Today is "Black Friday" in the United States, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and the day that many stores go "into the black" as profits beat out losses.

In ever-increasingly high pitch, the ads have been pulling people in earlier and earlier, with some stores opening up as early as 2 a.m.. Ironically and sadly, Thanksgiving has become the prelude to Black Friday rather than the focus of the weekend.

Also ironically, the use of the term "Black" to describe a day is most closely associated with Black Monday, the day of the stock market crash in 1929 and the beginning of the great depression. Today, Black Friday signals the prayer for big sales that will keep our economy going - a necessary link in our economic chain. Say what you will about the insanity of getting up at 1 a.m. to go shopping - if people didn't do it, we'd all be screwed.

With Mercury aspecting Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus this weekend, sales should be strong. People will spend too much, putting themselves in debt, while keeping the economy moving.

My bank opened at 6, but according to the teller, it will be a waste of time. "Last year," he said, "the first customer came in around nine."

After all, no one's paying cash for anything, are they?