Did you go shopping on Black Friday and line up at 3 a.m. at your local Wal-Mart or Penney´s? Did you get that great deal on something you or your family probably doesn´t need like the high definition TV which uses five times as much electricity as your old color set? Did you do your national duty and buy, buy, buy?

I can´t think of anything I´d rather not do over the Thanksgiving holiday than go shopping. But all the TV commercials and newspaper ads try to rev up business and the news shows tell us that´s where everybody goes. Tiger Woods was probably rushing to get in on the action when he drove into the fire hydrant-he was looking for just that special something for his model wife, I´m sure, and couldn´t race to Target fast enough to get on line in the wee hours.

Pay little attention to the Black Friday weekend sales volumes. They usually offer little guidance on overall Christmas sales figures. The early numbers were half a percent over last year´s or basically flat, and last year was an ugly holiday shopping season.

Clearly rising unemployment, tightened credit, and mountains of existing consumer debt add up to another dismal year for retailers. Industry spokespeople sound cautiously optimistic, but they don´t want to talk people away from the stores and be accused of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. That´s just not good for their own job security.

Their hopeful talk aside, we´re told retailers have hedged their bets by not over-ordering and keeping product lines lean-they don´t want to be forced into marking down a bunch of Boxing Day inventory like last year.

Instant Insights /

Was Tiger Rushing for Black Friday Deals?

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