We have some stupid holidays in our culture...

...like Halloween...buy your children cheap, poorly made clothing, made out of foam rubber and plastic, that can easily catch fire, and that they'll only want to wear one day in their lives...oh yeah, not to mention giving them shit candy, so they can help your dentist pay his bills...

Or take Valentine's Day: Buy lots and lots of heart-shaped crap!

Making all this useless crap, and selling it can't be good for the environment, but people say these holidays help spur the economy.

Well, let's compromise: If you want to spur the economy with holidays, why not try having holidays that're about buying USEFUL things that AREN'T completely wasteful and destructive to the environment and society?

Like, how's about "Buy Yourself Some New Clothes!" Day, or "Buy Yourself a New Computer!" Day, or "Buy Yourself a New Mattress to Replace that Piece of Crap You've Been Breaking Your Back on for the Past Ten Years!" Day? Oh, I know a good one: "Try Some New, Unfamiliar Food" Day!

Let's buy people useful things for the holidays, can we?

This one I'd go for. I like watching Andrew Zimmern's show, and more than once I've found myself wishing there were someplace around here where I could try fried tarantulas or chocolate fruit. The way I've seen some people in this country balk at normal foods that aren't made exactly "their way" is just silly sometimes. That and all the waste.
*cough* spoiled brats *cough*
Sorry, pet peeve of mine. On the flip side, I heard about freeganism recently. That's a whole different story.

How about you quit hatin' on some Halloween punk?

Agreed.  It's easy for one to become jaded and crotchety toward the holidays that no longer apply, but I say let the people who celebrate enjoy themselves.  Especially the kids.  Halloween in particular is my niece's and girlfriend's children's most favorite time of the year; they'll even go the extra mile to create costumes of their own, throw theme parties, and attend the NY's Village Halloween Parade.  It's not always about the commercialism, after all.

Halloween's even better after you've grown up, because then all the ladies treat it as an excuse to dress like prostitutes

Right, until you're a father, and it's your daughters dressing like prostitutes...

Fatherhood ain't for me. But if it were, I sure wouldn't be telling my adult offspring how to live.

Treating one's offspring like property is one thing, but trying to keep them from getting FUBAR is an entirely separate other thing.

...

I notice that no one minds that I'm "Hating" on Valentine's Day

Contrary to your prudish tendencies, people who celebrate their sexuality are not "FUBAR".

Valentine's Day ain't shit though.

I could talk about the possibility of catching STDs, but I don't want to sound preachy or holier-than-thou...

...there's nothing to celebrate about STDs, m'kay?

I was totally unaware that sexy Halloween costumes spread disease! Is nothing sacred?

*snicker*

As for Valentine's Day, this one begins to make some semblance of sense if you're, you know..... actually in love.  The stigma of commercialism aside, it's still a great occasion to go above and beyond in expressing the affection for your loved one.  The holiday weighed but little with me until a few years ago.

I mean, shoot..... Haven't you ever seen that Simpsons episode with Apu and Manjula?

I'm talking about girls dressing sexually explicitly for the purpose of seducing men. That's where the sexual intercourse follows.

Granted, some girls only like to dress sexually explicit, so they can FEEL sexy, not actually have sex, but when a girl feels like she needs to put a conscious effort into being sexually appealing, it's because it stems from feelings of self-inadequacy and self-inferiority; but, of course, they just blame us men for their feelings of inadequacy. When women dress like that, it's a cry for help...

Bernie, I find your assumptions about women pretty damned disturbing.

It's not an assumption, it's a conclusion I've drawn from my own life experiences...not to mention a few psychologist friends (1 male, 2 female) who actually happen to agree with me...

Besides, what's disturbing about it? Most women (dare I say people in general?) feel like complete shit about themselves  when they've no good reason to...that's the disturbing part!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!

How about "happy i wanna rip out people's faces" day.

.

It's true, holidays=$$$ for businesses. It has been like this since ancient times, and is going to stay. Like mentioned, "Buy your own clothes Day" will certainly pop up haha.

But, reminiscing old times, I actually don't have a problem with Halloween, but then again I am only 28 years old and maybe in the future I'll be fed up. But for the time being I always got excited when Halloween comes. When your older it's more about the parties, the get-togethers with friends etc...

Holiday's I couldn't care less about are:

1). St.Patricks Day (can't figure that one out).
2). St.Valentines Day
3). Thanksgiving Day

Always thought it was interesting, economically speaking, how things often get CHEAPER during the holidays;

the way I've always thought was, if it's a period during which people are going to buy like they don't have

If someone's looking for a gift that someone else absolutely MUST HAVE, that person's usually goind to do whatever it takes, or pay however much, in order to procure said gift; in that case, shouldn't businesses be SCALPING them price wise, on account of the increased demand?

I mean, if demand increases, wouldn't it be wise for merchants to raise prices on those products that're in demand, in order to maximize profits?

The way I see it, the time to slash prices is when people AREN'T being pressed to buy on account of some holiday...

I guess an economist or marketing major would be able to explain it to me, but I still stand by my own reasoning...

I think the general idea is "if they come in to get a deal, they might buy other things, too." If they jack up the price, they're just going to go to another place that has the deal. A 200% profit might not be as nice as a 5000% profit, but it's better than 0%.

Well, I always wait to buy my chocolates after Halloween. Close to 50-75% OFF BABY!!!!

Yummy