CHEAP THRILL

News 'Flash': Tinsel Sales Sparkle During Grim Financial Year

MY PERSONAL MOTTO IS ''Everything Goes Better With Glitter." Weird but true.

I have seen how tiny shards of color sprinkled over the grimmest day can making everything all sparkly and beautiful.

So perhaps I was among the few not surprised to read that tinsel sales are way up this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The story is filled with nonessential facts like tinsel "works on all 35 different species of Christmas trees." And a Philadelphia manufacturer was once known as the "The King of Tinsel." And the word tinsel derives from the French word estincele, meaning sparkle. Fun empty facts.

As a former journalist, I should probably look askanced at the Journal spending precious reporting hours on such filler. But, hey, it's a new day. No one cares anymore about making things better! No one has any hope for change! Let's just throw a party! I'll provide the tinsel!

It's practically a metaphor for America: cheap, shiny and sticks to everything.