As seen in The Onion (note the source):

Cash-strapped American Airlines announced a new series of fees this week that will apply to all customers not currently flying, scheduled to fly, or even thinking about flying aboard the commercial carrier.

The fees, the latest introduced by American Airlines in a continuing effort to combat its financial woes, will take effect on Monday. According to company officials, these charges will include a $25 tax on citizens traveling with any other airline, as well as a mandatory $30 surcharge for passengers who decide to just stay home for the holidays instead.[…]

Arpey said that non-passengers of American Airlines should expect to pay a small fee when making Greyhound bus reservations, choosing to drive to their final destination, or simply being a citizen of the United States with a valid Social Security number.

Sometimes, the Onion feels remarkably close to reality.

Meanwhile, a few of us need to argue to make sure that surcharges for non-middle seats are considered approvable items on our expense reports, to make sure that corporate travel policy stays ahead of the a-la-carte-ing of air travel.

Another chapter for the textbook on the law of unintended consequences: An immigration raid on one meatpacking plant leads to a shortage in Kosher meat.    Via the newswires:

"Normally, this, on a Monday, this would be stacked up to here," he said, pointing to a mark on the wall above his head.

But the cardboard boxes of beef in the freezer mostly reached his knee. It’s a scene being repeated in the freezers of kosher butchers and their customers across the nation.

The shortage is the result of the collapse of Agriprocessors Inc., formerly the largest kosher meatpacking company in the nation. In May, nearly 400 workers were arrested in an immigration raid at the company’s Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse.

Since then, the company has struggled, and the plant has closed. It stopped shipping beef about three weeks ago and chicken in the last week, customers said. Since there are only a handful of processors nationwide who slaughter animals according to Jewish law and under the supervision of rabbis, the shutdown has cut the kosher meat supply to the bone.

I realize that what I’m about to say is not going to be popular during an economic downturn, but doesn’t an incident such as this – where a business is shut down due to the deportation of a large portion of its workforce and its ability to restaff with documented laborers – highlight the message that there is apparent demand for such labor in the country, and that our immigration laws ought to be reformed to reflect that reality.

Of course, another possible interpretation is that there’s a structural inefficiency in our labor market –- potential workers aren’t aware of or live too far away from potential jobs, potential workers aren’t fond of the nature of those potential jobs, and/or the larger market apparently won’t tolerate the costs associated with raising wages to better attract staff – but that line of thought quickly leads down a path towards the sort of economic philosophy that always gives me a headache.

I had seen/heard some speculation that due to the economic slowdown, we might see a return to the intangible reasons for celebrating the season, rather than the commercialistic orgy that sweeps across the country every December.

The trampling at Wal-Mart quickly chilled that naïve hope of mine.  Instead I’ll just be amused by the dilemma that economic forecasters face this season.    Via the Wall Street Journal (subscriber link):

In the NRF survey, which was conducted by BIGresearch and includes spending data for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and estimates for Sunday, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year. Black Friday traditionally marks the day when retailers turn a profit for the year.

But in a sign that sales over the next several weeks are likely to slow, shoppers said that by the end of the weekend they had completed a greater portion of their holiday shopping — 39.3% compared to 36.4% last year, according to the NRF survey.

Not discussed is the odds that the higher percentage of folks who are “done” is as a reflection of the shorter holiday shopping season, rather than a sign that consumers are buying less or seeking deals when gift-buying.

From the New York Daily News:

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.[…[

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. […]

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk’s life.

For the past few years, I’ve expressed frustration over my fears that global warming hype would damage popular will to embrace conservation and clean energy.

(Short version: Much of the weather weirdness of the first part of the decade is likely more attributable to random noise and shorter-term cycles.  “Global warming”, which is probably real, is also subtle enough to be difficult to distinguish from that noise and shorter-term cycles.  Thus I’ve been concerned that when those cycles/noise reverse, political will will evaporate, even though there are very good reasons over-and-above climate change to embrace clean tech and conservation.)

Well, it seems that the economy may be making my fears moot.   From the New York Times:

From Italy to China, the threat to jobs, profits and government tax revenues posed by the financial crisis has cast doubt on commitments to cap emissions or phase out polluting factories.

Automakers, especially Detroit’s Big Three, face collapsing sales, threatening their plans to invest heavily in more fuel-efficient cars. And with gas prices now around $2 a gallon in the United States, struggling consumers may be less inclined than they once were to trade in their gas-guzzling models in any case.

While hordes of shoppers in the United States know the day after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday”, some folks are observing “Buy Nothing Day”:

As the planet starts heating up, maybe it’s time to finally go cold turkey. Take the personal challenge by locking up your debit card, your credit cards, your money clip, and see what it feels like to opt out of consumer culture completely, even if only for 24 hours. Like the millions of people who have done this fast before you, you may be rewarded with a life-changing epiphany. While you’re at it, what better time to point out real alternatives to unbridled consumption – and the climate uncertainty that it entails – by taking your BND spirit to the streets?

While I tend not to partake in the frenzy of consumerism right after Thanksgiving, my preference is one of claustrophobia than a principled stand against excessive materialism.  Besides, I finished my Yuletide shopping a couple of weeks ago.

I suspect that a few more folks may be observing Buy Nothing Day this year, although the motivation is likely one of economic necessity than principles.  The American Research Group released projections on the 2008 holiday shopping season, and compared them to the past nine years’ of spending:

Seen at New York Daily News:

An investigation by the Department of Consumer Affairs found that 14% of the scales at John F. Kennedy Airport and 4% at LaGuardia Airport overestimated the weight of bags by a pound or more.

"If airlines are going to start charging travelers left and right for their luggage, their scales better be perfect," Commissioner Jonathan Mintz announced.

Oops.

Before market pressures drove more airlines to become sticklers about luggage sizes and weights, this probably wouldn’t have mattered much.  Scales at the check-in counter just confirmed what check-in staff and passengers knew was blatantly obvious, in those situations where bags were blatantly over the limits.

However, now that airlines are paying closer attention and checking….well, it’s probably a good thing that regulatory entities are checking the scales’ calibrations.

Well, you could try changing your name.

Seen at Business Insurance:

The aigdirect.com unit will become 21st Century Insurance in January. Woodland Hills, Calif.-based 21st Century Insurance Group, an auto insurer, became a wholly owned subsidiary of New York-based AIG in 2007. AIG will also shed 6.6% of jobs in that unit, the company official said, confirming a Bloomberg report.

There is quite a bit of speculation, both in the BI article and elsewhere, that this helps set up a possible sale of both 21st Century and AIG Direct, as AIG looks to raise cash.

And, presumably the folks at AIG Direct will appreciate some relief in branding concerns.

We’ve been watching CNN’s coverage of the attacks in Mumbai…and I think someone at CNN could stand to exercise a bit of judgment in selecting which commercials should air.

I’m not sure this is the right night for an ad by India Tourism to run.