Okay, I'm going to try to keep this short and work as hard as I can to hold my tongue. I just finished watching 2 hours of "Deal or No Deal" with my parents - no one here actually watched the whole thing (father played Brain Age 2; mother slept; and I surfed the Net). This episode sent me over the edge on what kind of capitalist holiday, filled with corporate gluttony, this season has become.

It all began with my disdain for those oportunists who felt like it okay to take advantage of people in the holiday frenzy. Such individuals listed Wiis on Craigslist for far above retail (i.e. $500), and marketed them as including five (5) games - Wii Sports does not count as five games people. This trend continued even onto today.

Some "spirit of giving." People pawned off the hard-to-find console in the vein trying help others out, but only at the expense of %300 markup. I understand the concept of retail itself operates on markups and standards of Capitalism, but construing outrageous price-gauging as helpful practices is simply despicable.

As Wii-hysteria as a base of frustration, we come to tonight. Normally, I can look past all of the commercialization of the Holidays (Christmas), but the show sent me over the edge. The theme, again, was the "spirit of giving." In a time where people around the world are in need, and during a season that highlights the importance of giving to less-than-privileged, here's NBC handing out gifts to the audience, and money to its contestants.

What about those without any means to have Christmas? Why didn't those advertisers give plane tickets or DSs to welfare families or refugees?

Sure, I know it's a bit unpractical in our capitalist culture, but those advertising dollars could have gone to a bit of a better cause.

Perhaps this is more of a self-serving rant, and altruistic ideals can be extensively debated, but honestly, where's the game show handing out to charities or to the needy? I know I'm not helping the cause by just ranting, but it's some sort of outlet for the frustration that is the commercialization of Christmas.

Feel free to disagree, flame or disregard, but I need some sort of crowd to vent to, sorry.

Ironically, with the conclusion of one of the most commercialized holidays, is the coming of even more potentially great games to blow even more money on. While I may just have condemned Corporate America, I can't help but praise it as well.

Screw you economics, money and fair-market Capitalism! Screw, you.

Happy Holidays all.