The Real Black Friday

Every year, after filling their bellies with caloric goodness, American housewives wake up at the crack of way-too-damn-early to purchase as many discounts their minivan can hold. That day is called Black Friday -- a 1960's tradition to go out and shop 'til you drop and then some. Now, when I think of Black Friday, I always think about it having a negative conotation since black uaully means darkness and all things bad. But, black, in the 1960's version of Black Friday actually represents being in the black. Back when accounting ledgers were done by hand, RED used to mean you were loosing profits, and BLACK meant you were making profits. And the fact that it was the largest purchasing day of the year meant all of your accounts were in the black again. $_$ cha-ching!

Here at Victorian Supremacy, we're not so cheerful. Black Friday hasn't always meant Black Friday. Before today's meaning of glorified consumer indulgence, Black Friday meant an American Banker and American Financier's glorified day of over indulgence. In 1869, Jay Gould and James Fisk made an attempt to corner the gold market. Not just a little try.. but I very good try. It was a good enough try to cause gold prices to skyrocket and scare the American public into a Financial Panic on September 12 1869. By buying all the gold on the market, Gould and Fisk increased gold prices from $130 to $160 in a matter of weeks. When the government caught wind of their scandal, Fisk and Gould were ordered to sell $4,000,000 of their gold and buy government bonds instead. This massive selling caused a huge drop in the markets and the financial crisis that we call today the original Black Friday.