I had to go to the market on Thanksgiving....

and I got to see signs that the economy can't possibly be as bad as people say it is.

The market was jammed with people making last minute Thanksgiving purchases.  At the adjacent Best Buy store, there were fifty people in line waiting for the store to open for Black Friday.  Which begins tonight at midnight at Best Buy.  I was tempted to drive by Target to see the line waiting for 9:00 p.m. tonight, which is when they will open.  I feel badly for those employees who are being forced to work at these sales on what is traditionally a holiday. 

So if Target is opening at 9:00 and WalMart an hour earlier, are there customers who will choose to go to WalMart because they are opening earlier?  I wouldn't think so.  Therefore the question becomes, why the rush to open a few hours earlier?  To lessen the stampede on Friday morning at 5:00 a.m., when stores were opening a few years ago?  Nope.  Just as many people will be in line outside those stores by the time they open tonight, as there were in line on those cold Friday mornings.

I heard an interesting statistic yesterday.  According to one source, 23% of the population of California is now living below the poverty line.  Again, since the source was a bit nebulous about how they got to the number, I take it with a grain of salt.  But it does make me wonder how can the economy be so bad, unemployment so high, and yet the crowds lining up for bargains are as large or larger than ever.  Is it that the cash crunch is forcing these people to shop for the best possible bargains?  I think not.  Best Buy is a very nice place, but there are no "necessities" to be had there.  Electronics are wonderful, but they don't reach to the bottom of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  In case you aren't familiar with the concept, here's a diagram:

You can decide for yourself where the need for a new television, computer, iPod, iPad, etc fits on this scale, but it isn't part of physiological needs.  There I'm guessing that the people in line at Best Buy either aren't being that negatively impacted by the economy, or they are making a conscious choice to behave as if they aren't.

I know the economy is bad in reality.  I think people's perceptions who don't study the economic indicators closely don't believe that, or are ignoring it.

Anyway, some food for thought in case today's turkey and fixings weren't enough for you.  Happy Thanksgiving and for those of you braving the crowds when the stores do open, good luck and good bargain hunting.