There's no Thanksgiving in Australia

I’ve received a number of e-mails over the past few days from friends and family wishing me and mine a “Happy Thanksgiving”… but there’s no Thanksgiving in Australia. No Turkey. No football. No 4 day weekend.
Thanksgiving is a pseudo religious/historic celebration of the American Indians acceptance of the Pilgrams to North America and the bounty and abundance of their new found land and religious freedom. American Indians got the short end of that deal. Thanksgiving signals the beginning of the holiday season with a 4 day weekend of football and feasting on Turkey and reckless Christmas shopping. Thanksgiving has been the biggest retail weekend of the year for as long as I can remember.
As I sit in my lounge, watching NFL football on ESPN brought to me by FoxTel I’m wondering how far will the good ol’ U.S. of A. fall? Citibank, the big three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler!), where will it end and who the hell is paying for all of this anyway and what about small businesses? There are small and medium sized businesses hitting the wall every day. What if the Federal Government spent this kind of money directly on social programs targeting people that are defaulting on mortgages if that is the root cause of the problem? I’m probably too naïve and don’t have a deep enough understanding of the situation to provide anything constructive. Anyway, it’s a worry. And America’s woes are impacting the global economy. I’m sure there are a lot of Americans that are in need of a helping hand this holiday season and I wish the best of luck to all of them.
Australia is a lucky country and I’m thankful that I’m here. America’s woes will impact Australia to some degree but the Australian economy is still relatively strong.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in America and Australia! I’m thankful for my good fortune and wish everyone good luck through the holiday season and into the New Year.