Herd Mentality

Hi All!

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people will waste a perfect day off by fighting crowds chasing scarce values at the local merchants' After-Thanksgiving Day sales.

It seems to me that much of the buying or urge to buy is based on impulse and the old notion of "getting a good deal"

While certain "sales" in the traditional sense can offer goods that people want or need at better than average current prices, the internet age and the hyper-marketing of goods at the old walk-in retailers has made "getting a deal" something that is available 365 days a year.

I predict that this will be the year of the HDTV, be it nifty flat panel plasmas or monsterous projection sets. The latter are certainly the most TV/lb. for the money, ever! But what a pain to move! Do people put them in their cars somehow or is delivery essential? Seems to me that it would be like buying a new refrigerator.

In perusing the prices during the current sales, the newer gadgets are cheaper than last year, but certainly have a long way to fall -- perhaps as early as later in the Chrismas shopping season if sales aren't meeting expectations.

I have been enjoying a rather large flat-panel plasma since last spring, where I negotiated a price at a pawn shop that the current offerings can't touch.

It wasn't a sale, it wasn't new (almost, though) and it had the stigma of being a pawn shop item. but it was cheap, and I love it. Trust me, save for a plasma -- that's the future, not those huge boxes. Picture is the best imaginable, clear at every angle of viewing.

Another group of products that are a year or two from buying affordable is the new generation of games. People won't be bothered to stop by and spend a few minutes voting, but will camp out in a Best Buy parking lot for days ahead to spend $500 on the new Sony PS3 (sans game disks at $50 a pop).

What's more, many of these buyers are turning around and selling their precious units, with typical new model bugs and all, on eBay and such at sometimes ridiculous profit.

What a country!

And we wonder why so many millions come here or yearn to, even though some would like to kill us.

This is truly the greatest and richest country on earth -- perhaps in history. I applaud this unbridled expression of capitalism at it's extreme.

I just don't personally "get it"

Cheers!

PS. Photo is from this morning at a Corpus Christi Target!