Christmas and it's commercial season

Let’s talk about the Christmas season. Every year Americans begin the big push. Economical studies look at this year’s sales versus last years sales. They use it as a measure to find out how well the economy is, and also how well it could be. Economists will admit that the Christmas season can sometimes boost a sluggish economy. Let’s discover this and much more as we examine why the majority of Americans agree that Christmas has become too commercial.

First of all, if people are afraid that the economy might not continue to be well, they may miser some of their money during Christmas. The fear of not having enough to provide for their families may cause them to shop less, shop for less expensive items, or not shop at all. News channels, the stock market, and the consumers wait for polls to announce how well the Christmas spending is going. Almost as if it is an indicator to our well-being. At the present time, maybe it is. Christmas season comes in the winter. There are plenty of industries that thrive in the winter. The heating oil trucks in the Northeast make all of their money in the winter. When it is not winter they try to take on the business of air conditioning. On the contrary, a builder’s business slows down in the winter. Whether it be the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, or even the landscaper. So he may be less capable of spending exorbitant amounts during Christmas. Besides the people with lots of money who buy cars for their loved ones in the winter, there are many car dealerships that do not do so well during the winter months of the northernmost states. Massachusetts uses salt to clear the ice and snow from the road. Salt destroys cars. No matter how much of the outer shell is fiber glass...the frame, the engine, the exhaust and the gas tank are all made of materials that deteriorate in the salt. So the push to make people spend in December does not leave all Americans equal. Isn’t this country built on equality?

Now if the economists can convince us that this is a good time to spend a lot of money, it will be said that we are enjoying a prosperous time. Why is it important to use a specific day of the year to increase spending? If we really had the good will to buy presents for the people in our life, we would do it whenever we wanted to. Some of us do just that. So it doesn’t matter if you spent $5,000 buying your loved ones gifts in the summer, because if you don’t spend it in the winter,we feel as if the economy is suffering. So...what if the economy is suffering? What are we to do then? Are we to be more selfish and worry about feeding our families? What does the economy have to gain by encouraging us to spend our dollars during Christmas season? For the rest of the year, the economists only worry about: The stock market, the price of gold and silver, and the price of oil. During Christmas time they push the material products. If we really have a sluggish economy during any given year, shouldn’t we spend our money helping everybody survive? Should we panic because Aunt Rosa couldn’t buy me clothing apparel, candles and other decorations, an MP3 player, or a big screen TV? Somebody has an interest in hoping you will buy all this stuff. So who is that, and why is it important to them?

The business that have invested so much to create some of these products need to see profits. It doesn’t matter if we have enough to eat, it matters if we can buy their product. If we can’t buy their product they will eventually have to sell it at a loss. If we buy their product, we send them piles of money which leads to the owners of that company living in even better conditions. So if we struggle to find food, shelter and heat…they might lose a limousine or one of their vacation getaways. If we have enough to spend on their products, all is well for them. Figure in the sales tax, and the government makes out as well. And hey, it’s Christmas…the collection plate fills up much faster during the holiday season.

It is for this very reason that Christmas has become so commercialized. We can’t blame it entirely on the commerce, government and church because we buy into it. We follow their lead. We say, “What can we do, dear masters?” “How can we be assured of our future?” If this economy ever got so bad that we couldn’t survive…go to the capital. They threaten with low economies, without ever caring about what you personally have to do to survive. They worry that you may not be so willing to fill their pockets. So they make you a part of it, by offering you “shares” of this profiteering. So we buy shares in Enron…we buy shares of the Martha Stewart line…we invoke savings and loan, and keep trying to up our credit. In a small way, this helps us try to reclaim our own interests in this country…but we put ourselves at the mercy of this system. If AOL suddenly proclaimed that they lost $1 billion dollars last year, would we wonder how? Or maybe instead we kick a can, look down at the ground and say, “Times are tough.” You have more control over your lives than you know, but the more you let the richest, most powerful people in the world dictate how you feel about the economy, you will stray further and further from your natural instinct. I’m not saying that technology and all it’s gadgets are wrong. I’m saying that people like you and me made this stuff for such a small portion of what they cost the consumer. The workers that built the factory, the workers that devised the blue-prints to build these gadgets, and of course the workers sitting on the assembly line. That my friends, are the people that deserve the dollars from your hard work…not the man in the mansion, with the limo and private jet. What does he do? He can’t even take care of himself. Let him pick out his own suit, cook his own food, drive his own self to the airport. We don’t need him to be who we are.