Attention, Shoppers: Where's Your Humanity?

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"We are very pleased with our results this quarter," Lee Scott, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart, said in a statement about the company's earnings. "At a time when our customer is feeling the pressure of a tough economy, Wal-Mart's price leadership is more important than ever."

Sadly, it appears that statement is true. For those shoppers, even a death didn't get in the way of the pursuit of a discount.

What happened at that store is an analogy for why we're in this recession that has finally been declared a recession. Consumers and corporations tragically stampeded into deals they couldn't afford.

There's no doubt in my mind that many of those shoppers who ended up crushing a man to death could ill afford to be holiday shopping, even at a store with bargain prices.

· On the air: Michelle Singletary discusses personal finance Tuesdays on NPR's "Day to Day" program and at http://www.npr.org.

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