Please fix the obvious typo in the title.

Girl dressed up as a Trash Can with "The Economy" written on the front

Strange...the original poster treats it as a horrifying symptom of the girl's moral decay and early enslavement to the mindless consumer culture. I don't think I would have taken it as anything but tongue-in-cheek, a boogeyman for the Halloween of a new age -- the scary, economy-destroying spectre of easy credit. (Is that just because I spend too much time on Consumerist?)

I do suspect that maybe her parents exerted a bit of influence over the choice, though.

"You were a fairy princess last year, honey. Wouldn't you like to be something a little more special? Look, how about this one -- it's a credit card!"

"But I wanna be a princess!"

"But look, it's pink! You'd look adorable in this...we're totally getting this one..."

I didn't do this, but I thought about getting a cheap white T-shirt and a big permanent marker, and writing "YOUR 401K" on the front. I'd then wear that for Halloween--there's nothing scarier.

Some dude at the party I went to wore a plain white t-shirt with a giant, Sharpie-drawn arrow pointing downward on the front and the back.

"What are you?", we asked.

"I'm the economy," he said.

Also there was a great photo of a street in our down with a bunch of headstones that said things like "AIG," "401(K) and "Housing market." It was cute.

@bluewyvern: The original poster sounds like a real fun guy to hang out with, seeing as how he refers to trick or treat as "glorified begging for junk food."

When I was about eight, I receieved a "fake" credit card with Minnie Mouse on the front. I recall we went to Sears to purchase something and the cashier even played along and swiped it for me.
What 10 year old girl wouldn't revel in the idea of "unlimited" shopping.. seriously? We were dirt ass poor and I loved my little card that wouldn't buy me anything.

I friend of a friend dressed as a stock broker, complete with noose necktie.

@andonthatnote voted for That One:
A friend of a friend. Whoops.

If I saw that little girl I would have ran away from her screaming!

I wore a bunch of gold chains, carried a bag that said taxpayers' money and wore a shirt that said AIG.

One of my friends wore a suit with a Lehman Bros. id badge and his wife wore a pink night-gown- his pink slip.

i went as santa this year... to encourage people to start shopping now for the holiday season.

...girl (not pictured)

My friend went as the DJIA, a giant graph. He's an accountant for an investment firm, so it was fitting and well done.

Oh oh oh, check out this one from Cat and Girl:

[catandgirl.com]

@scoli83: My wife shaved patches of hair out of my head. I went as a Lehman Bros. employee. Suit, ID badge, pink slip and a fistiful of hair from "tearing" my hair out...

I saw a lot of hobo costumes...or did I?

My boyfriend went as an unemployed Wall Street executive dressed in a suit and tie with a cardboard sign saying "Down to last billion! Please help!" It got a big laugh.

@applesaucejx: At least it wasn't a toilet with dollar bills in the bowl.

my boyfriend dressed up in a suit/tie, carried a briefcase etc... his costume? "Someone that's employed"

I had 3 tape measures, and taped a bunch of stock tickers from the past few weeks to them... I went as the NYSE.

I almost dressed up as an adjustable rate mortgage broker

The cutest thing I saw was a kid dressed up as a voting booth. Check out this video:
[www.pubdef.net]

@NikonGal: that kid is a genius. Not only is it an awesome costume with a cool message, but he probably got a ton of canady from people who wanted their (do I dare?) CANDYdate to win. Genius.

@B: Yeah. I tend to be a little wary of anyone who goes the extra mile to express his bile by explicitly calling a 10 year old a "bitch."

Someone has anger issues. Calm down, angry man. Just because it's the internets that doesn't mean it's cool to call a 10-year-old profanities.

I was on the bus with a guy dressed in an Uncle Sam costume, except it was all torn up and the guy had fake blood-covered dollar bills "bleeding" from his stomach.