Black Friday Madness: Tent Cities Set Up to Buy Consumer CrapJohn Galt And it has arrived earlier than ever before, which ironically has led to protests within corporate monolith Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart spokesperson, Bill Wertz, defended the early hours by saying that associates understand that Black Friday and the holiday season is the most important time of the year. The implication, of course, is that it is more important to be with Wal-Mart than to be with your own family for a relaxing Thanksgiving dinner. Meanwhile, at other corporate giants like Best Buy, tent cities have formed in Southern California parking lots as shoppers wait for doors to open, Some were reportedly taking a week off of work to save money. What kind of culture sets up tent cities in an effort to beat out their neighbors to see who can buy the latest garbage at the cheapest price? And probably on credit. A culture that can justify the following actual statement from within one of these Best Buy tent cities: Consumers of this mentality continue to overlook the vast catalog of corporate crimes, abuse and economic undermining of local economies, right along with overlooking their fellow neighbors living in squalor within real tent cities across the former American republic. A look at some of the latest economic numbers reveals a surprising disconnect from reality that does not bode well for a winner-take-all culture coupled with governmental predation. Those who have suffered the effects of outsourcing, globalization, job and manufacturing destruction; who have been preyed upon by a criminal banking elite, and are looking at losing what little financial support remains, have been part of an expansion of tent cities appearing across the nation. Accurate statistics are hard to come by since many towns that discover tent dwellings have forced people to leave, or in some cases have torn them down entirely. Tent cities have also received very little coverage by the corporate media, as they provide real faces in place of the more preferable abstract (and manipulated) economic data. But we do know that there are at least 10-15% that consider themselves to be new poor and that entire American cities are beginning to resemble war zones full of refugees. Despite its ravaged economy that has seen America decline to number 12 on the Prosperity Index, America is still the worlds largest buyer of consumer goods, and perhaps stands as the best example of the cultural and moral failure that can result from this commitment to me, me, me. The real strength of any nation lies in cooperating with one another in mutually beneficial ways. This survival of the individual, and a framework wherein they can thrive at the highest levels, demands that individuals uplift and empower other individuals to attain their fullest capabilities. This is not a progressive, socialist, or New Age notion; when you help your neighbor, you help yourself. Any time you can lend your skills to strengthen those of another within your community, you have just increased the likelihood that your community will weather literal and figurative storms. Conversely, when you ignore your struggling fellow citizen by forming a retail tent city instead of visiting a real one, for example you pave the way for your own possible destitution. Being an abject consumer with zero skills to produce anything of worth is the fast track to hardship. We see its effects in America: it has resulted in a population that relishes their latest electronics purchase as some sort of proof that they are still part of a solid economy. In fact, most probably feel that they are directly contributing to the economy by making those purchases. And, yet, as Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog points out, there are at least 55 reasons why Americans desperately need to wake up and see the big picture; buying American-made products this holiday season is a good start preferably at the local level. An even better idea would be to rediscover the spirit of entrepreneurial and innovative America, as opposed to the passive, dependent America that is on a runaway collision with a harsh reality of consumer-driven lunacy. Now that the pathetic election sequence has been washed away, it is time to realize that every purchase you make equals a vote for one direction or another. It is a not a vote for Democrat or Republican; it is a vote for your freedom or your slavery. The best day to make such a statement is the day when half of America has chosen self-indulgence and ignorance. This Black Friday, break the chains, as Trends Journal forecaster Gerald Celente has repeatedly stated, and buy nothing. If you feel compelled to purchase, do it with full consciousness of where your money ultimately winds up. Or, perhaps, as we see another year of ravaging hordes descending on their corporate churches of worship, we should realize that we would do well to prepare for a coming time of increased scarcity when these very same mobs might not even be able to afford the best buy, but will spread out to find what can be had for free. Read other articles by John Galt Here 