Now that Black Friday is over, let's survey the damage some shoppers did. A 23-year-old student who had been camping outside at the Union Square Best Buy since Tuesday afternoon bought "a Sony laptop for $399, saving $300, and buy a 32-inch Samsung TV and Nintendo Wii, both for just $435, saving more than $300." He told the Post, "When I finally got in, it felt like the gates of heaven opened up. I had to miss a couple of days of school to be here." more ›

Last week Governor Paterson signed off on a new tax law requiring out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax from consumers in New York State. Like other states, New York requires residents to pay tax on out-of-state purchases for which sales tax wasn’t collected. The big argument is over who’s responsible for collecting; the new law puts that onus vendors like Amazon, which is now fighting the bill in State Supreme Court. more ›

Like No Impact Man before him, Brooklyn resident Scott Ballum embarked last month on a year long mission to radically examine his own patterns of consumption. He’s calling it the Consume®econnection Project, and his plan sounds simple yet exhausting:

The Mission: A year-long effort to meet the laborers and craftsmen who build what I buy – and put a human face on consumption. For every transaction, there must be a personal connection with someone along the production chain.