I understand that the United States' economy is falling apart at its seams. Thousands are losing their jobs, the stock market is dropping every day, yadda yadda yadda. I know that this sounds very inconsiderate, or maybe just downright cruel, but I really believe that all of the hype about which direction the economy will be moving in is making everything worse. When people predict that we are going to go into a depression, and other experts explaining that people will lose their jobs, I'm sure they have some relevant research to prove all of this, but I really think it's just freaking out corporate America and they are trying to save themselves from economic destruction (cue the dramatic music).

I do sympathize for blue collar Americans, those who work in factories, or some semi-dead end job, and then are fired because their bosses or companies are afraid they are going to lose too much money (not enough in your pockets?) A lot of hard working people are getting fired over all of this hoopla that I think could be semi-avoided if people on CNN or wherever would just shut up about how bad the future is going to be to freak out employers, as well as the working people.

However, I do not sympathize for people like Amber Easton, who are making headlines in the same places where the hue and cry is coming from. Amber used to make $80,000 dollars are year at some hoity toity job. But now, since the economy is just crumbling around everyone's feet, she is now forced to wait in line at job fairs.

This is not like the average worker in America, who makes well less than $80,000, and are waiting on lines at job fairs and unemployment agencies to live. Amber Easton made $80,000 a year. I'm going to keep repeating it until it hits you the way it hit me. $80,000 a year. Did you get it yet? What happened to all of that money? According to the article, Amber went back to school to see if she wanted to become a career changer. Maybe that would be understandable if you didn't like your job, but I think that for $80,000 a year, unless they were overworking me to death, I would learn to like it. Okay, so paying for school does cost money, but if she was working for multiple years at this place, making $80,000 a year, where the !#@%#$ did the rest of the money go?

This economy is shutting down because people like Amber Easton, who live in the moment, don't save any friggin' money! I'm unsympathetic to people who end up on CNN or any other news outlet that once had a great 5, 6 figure salary and now have to stand in line at a job fair with "regular" workers. If you had planned a little bit for the future, and I'm not talking about kids and college, then wouldn't you have put some money aside? A little rainy day money? I was trying to save half of what I earned at my dinky 15 dollars and hour job, which I too was laid off from. I managed to save a good deal; so why can't these rich people figure it out? If I saved half of Amber's preexisting salary, $40,000 is not bad at all to be living off of.

I guess the bottom line is that people are freaking out over the economy, and news outlets everywhere are feeding this fear with crap news stories like this one. Watch out! You could be rich and this could happen to you! Maybe if you were stupid about your money it would. Until it happens to me, I'm not changing my attitude about this one.

So tomorrow is the big day many people have been waiting for. Nope, it’s not Turkey Day because that is today. And it’s not Hanukkah until late December. Many eager customers are preparing themselves to wake up in four hours to go shopping at all the major stores in order to find the perfect gift for Christmas. The big craze is known as Black Friday!

Because I paid attention to history in class, I am very curious as to why this biggest shopping day of the year was named Black Friday. I’m wondering as to why the corporations and stores decided to name this chaos of a day Black Friday. Because, if I recall, any event that is referred to as “Black” something, usually means that something horrible happened. Personally, the name makes perfect sense to me. When i think of Black Friday, I think of shopping mania where everyone is stressed to find the best deal on the best toy or gift. I see people fighting over stupid stuff they could easily order online and be over with it.

So for all of you who love Black Friday, I would just like to point out other festive events that used Black in the title..

1.) The Black Plague/Black Death: Hmmm, sounds a bit disconcerting to me! Here is your mini history lesson for the day: In England, as well as other countries around the world, people started to get sick and drop dead on the very same day! But don’t worry, this happened (well multiple times, but the first) in 1348, although the date has been disputed by historians. The details are a bit gruesome, so if you want to google that for your sick, twisted pleasure, be my guest. Anyway, the point is that the Black Plague was not what people wanted to get back in the day.

2.) Black Monday: No, this is not another chance to shop for Christmas, or any other holidays. The second mini history lesson will take us back to the year 1987 when the stock market crashed on, you guessed it, a Monday. On this sad day of October the 19th, people worldwide lost their money unintentionally. What a horrible day to have a birthday (Sorry, Mom).

3.) Black Tuesday/Thursday (you see where I’m going with this?): These were alternate, although not the most popular names for the Great Stock Market Crash. Instead of just crashing on one day, like the previous example, the 1929 stock market crashed on three separate days: a Monday, a Tuesday, and a Thursday. Talk about a bad week. And again, this stock market crash occurred in late October. (Maybe this is a clue to not invest during the month of October)

4.) Black Wednesday/Saturday/Sunday: If you do a google search, you will find that every single day of the week has the Black attached to it, and not for a positive event either

So even though you are excited to get those discounts at the top brand stores, and to get your holiday shopping done sooner than later, I am one of the few who will not by participating in the shopping frenzy at five in the morning. I care way too much about being able to sleep in than buying clothes, electronics, or anything else I could possibly want to buy at a crazy discount that will actually have me buy more than what I actually need. Which, there’s nothing wrong with that. The part that is wrong is getting up before the sun wakes it’s own tush up to fight like a crazy woman with some stranger over the last Best Buy HD video camera. I definitely don’t think it’s worth it. However, once I am fully rested, I will try to take my own shot at Black Friday, and my documentary piece “Black Friday: Friday the 13th But Worse” will be created for your reading pleasure.

There will be an update on the Black Friday mania tomorrow, so stay tuned! If you would like to post/comment about your own Black Friday experience, we would love to hear the drama, I mean, the experience.