Well, at least Amazon did well this Christmas

Yeah, I know, it's not PC on the left to like Amazon. Sorry, but I love 'em. I have found that they almost always have the best deal on almost anything I buy, and when it comes to expensive electronics, you can save a lot with Amazon (and get free shipping). Yes, frequenting your local store helps small businesses in your area. But why not just stop by your local store once a week and hand them a fifty dollar bill, if you don't mind paying more (often much more) for the same product. It's more honest to simply hand them cash - which you'd never do, by the way - than complain about others who go to Amazon because it saves them money. (And mind you, the argument also presumes that a dollar in my local business's pocket is somehow better than that same dollar in my own pocket - another point I don't quite understand the logic of.)

As an aside, what is the actual benefit in having a local store that could sell me the same thing as Amazon? I'm not sure I understand the concept entirely. People at Amazon work too, and many of them are American (if "buy American" is your thing), so aren't those jobs to be valued just as much as "small business" jobs? And having small businesses in your neighborhood - what exactly does that "do," why is it such a "good" thing that it "must" be preserved? I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm sincerely curious as to what the argument really is for preserving local businesses, besides the simple statement that "small businesses are good."