Unemployment in the double digits, real unemployment even higher, the credit market still frozen like a bag of peas in the freezer section, and consumer confidence still shockingly low. To think there might not be a surge in the number of people running out to buy robotic hamsters.

CHICAGO – Shoppers who endured long lines and sometimes-frigid temperatures spent only slightly more during their Black Friday shopping sprees than they did last year, according to data released Saturday by a research firm.

At the same time, their pajama-clad counterparts, a much smaller group that accounted for only a fraction of overall sales, shopped online from the warmth of their homes and dramatically boosted their spending.

Even at that, the average online order rose by about $44 on the busiest shopping day of the year. The average web shopper purchased 5.4 items this year, up from 4.6 items last year.

Nothing to sneeze at, of course, but we’re not talking about game-changing numbers, either. Web sales account for just 7% of the retail market, so little change in the in-store area can’t be overcome by a slight move upward on the web.

Want people to spend more of their own money? Let them keep more of their own money. Cut their taxes and cut non-essential federal spending at the same time. But that would mean Congressional Democrats having less of our money to blow on special interests.