!" Life doesn’t always turn out how you want it to.

Anyway, I support Trent (Hey Trent! I support you!) on taking a stand, but I think everyone will understand if things go back to the status quo. Remember, AdSense advertises things that are HELPFUL to the frugal-minded too.

Photo by Simone Hudson