holiday season spending

I find it hard to understand why everything is taken to the level of fakeness(not sure if that is a word) in US. The Black Friday sale is another perfect example of this. Items are sold with an additional 5-10% discount on their usual price but the whole gimmick is to market it was over 50% discount. Patrons unaware of the usual pricing of the items tend to think they are getting an awesome deal and therefore end up spending on stuff they never really wanted. Americans on an average spend $570 on holiday gifts alone during the months of November-December. This gift spending combined with spending on the family makes this entire holiday season a huge factor in setting the pace for the American economy in 2008.