I'm a little embarrassed to admit that after I published my first diary "Let's Turn Black Friday into Greenback Friday and make the Big Banks Blue" Tuesday, I was a tad disappointed that it didn't immediately rocket to the top of the rec list. I guess we can chalk that up to youth and naivete. And no, I wasn't trying to write a break-out Country & Western song. But, it's all good.
Today's a new day and we have a challenge[[we have a challenge.]] BLACK FRIDAY still looms in front of us, just nine days away. I can't emphasize enough the tension that is building in the retail and banking worlds, even now as we write and read these words. If something goes wrong at the processing centers or in the stores (server problems, too many call offs, bad weather) on Black Friday; to hear them talk, you'd think it was the end of the world as we know it.
It doesn't matter what the circumstances were last year, each year the goals are set higher, way higher. And to not meet those goals, to fall short, way short, is UNTHINKABLE. Perhaps this is a good way to describe our goal.
A show of force, the 99% coming together on the biggest shopping day of the year to show the big, corporate banks and the big, corporate retailers that this is indeed
the end of the world as they've known it.
In his last two diaries, EagleOfFreedom has done a comprehensive job of explaining why our credit card transactions are so important to the big banks and how they affect our local communities. If you missed them, they are must reads. Go back and check them out.
He said I wrote a passionate diary and indeed it was. And the reason for that is that we have an exceptional opportunity here. An opportunity that only comes along once a year to make our voices heard, to make a difference, to vote with our pocketbook, to put our money where our mouth is, to make headlines. It is: THE BIGGEST SHOPPING DAY OF THE YEAR!!
And, like it or not the lead news stories on Friday will be about shopping.
Now, we've had a lively discussion and I understand that some of you are determined to just give cookies and stay out of the malls. And yes, I know that it will help our local merchants and keep money out of the hands of the big banks if we try to use cash whenever possible, all season long. And I appreciate that some have decided to just not buy anything, and that certainly is a statement. But the reality is that a lot of people will be out shopping at 4 in the morning on Friday. And believe it or not, you know a lot of them. In fact, you will probably will have dinner with many of them on Thursday. So who will be at your table or in your kitchen? There will be a lot of grandmothers who just can't let the little ones be disappointed, there will be some moms and dads who will brave the crowds to get one of the doorbuster deals, there will be aunts and uncles who wouldn't dream of breaking the tradition of shopping at 4 am on the day after. And you know these people. And chances are, a lot of them are part of the 99%.
The only way this will work is if we can persuade a lot of them to join the effort to send a message. Let's tell the banks that even though we may not be at an OWS demonstration, we are the 99% and we will not be ignored.
So if you choose to accept this mission, try to persuade everyone you see or talk with for the next nine days to leave their credit cards at home on GREENBACK FRIDAY. Let's make the headlines "Shoppers Make the Big Banks Blue", "Banks Stunned by Drop in Credit Card Transactions, "Shoppers Strike a Blow for the 99%", " and my favorite, "Greenback Friday Campaign Boosts Retailers' Bottom Line".