Black Friday: Don’t Bust Your Budget

As a person who participated in Black Friday over the years I never understood why the Friday after Thanksgiving is call Black Friday. In my younger days its was all about spending to get items that would satisfy my ego like a big screen television. Today, I see many retailers commercials offering huge discounts if you purchase their product so that they can make a profit. These retailers are hoping that you consume or acquire their products at the expense of your budget. 76% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck and they spend $1.10 for every dollar they earn.

Financial Crisis

The name Black Friday initially came about due to the crash of the US Gold Markets on September 24, 1869. There were 2 individuals Jay Gould and Jim Fisk who, worked together to buy up as much as they could of the nation’s gold, hoping to drive the price sky-high and sell it for astonishing profits. On that Friday in September, their conspiracy finally unraveled, sending the stock market into free-fall and bankrupting everyone. As you can see thee individuals were focused on themselves and there actions impacted everyone else.

City of Philadelphia

In the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. By 1961, “Black Friday” had caught on in Philadelphia and then later on to the rest of the country. Retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively, rather than negatively, on them and their customers.

With all the shopping activity, the Friday after Thanksgiving became one of the most profitable days of the year. Because accountants use black to signify profit when recording each day’s book entries (and red to indicate a loss) So, Black Friday now means that retailers will be profitable. To encourage more people to shop, retailers began to offer deep discounts only available on that day.

Statistics

As you can see retailers are looking to be profitable at the expense of the consumer. 80% of Americans are in bondage to debt so you wonder how consumers are paying for these Black Friday items. The average American averages over $90,000 in debt which includes credit cards, personal loans, mortgages and student debt.

Even though we are in a pandemic, these retailers are looking for people to make them profitable so the focus is on them and not individuals who are hurting and have lost their jobs and cant make ends meet. How can these companies in good conscious participate in Black Friday this year when over 12.8 million people are out of work.

Do not allow these companies to control and bust your budget. Take a stand, become a steward and develop a plan

Become a Steward

To counteract the retailers you must become a Steward. A Steward is a manager of God’s property. As a steward (manager) we will have a different perspective of the money we make. Every spending decision becomes a spiritual decision. We must go to God (owner) to find out how He wants us to spend it. The idea of ownership will express how we will handle everything God has given to us to control.