Why
can’t unbridled consumerism take a breather on holidays?
Most Americans — from the Obama family in the White House to my
little family in Texas — will get a much-deserved break from work
on Thanksgiving Day. But millions of others won’t.
Understandably, firefighters, police, and hospital workers will
stay on the job. After all, they’re providing essential services for our
society.
Yet Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, Radio Shack, and other retailers are
also requiring their low-paid workers to put in a shift.
Why?
Retail giants already exploit the day after Thanksgiving —
which they’ve dubbed “Black Friday” — for an orgy of commercialism. Yet
that’s not enough to satisfy these soulless profiteers.
So they’ve moved the start of Black Friday back
into Thursday, often cutting into family mealtimes.
Some are even opening
their doors at 6 a.m. on
Thanksgiving Day, essentially wiping out this day of family grace for
every employee they require to be at work.
Show up or lose your job. Thanks, boss.
A mall outside of Buffalo has gone even more extreme, requiring
its 200-plus stores to open on Thanksgiving Day or pay a $200-an-hour
fine.
What we have here is the insatiable excess of what Pope Francis
recently condemned as “unbridled
consumerism.” Yet a Wal-Mart PR flack claims to be doing
consumers a favor by staying open to “provide what
consumers need.”
Bovine excrement! Wal-Mart offers nothing that needs
to be bought on a holiday.
And everything it sells can be bought the very next day from
Costco, Crate & Barrel, Barnes & Noble, Dillard’s, Nordstrom,
Patagonia, and other stores that
respect their employees and America’s values by closing
on Thanksgiving Day.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is
a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the
populist newsletter, The Hightower
Lowdown. OtherWords.org