Wal-Mart Stampede - It's just too easy to blame Wal-Mart.

Let me go out on a limb by saying, Wal-Mart’s Black Friday stampede is our entire fault. Yes, yours, mine and ours. Our collective neurosis is to blame.

In Forest Gump, Forest tells Jennie what his mother said about whether or not he’s stupid. As they sit on the bus he tells her, “Mama says, stupid is as stupid does”. And so in the case of Wal-Mart’s Black Friday 2008 there is enough blame to go all around because there is so much stupidity out there. There is a total lack of common sense because there aren't enough people out there who are afraid to be poor.

On the day after Thanksgiving 2008 at a Long Island store a security worker or greeter at a Wal-Mart was trampled to death by a group of Black Friday shoppers all trying to be first inside to take advantage of store bargains. Police and EMT's were pushed by shoppers while other shoppers refused or got angry when asked to leave the store while Wal-Mart shut down to secure the man's life. This was at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, NY. The mall is in charge of mall security. What should Wal-Mart have done, set up a sand bag machine location and fired rubber bullets on the shoppers? Or Tasered the entire group?

Whose fault is the Wal-Mart Black Friday stampede?   

The Shoppers DNA Code: Buying that next pair of shoes will make you feel better about yourself.

It’s too easy to pick on Wal-Mart on this instance. In fact its way too easy to blame Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, easy credit, credit card companies, our own government and every shopping mall that opens at midnight the day after Thanksgiving. To just blame Wal-Mart is to ignore the real problem. It’s all of us and the buy-buy-buy mentality that Wall Street and Madison Avenue foster each and every day of the year.

One of the greatest personal injuries American’s suffer each and every day is the constant advertising that implores us to shop till we drop.

Here is the Madison Avenue manta: Buying that next pair of shoes will make you feel better about yourself. Here is the truth: Buying the 16^th pair of shoes won’t make you feel any better about yourself then when you purchased the 2^nd pair. Shoppers are substituting buying for self-worth. Go get therapy.  Madison Avenue preys on the weak by encouraging impulse buying. The kind of person who purchases impulsively is not a real value investor / or purchaser. They buy based on feeling and impulse. Madison Avenue designs commercials with impulse buying in mind. Add to the Madison Avenue mantra easy credit terms and bankruptcy as an escape and it’s a recipe for disaster.  Think about it isn’t this essentially what happened to Bear Stearns and the other bankrupt brokerage lenders? The easy credit mentality isn't about value investing or shopping it's all about impulse.

Certainly by now you’ve seen the video footage and if you missed it it’s in the first link.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Look at the Wal-Mart in Grand Rapids, Michigan video from Channel 4, where a pregnant woman is knocked to the ground and requires medical treatment.

Here is a Black Friday fight that has the young camera person laughing while she records this impulsive behavior that looks more like junkies fighting over a syringe.

Here is a Southern California PlayStation 3 sale at Wal-Mart resulting in a fight. In this video people are sitting outside with sleeping bags waiting for the store to open. There are only 20 PlayStations in inventory but hundreds line up thinking a someone will make PlayStations just appear out of nowhere. Channel 2 CBS News. (www.cbs2.com)  Here is a second video of the same chaos where customers need to be restrained by the police.

Wal-Mart isn’t alone. Here is a fight at Best Buy over the PlayStation 3.  Here is a Myrtle Beach PS3 fight over 26 units.

Even law enforcement is hypervigilant about shopping behavior. Here is an officer using the Taser to tame a shopper at Best Buy who is believed to be using a stolen credit card.  Channel 2, Daytona Beach, Florida has the security camera footage on YouTube.  The investigation showed the customer was using a credit card she actually owned.

In this video Channel 5 video of Circuit City, Western Hills, a consumer alert is issued for store closings. This consumer alert lists the franchise stores likely to close and no refunds or returns can be obtained. This being allowed is simply fraud by those companies closing their stores knowing customers are being taken through sales of gift cards and worthless warranties.

What is a Shopping Blitz?  The sales force prepares for Black Friday, in West Sacramento, California's Wal-Mart Supercenter, The media person says “… people sometime turn into shopping monsters…”. Wal-mart said they were ready for Black Friday. Rolling out the inventory and stocking the shelves, for the busiest shopping day of the year.  Four hundred employees working the aisles to prepare for the shoppers. Over 10,000 shoppers were expected.

Wall Street – Is Wall Street along with the local News encouraging “Black Friday” Shopping?  Of course they are. Here is Channel 3's Chris Valerio Live at the New York Stock Exchange.  

Best Buy, Black Friday put to rap music shows the number of shoppers converging on a local store to purchase – lyrics predict the problem.

It's a disgrace and we should all be ashamed of Black Friday. Look at this 2008 Wal-Mart stampede where the rescue personnel are performing CPR on the security guard who later dies, while people stand around continuing to shop or taping the event. CBS-News. Here is CNN's coverage showing not even the police or EMT's were safe. People weren't even willing to leave after the man died. These shoppers are an absolute disgrace. How many of them will actually turn themselves in for trampling the man? My guess, Zero!

Take a look back and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Black Friday, 2007, Best Buy, Circuit City and Wal-Mart.

Black Friday, 2006, Circuit City, local News Encouraging the “insanity” at Office Depot and Target. Feel the crowds surging on this Wal-Mart entrance.

Black Friday, 2005  from Best Buy.

Black Friday, 2004 from Best Buy.

Stop blaming Wal-Mart for participating in what  we encourage and is promoted by Wall Street, Main Street, Credit-Street and the tax man. Because unless dollars are exchanging hands between the store and the shopper, none of them are getting their fix and your 401K plan isn’t making you happy.