Consumerist watch

Aren't we ashamed yet of our freewheeling ways? Here are some spending numbers from the Black Friday madness that pervades the store fronts of Wal Marts and the Circuit City's all over the nation every Thanksgiving...

The National Retail Federation, meanwhile, issued a gloomier report, estimating with its survey partner, BIGresearch, that shoppers spent $343.31 per person, versus $372.57 per person a year ago, a 7.9 percent decrease. Total spending reached $41.2 billion, versus an estimated $41.0 billion in 2008. But traffic increased to 195 million shoppers visiting stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 172 million last year.