Nevertheless, people show up in droves.  I saw people camped out in tents in a Best Buy parking lot.  For the spenders among us, it is their Super Bowl. What does that say about them? Is this considered a sensible frugal activity? Or are these folks simply caught up in the marketing hype? I think the latter. They have been told that shopping at 4:00 AM is “fun.” So to them, it must be, whether they like it or not.

I’m not the only one who is disappointed in the increasing scope of the Black Friday National Holiday. Target is receiving push-back on its “open at midnight” plan, including from at least one employee.

This is Target’s lame response:

By opening at midnight, we are making it easier than ever to deliver on our guests’ wants and needs.

Really? Then why doesn’t Target have killer deals and open at midnight every Friday?   Was a petition filed by thousands of “guests” demanding – needing – midnight shopping privileges ON THANKSGIVING?

Sad.

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1. Is Consumer Stupidity Incurable?

Wait – it gets worse when you read the specifics: Banks and credit unions received $30.8 billion in overdraft fees in just the first 6 months of 2011.

That’s $30.8 BILLION!

How can people complain about government excess when they are wasting so much of their own money writing bad checks?  Will nothing cure them of personal finance stupidity?

I suppose that some of these folks have surrendered their credit cards (or had them taken away) and feel good that they aren’t using them.

Instead, they now write checks (or make ATM withdrawals) against insufficient funds as a way to obtain “credit.”

This is one of the worst forms of  ”stupid tax.”  Part of it is fee gouging by the banks, of course. But lack of personal accountability is the primary cause.

The feds will try to intervene but anything short of forcing the banks to close the accounts of serial overdrafters is doomed to failure.

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1. Black Friday Sanity v. Consumer Craziness

There are a few college professors who (a) know how to teach and (b) have knowledge to impart that has value outside the ivy walls. Based on the performance of the academics whom Obama recruited to guide our economy, most economics profs are not part of the “few.”

Helping to support my argument is a professor from the University of Texas. His idea is to extend special legal protections to ugly people.

Yes, being ugly is a “disability.”

I’m sure there is data available to back-up his argument that ugly people don’t make as much money as the beautiful people.

But do you think that is true if we exclude movie stars, pole dancers, and supermodels from the survey?

This is just another professor with too much time on his hands because he only teaches 8 hours/week.

I want to see the economic data on stupid people. Surely the colossally stupid are worse off as a class than the merely ugly. Isn’t that why we have blond jokes?

I don’t like involving lawyers in this “give me money because I’m ugly” business.  With so many lawyers looking for work, those of us who thought we were just homely or unkempt would be demoted in a hurry.

Perhaps we should create a compensation fund for graduating high school seniors. If they are ugly, we give them a $25,000 bonus to help them overcome their appearance disability. If they are stupid, we give them $50,000. If they are both, we give them the maximum “you are ugly and stupid” graduation bonus of $100,000. We should probably delay payment after announcing that bonus because some of the ugly and stupid could become professional athletes.

The learned professor questions how we would determine who qualifies as “ugly.” That would be easy using my graduation bonus plan.  Just ask the cheerleaders.  However, it would be a conflict of interest for cheerleaders to also determine who qualifies for the stupid bonus. I’m thinking chess club for that task.

If you want to learn more about the genius ideas from the bored professor, here is the link. Do Ugly People Deserve Legal Protection? Economics Prof Offers Reasons for ADA Extension.

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As a result, we experienced the S&P credit downgrade and continued general fear about the future of our economy. These have combined to sink the markets again.  People still won’t spend and businesses still won’t hire because they know nothing has been fixed.

That’s our new Republican party, now infected with tea party disease.  The dominant symptom seems to be lost ability to think independently.

No I don’t want more taxes. However, the damage done to our personal balance sheets by tea party intransigence far exceeds what would be caused by higher marginal tax rates.

Don’t people realize this?  Is the tea party view of the wealth forest that obscured by a fixation on tax trees.  Is it so important that you bring Obama to his knees that you destroy billions in personal wealth in the process?

Why didn’t the Republicans dig in their heels when Bush was President and spending like crazy?

The Democrats deserve some blame for building a wall around entitlement programs. But I believe that wall would have been breached if the Republicans had put new revenues on the table in return.

We need economic leadership and statesmanship. I don’t see any.

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1. Wisconsin is Definitely Off My Retirement List

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Wisconsin has lots of cheese and the beloved Packers. I’m struggling to think of the other good stuff up there. Even Harley-Davidson has lost a lot of its luster.

On the negative side of the retirement balance sheet is the lousy weather.  Also, Wisconsin’s tax burden is way above the national average. From the Tax Foundation:

For the past three decades Wisconsin’s state and local tax burden has consistently ranked among the nation’s highest; currently estimated at 11.0% of income (4^th nationally), above the national average of 9.8%. Compared to the 1977 data, Wisconsin had a tax burden of 12.6% (2^nd nationally), decreasing 1.6% overall. Currently Wisconsin taxpayers pay $4,427 per capita in state and local taxes.

At least the people in Wisconsin are well-fed, as in lots of calories consumed. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, since 1990, the obesity rate for adults has more than doubled. Almost 27% of cheeseheads are obese and about 65% are either overweight or obese. Being fat is a universal problem for our country, of course.

Maybe agitating folks to wander around the Wisconsin state capitol waving signs is actually a clever health promotion tactic implemented by the government?

I suppose this will add to the list of readers I have alienated with my version of the geographic hard truth, including Californians and the folks who haven’t yet been able to escape from Detroit.

So if the cheeseheads are cold, over-weight, over-taxed, and facing a huge budget deficit, exactly what good are the unions doing for them? Is that a fair question?

I’m very much looking forward to watching (from outside the state) the Wisconsin scenario play out.

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1. Thank-You Tea Party for our Damaged Retirement Accounts

The TSA claims that the screeners union (and there will be one) will not have the legal right to strike. Since when has that stopped a union from striking? Their was a federal law prohibiting strikes by air controllers, a law that was ignored. Teachers strike, nurses strike, everyone strikes, if they are in a union and want more money.

The TSA union members will try to be clever, of course. To start, they won’t actually “strike” to get what they want.  They will call in sick, the scanners will have mysterious “breakdowns”, and  many of us will suddenly become “suspicious travelers”, producing line-clogging body searches by union members with smirks on their faces.

Obama and his team are throwing a huge bone to organized labor. This is eventually going to cost all of us money, time, and missed flights. This why I must bestow on the TSA a “fool of finance” award.

Here is the link:  TSA clears way for airport screeners to seek broader union rights

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