Selling American workers and the nation out to the Chinese? No, the correct word for what we are up against is corporatism. A handful of corporatists claiming to be 'Christian conservatives' have hijacked and looted the nation. We will not be putting food on our tables if we don't take our stand.
The time for talk is done. The time for reading on the 'net or writing on it is done. It is time to stand against free trade. Spread the word. And let's defend our nation together.
What can you do? You may not expect there to be an answer, but there is.
If two-thirds of the economy is consumer spending, then what we choose to buy controls two-thirds of it. And so:
1) Stop shopping at Big Box stores. Not just Walmart, but also Home Depot. Applebees. Blockbuster. Support private, local businesses. Why? Because each of those support individual families, keeps the money local instead of having it all sent off to one corporate headquarters, and because smaller merchants pay fairer prices to distributors, who can pay fairer prices to manufacturers, who can pay fairer prices to suppliers, all of whom can then pay fairer wages to their employees. Big Box stores squeeze all of these to get your discount. One purchase at Target, and you have destroyed dozens of jobs and put under dozens of local businesses. A Home Depot, for example, eliminates paint stores, hardware stores, lighting stores, appliance stores, nurseries, lumber yards, and a whole host of businesses for several towns - as well as damages all of those who supply such stores.
Also, local merchants can choose to do what we all must do:
2) Buy local. As in stop buying, "Made in China." We have felt powerless maybe since we don't have say over what is on the shelves, but we do if we go to local merchants. Wal-Mart will tell you to f-yourself and your nation. A local merchant can order as the customers want. And honestly, there is choice if you put in some time.
We have become incredibly selfish, each of us just caring about saving a few bucks and some time, and we have sold each other out. We must stand together united, as one nation.
There is a label solution that will really help fix things further. But to start, you see that there is a lot you can do. Each time you spend a dollar you cast a vote. Every time you go to the self-check line at the supermarket, you cost someone their job. When you use an ATM instead of a teller. Which leads to:
3) Pay with cash or check - not credit or ATM card. Why? If you pay with credit card, the merchant pays a fee to the bank - a percentage usually of the purchase, up to 3% often. By paying with cash, you are directly increasing profit for the local merchant you shop at, instead of just handing it to the big banks that just looted us and that hand their CEO's multi-million dollar bonuses. 1-3% may not seem like a lot, but do the math. Say you go to a local suit store instead of the Big Box Men's Wearhouse. Instead of saving a few dollars but undermining dozens of suit makers', small store owners', and fabric suppliers' ability to make a living, you buy a suit from the little local guy. The suit is $200. 3% of that is $6. That might not seem like much, but that is pure extra profit. Instead of giving the bank $6 for no good reason, this local owner keeps an extra $6 per purchase. Guess what? Suddenly paying his clerks an extra dollar an hour becomes possible, and the owner has more money to spend locally - rather than, if you shopped at Men's Wearhouse, the clerk not making enough to live on, and the only owner making a living is the one guy you see on TV - who hands the cash that hundreds of local store owners would have been living on to TV stations, so they then can give it to sports teams and film studios so actors and athletes can make $20 million a year while we don't have any money to pay our bills.
See how this all works?
Shop small and local, buy locally made products, and pay with cash. You won't have to take my word for the fact you are making a difference. You will instantly know it. You can do the math each time you pay cash. You will experience the difference each time you buy locally. If we call our Congresspeople and Senators and change our shopping habits - and spread the word for others to do the same - we will, at last, begin to sew the first seeds of actual recovery.
If we don't, the collapse will be complete and the conservatives who caused it will blame liberal spending and step back into power and finish off our democracy once and for all.
This is no joke. This is our lives and livelihoods on the line. Let's stand together and get our nation back on track.
http://www.moderateindependent.com/v8iJANConservCollapse.htm
The time for talk is done. The time for reading on the 'net or writing on it is done. It is time to stand against free trade. Spread the word. And let's defend our nation together.
What can you do? You may not expect there to be an answer, but there is.
If two-thirds of the economy is consumer spending, then what we choose to buy controls two-thirds of it. And so:
1) Stop shopping at Big Box stores. Not just Walmart, but also Home Depot. Applebees. Blockbuster. Support private, local businesses. Why? Because each of those support individual families, keeps the money local instead of having it all sent off to one corporate headquarters, and because smaller merchants pay fairer prices to distributors, who can pay fairer prices to manufacturers, who can pay fairer prices to suppliers, all of whom can then pay fairer wages to their employees. Big Box stores squeeze all of these to get your discount. One purchase at Target, and you have destroyed dozens of jobs and put under dozens of local businesses. A Home Depot, for example, eliminates paint stores, hardware stores, lighting stores, appliance stores, nurseries, lumber yards, and a whole host of businesses for several towns - as well as damages all of those who supply such stores.
Also, local merchants can choose to do what we all must do:
2) Buy local. As in stop buying, "Made in China." We have felt powerless maybe since we don't have say over what is on the shelves, but we do if we go to local merchants. Wal-Mart will tell you to f-yourself and your nation. A local merchant can order as the customers want. And honestly, there is choice if you put in some time.
We have become incredibly selfish, each of us just caring about saving a few bucks and some time, and we have sold each other out. We must stand together united, as one nation.
There is a label solution that will really help fix things further. But to start, you see that there is a lot you can do. Each time you spend a dollar you cast a vote. Every time you go to the self-check line at the supermarket, you cost someone their job. When you use an ATM instead of a teller. Which leads to:
3) Pay with cash or check - not credit or ATM card. Why? If you pay with credit card, the merchant pays a fee to the bank - a percentage usually of the purchase, up to 3% often. By paying with cash, you are directly increasing profit for the local merchant you shop at, instead of just handing it to the big banks that just looted us and that hand their CEO's multi-million dollar bonuses. 1-3% may not seem like a lot, but do the math. Say you go to a local suit store instead of the Big Box Men's Wearhouse. Instead of saving a few dollars but undermining dozens of suit makers', small store owners', and fabric suppliers' ability to make a living, you buy a suit from the little local guy. The suit is $200. 3% of that is $6. That might not seem like much, but that is pure extra profit. Instead of giving the bank $6 for no good reason, this local owner keeps an extra $6 per purchase. Guess what? Suddenly paying his clerks an extra dollar an hour becomes possible, and the owner has more money to spend locally - rather than, if you shopped at Men's Wearhouse, the clerk not making enough to live on, and the only owner making a living is the one guy you see on TV - who hands the cash that hundreds of local store owners would have been living on to TV stations, so they then can give it to sports teams and film studios so actors and athletes can make $20 million a year while we don't have any money to pay our bills.
See how this all works?
Shop small and local, buy locally made products, and pay with cash. You won't have to take my word for the fact you are making a difference. You will instantly know it. You can do the math each time you pay cash. You will experience the difference each time you buy locally. If we call our Congresspeople and Senators and change our shopping habits - and spread the word for others to do the same - we will, at last, begin to sew the first seeds of actual recovery.
If we don't, the collapse will be complete and the conservatives who caused it will blame liberal spending and step back into power and finish off our democracy once and for all.
This is no joke. This is our lives and livelihoods on the line. Let's stand together and get our nation back on track.
http://www.moderateindependent.com/v8iJANConservCollapse.htm
