"See the violence inherent in the system? I'm being repressed! Great Monty Python skit. Just as applicable for consumers shopping on Black Friday. An orgy of materialism, pointless consumerism, buying crap they don't need at prices that still preserve the concept of "surplus labor" - if they weren't making a profit off the labor of others, why would they be selling it? Because the're nice guys? Because running a discount mart is their hobby? To make money! That's the point. And once an American family makes about $75000 per household, any further increase in money does not equal a proportionate increase in happiness. True.