Black Friday's origins

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Peninsula readers' letters:November 24
From Daily News Group readers Posted: 11/23/2011 05:34:05 PM PSTUpdated: 11/23/2011 10:14:27 PM PST
Black Friday's origins
Dear Editor: Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving Day is called Black Friday. One theory is that the wheels of vehicles in heavy traffic on the day after Thanksgiving Day left many black markings on the road surface.The other theory is that the term comes from an old way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small businesses, started making profits prior to Christmas. Many hoped to start showing a profit, marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving. Just like so many of our other holidays, the true purpose behind having a holiday called Thanksgiving is being totally obliterated by a tsunami of greed. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever are living in poverty this year and very few people even seem to notice. Perhaps we should all take time this week to remember the tens of millions of Americans who are going to be deeply suffering this winter. They keep telling us that the recession is over, yet poverty continues to spread like an out-of-control plague. But for most Americans, life is still relatively "normal" and so the horrible suffering going on out there doesn't really affect them.
Ted Rudow III, MA
Palo Alto