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One of the big questions after the terrorist attacks on WTC in the United States was, should we continue with our ways knowing full well that there should be more things done to prevent the WTC tragedy from happening again?

Halloween back in 2001 was still happy, but many people were already beginning to raise their voice against the pointless consumerism that abounded.

Patriotism

How is patriotism viewed in the United States? In such a large country with a trillion dollar economy, spending is tantamount to patriotism. When you spend your hard-earned money, you keep the economy going. When you spend money, you keep the small and large businesses operating.

In effect, the whole system is maintained because people are letting go of their money. When a season like Halloween is not suddenly questioned, the commercial establishment recoils out of fear. If no one wants to spend, what would happen to the businesses?

In this view, the defenders of Halloween are quick to denounce the one-sided analysis of people regarding the consumerist activities of people during Halloween festivities. They say, well, spending money is tantamount to pledging alliance to the flag of the US.

Whether this view is true or not, it does make a little sense.

"We don't buy that!"

But people were no longer amused. According to Kevin Horrigan from the newspaper Post-Dispatch:

"Take the dough you'd spend on Halloween candy and send it to the Red Cross. How about $1.9 billion instead?"

Such a view was not uncommon. According to the enemies of Halloween, the celebration cheapens everything it touches. According to the supporters of the festivities, not celebrating Halloween means giving up on the American ideals of equitability.

To give in to what the 'terrorists' want was to cheapen the death of the people at the WTC.

Economic interest

Of course, Halloween is a prime point for those interested in the vicissitudes of economic interest in the United States. Halloween is a retail-based industry. The industry thrives on individuals going out of their way to go to shops, stores and malls to buy their Halloween stuff.

Now, if a country is very dependent on a particular retail-based industry and that industry suddenly disappears, what would happen? The whole structure begins to crumble. Imagine the entire American economy as a large machine that operates with several main cogs.

The main cogs are those large industries and fields that produce the most amount of money. Now, the whole economy is dependent on these fields. This is why during the peak of economic collapse; the United States government had been quick to lend the large industries to prevent them from collapsing.

Because when the big businesses go down, the employees and all the small enterprises dependent on the big businesses would also go down fast. It's not about selfishness, really. It's more about preserving a slow machine, so that you won't have to contend with a completely broken workhorse.

Today, people have returned to the former habits of spending during Halloween, largely because the memory of 9/11 has toned down a bit. Let's hope this keeps up.