Concerned about corporations buying elections? Then quit funding corps... with your money.

[villager]

Although frequently derided as a tactic, the time for the "rent strike/general strike" school of political tactic has clearly come.

It's no good to bitch and whine about corporations buying politicians and then run down the street to that chain store, to that new auto dealership, to the corporate grocery with the name brands on the shelves, etc.

It is it entirely possible to pull all your money from corporations? If you keep a roof over your head -- and your children's --probably not.

At least not yet.

But is it entirely possible to start withdrawing and reducing your personal funding of corporations -- today?

You bet it is.

The less money they have, the fewer politicians they can buy.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. Hi, I'm your Walmart candidate! Vote for me!

[NightWatcher]

2. unless you own a small subsistance farm, you give to corps

even then, do you buy gas for the tractor?- boom money for BP, Shell, ....
do you buy new seeds?- monsanto....

the corporations rule the world

[villager]

4. It's not *entirely* possible to extract ourselves -- but if everyone actually does it to the extent

...they can, it will absolustely make a difference...

By used, instead of new, whenever you can. Veer away from chains, whenever you can. Don't buy name brands whose commercials you see all the time.

Etc.

[jonathon]

45. Exactly, focus on what is possible instead of what isn't!

[Soylent Brice]

32. +1

[greenbird]

53. I don't know about gas, but as far as seeds go

Monsanto doesn't own them all yet. There are several seed suppliers committed to preserving seed stock outside of the control of big corporations. Don't give up on that just yet!

[TornadoTN]

3. Politicians need to be forced to wear the logos of their "investors"

Like a NASCAR car - make them put the Wal Mart, Shell, Halliburton, Blackwater/XE, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, etc. on their suits so we all know who is paying for them. Just make them wear the NASCAR driver suit that has all of the sponsors on it.

We might as well, because our system is a fucking joke.

[City Lights]

13. I *so* wish we could force them to do that! nt

[eShirl]

46. +1

[Maru Kitteh]

66. President Camacho seyz "Bring it on!"

[DisgustedInMN]

5. Nice idea..

... but since I don't own a sawmill, a refinery, a farm, a butcher shop, and a hydroelectric generating plant...

Gonna be kinda rough to do.

[CTD]

6. Exactly. Nice in theory. Impossible in most cases.

And if would take a really high level of participation to make a dent. A few dozen "left wing nutjobs" are hardly going to be noticed.

[villager]

8. You mean like the one "nutjob" who wouldn't take her seat in the back of the bus

...in Selma?

Every real, deep change has to start somewhere.

None of us are off the hook.

[readmoreoften]

52. Civil rights organizing and STRUCTURAL ECONOMIC CHANGE require entirely different strategies.

What good does "shaming" working class people who can't afford to buy handcrafted, boutique products get you? The problem is STRUCTURAL. It can't be changed by a few well-to-do people abstaining from "bad" corporations.

Consumer politics misses the point. Corporations need to be OVERTHROWN, not boycotted by 5% of upper-middle class "beautiful souls" who can afford to live without their cheap heaters, cheap food, cheap appliances, cheap gas, and cheap clothes.

[villager]

54. Too bad you couldn't have been there to yell about how wrong the bus boycott was!

n/t

[CTD]

88. Different issues require different approaches. A small group boycotting corporations...

...isn't going to do squat.

The activist role on this issue is pushing legislation and/or a Constitutional amendment.

Corporations have enough cash to outlast our best efforts.

I am lucky. We can afford to largely avoid chain stores and watch minimal amounts of TV. We even get a box or organic produce sent to us weekly from a farmers coop. But my avoidance is more for my family's health and our sanity.

So we do this now, to the extent possible. But reality does insist that I own a car to get to work . And it requires gas. And I need clothes. And I can't make my own gas or clothing. Much less generate my own electricity or build my own computer.

Face it, our society and big business are intertwined. There is simply no way to extract hundreds of thousands of Americans from something that permeates their lives.

Seriously, it's MUCH easier and more realistic to look at legislation.

And to carry your analogy forward, in the end, it was legislation that gave minorities their civil rights.

[villager]

7. We can sit here and make the routine excuses about why we have "no choice" but to keep buying new

..shit all the time, or we can start withdrawing our economic participation to the degree we can.

Anything else at this point is hypocrisy.

[Maat]

9. That's exactly what I'm doing.

I re-designed my life so that I now drive a tenth of what I used to do (and Hubby, too), and we drive hybrids. I'm determined, for example, to buy as little gasoline from Big Energy as possible. We've installed devices to get the most out of our air conditioner, and we don't use the heater/air-conditioner as much.

I buy locally-grown food whenever possible, and I patronize small companies whenever possible.

We can all try, and eliminate our consumerism to the degree possible.

[villager]

10. I'm doing it, too, and trying to do more

I buy used/recycled items whenever I can.

Rarely ever name brands on anything.

Being a father requires some greater "participation" in the corporate economy than I'd like, but I also explain to my boys all the time *why* I hit thrift shops first, for example, when looking for certain items.

I need to get more consistent about growing more of my food -- started (again) last summer.

My money is in a credit union.

If we just routinely did these things -- considered it as important as "voting" - it would add up.

[Maat]

11. Yes, Villager ... that's great.

We also hit the thrift shops first. We bought Beloved Daughter (13) a shelving unit from the local thrift (only paid $50, instead of $800).

We've got part of our financial business in a credit union, and are working on that.

We're contemplating a plan to forego soda (Pepsi, Coke, Diet Coke) for health reasons, as well as not patronizing companies that have quite an effect upon water supplies around the world.

I buy our pets' food from a small, fairly local company that produces organic pet food (the sources for the ingredients are a lot better).

We patronize a small, local food market (mostly organic stuff, locally-grown) for most of our meat and food.

Just small changes.

John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked and Confessions of an Economic Hitman, feels that it's important to let certain companies know when you're not patronizing them, if applicable to the situation.

[DisgustedInMN]

12. What ..

... fucking "excuses" would that be?

Sorry pal, I HAVE to live in the real world. No electricity in the Winter here equals death. There are ZERO independent suppliers for those things I HAVE to have to do my life's work. Sorry, I can't get by on unicorns and happy rainbows.

[Maat]

14. I think that we're only recommending it for those that can ...

when they can.

No one is advocating for people to seriously hurt themselves.

[DisgustedInMN]

15. And that is..

.. exactly why, as wonderful as it feels to propose this sort of thing, it is doomed to failure.

We cannot stop the corporatist takeover with this kind of tactic, we are screwed before we start.

We NEED a truly PROGRESSIVE administration AND Congress to STOP this, in it's tracks, RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Or we are FUCKED.

Best stock up on those non-corporate supplies, there's one hell of an ugly storm coming.

There's revolution in the air and not just from the teabaggers.

[villager]

23. So if you're that Disgusted in MN, what are you doing with that disgust?

How do you act on it in the rest of your non-DU posting life?

I don't mean this in a snarky way, either, but don't we need to quit being "good corporate citizens" to the degree we can?

[DisgustedInMN]

38. For it..

.. not being "in a snarky way"..

It sure came off as snarky to me.

How dare you pretend to know anything about what I do.

End of conversation, have a nice life.

[villager]

40. It wasn't. Sorry you took it that way.

You were obviously really angry even before you found this thread.

But then, it's been an anger-sparking week, I grant you...

[villager]

19. Exactly. And yet even bringing it up makes some people angry.

I'm not sure why.

Don't freeze in the winter. But don't buy all the things you see in commercials, don't buy new when you have a choice, buy local whenever you can, etc.

[Neecy]

17. There are alternatives

I had a wood burning stove with a blower installed in my house. Granted, the weather isn't as severe where I live as it is in Minnesota, and I have a ranch style home so I don't have the issue of heating multiple floors, but I've only had to have my furnace on for a couple of days so far this winter. By the end of the season it will have saved me close to a thousand bucks in heating costs, and it gets the house really warm. The pirates at my local utility continue to hike up rates, and I love not shoveling money at them.

[Joe Chi Minh]

16. Don't they already own the elections?

[DainBramaged]

18. Yup, I'm going to retreat to the days of prairie living

using dried leaves as toilet paper just feels great on a cold winter morning outside of my hut.


:eyes:

[villager]

20. Seeing it in those absolutist terms is exactly what the corporadoes want.

"If I can't make all the changes, I won't make any changes."

And thus, we find a reason to keep unquestioningly shoveling money at them, because "nothing can be done."

(absence of emoticon here)

[DainBramaged]

29. (sigh) LISTEN, I'm old, seriously ill, and beyond listening to this line of crap

I live a minimilist life as it is, and I don't make a lot of money.

[villager]

31. If it's minimalist, then you're already doing it! Not sure where the snark is coming from then...!

Enjoy!

:thumbsup:

[laughingliberal]

81. Exactly! For crying out loud the resistance to this is amazing

Just a little thought to cut back a little and you'd think some people were having their nails pulled out.

[Trillo]

21. It may be that K-12 schools have a moral obligation to teach wilderness

survival, how to live and survive without the aid of 1 cent or more.

[cbdo2007]

22. Right....in most cases this isn't your local "chain store" who are going to do this.

It's the companies behind the companies.

How many people do you think do business daily with Goldman Sachs??? Not many but all of the companies we do business with every day does business with them. There's really no way around it.

[villager]

26. But in many cases it *is* the auto, oil, and media companies we directly patronize

For starters...

[treestar]

24. That would at least be consistent

But the voters really do choose the candidates they choose. They aren't completely helpless.

Kucinich got national coverage when he was included in the debates.

The corporation thing is just laziness, or a failure to admit what the voters had voted for and an attempt to paint them as helpless.

All one needs to do really is turn off the teevee talking heads.

[Tailormyst]

25. I have children to raise. Not giving money to corpoations would be unrealistic.

There are almost no small private retailers or providers of goods anymore.

[villager]

28. For kids, especially, who outgrow things all the time, there are exchanges, swaps

hand-offs of clothes, etc....

Check out your local Freecycle, for starters...

Do it to the degree you can...

[Tailormyst]

33. LOL

I already do alot of that, just because we are poor. But realistically, there has to be another way.

[villager]

34. Then you're at least the second person on this thread *already doing this stuff*

..who came here initially to say it can't be done!

I'm a cash-challeneged dad myself, and have done all those things. And yes, I give money to corporations too, as a walking around American citizen/consumer.

But not blindly, not reflexively, not when I don't need to -- the "new minimalism!"

Glad you were already on board! :-)

[Tailormyst]

35. Well- I can do it in limited amounts

But we have to find a more realistic way.

[villager]

37. I'm simply suggesting that we "vote" every day with our $$, and we need to pay more attention to it.

Now. In light of this Supreme "Court" decision.

It can't be the *only* solution. But it's a tactic, and one that everyone can use.

[Tailormyst]

42. You do have a good point.

[Roland99]

27. Buy used. Buy off Ebay. Barter/Trade. Grow your own food. Keep your car.

Keep your TV.

Wear your clothes as long as possible.


If we cut WAY back on consuming (esp. brand-new items), it will eventually have an effect.

[villager]

30. Exactly. If *that* became the norm...

Starting with self-styled "progressives..."

[Roland99]

49. It's something a buddy of mine has already started and I'm headed there very soon, myself

[Maat]

50. I agree with you, Roland99.

And, we restaurant-nuts have drastically cut back on going out; we're cooking at home (can you believe it?).

[Roland99]

57. I'm doing that, too. But more for losing-weight reasons than anything else

:)

[Maat]

68. See, there's all kinds of benefits!

;-)

[Hannah Bell]

73. eBay = giant corporation. did you think it was a non-profit?

revenues of 8.5 billion in 2008, net income (i.e. "profit") of 1.8 billion = 21% profit margin.

with only 15,500 employees, that's about $120 million in profits per employee.

License to steal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay

[Roland99]

74. Going completely "unplugged" is not practical for many people.

Besides, where else am I going to find posters autographed by the Bee Gees? ;-)

[Hannah Bell]

75. therein lies my point. the dream of escape = dream. if you can't give up the beegees, your

scenario = fantasy.

nothing personal, but the calls to go back to the land, go to canada, etc. i.e. the individualist escape fantasy, is a dead end. it may work for awhile if you have some capital, but it won't work for long. the forces at work are coming to destroy that too. there's no safe haven.

[Roland99]

78. I'm not going to become a hermit living in the hinterlands and no one is proposing that

but doing enough to stop consuming new and unnecessary products is a valued goal.

[kiranon]

36. Join together and buy a lot of shares in a single corporation and change it.

Get voting control over large pension funds and use that leverage to prevent corporate funding of politicians who seek to ruin this democracy.

[villager]

39. also good -- can unions, say, target certain corporations and buy stock in them?

...and thus force changes via the boards of directors?

[readmoreoften]

41. There is no consumer solution to this problem. Period.

You cannot tell the impoverished masses not to feed their families, own a car, have a bank account, and to just move out (on homemade bikes?) out to some fantasy country. If everyone did that, the country would become the suburbs.

This is a WAR. The only way to fight it is at our place of work, in solidarity with others. You take back the means of production. Then everything WE made with OUR LABOR doesn't belong to the corporations anymore and we can change it as we wish.

Only the rich can afford to buy handcrafted goods and own a condo in a "walkable city". And the coming change ain't gonna be led by rich yuppies who can afford to go off the grid (or their counter-cultural attaches)

[villager]

47. Why is there an assumption that a tactic (in the "war" you mentioned) rules out other actions?

Again, as I suggested upthread, we vote every day with our $$.

Time to be as careful as we can about where that $$ goes, and to withdraw it --where we can -- from the corporadoes.

Another kind of solidarity, yes?

And yes, there are trade-offs, but that corporate made bike (which maybe you bought at Target or Wal-Mart), could keep you from using your corporate-made car as much, and therefore, you're buying less corporate-pushed gas.

And since the "bicycle lobby" isn't what the Supreme Court had in mind, that would be a pretty good trade off. By way of illustration.

Small steps -- for everyone -- in solidarity. As you say.

One tactic. Of many, no doubt. In what is -- as you also note -- quite clearly a war.

[readmoreoften]

58. It's not "bad." It's just not a solution. People can't afford lifestyle politics.

The problem with prefigurative politics is that if you could solve this problem by buying organic and slowing our consumption, then the problem would be solved. The reality is: most people have to use computers, phones, cars, medicines, and bank accounts. Most people can't afford to buy local organic foods--in fact, many people don't even have physical access to people who grow food.

Every "consumer" solution shames the working class (why can't you just stop buying "cheap crap"? why do you eat so bad? why don't you uplift yourself").

Who doesn't want to buy nice, handcrafted high-quality goods? Who doesn't want clean, fresh local food? The reason why we don't have these things isn't because we're stupid "brainwashed" people. It's because we're poor and the very same corporations that we work for are the ones who pay us too little to buy such goods.

[villager]

63. Okay, well that's more of a discussion. But if someone is eating "cheap crap,"

...does that mean everybody should, to make them feel better?

No one's talking about shaming anyone. But fewer customers for cheap crap, then ultimately, fewer purveyors.

No one is telling anyone they're bad for buying a 99 cent menu item from Yum brands -- hell, I probably haven't bought my very last Taco Bell burrito either.

But it is about minimizing our economic participation with the very entities seeking to kill us (our futures, our country, etc. That's the least we owe ourselves, in our daily, walking-around lives.

But can the bank account -- to use another example -- be moved to a credit union? If so, maybe it should.

Etc..!

[DisgustedInMN]

60. Methinks you are..

... not getting through. It just doesn't seem to register that "boycotting" only works when it's possible for enough people to do it. It doesn't seem to register, that all of us don't have access to "alternatives" to "corporate products." I'm truly sorry that what the OP suggest isn't realistic and won't work. Really. I'd much rather devote my energy to something that might.

[villager]

92. So, after telling us all that ratcheting down our consumption can't possibly work...

...what are you devoting your energies to?

[Egnever]

43. WEEE Fantasy Island!

[villager]

48. WEEE thoughtless responses!

n/t

[Egnever]

55. Idiotic OP's such as yours dont deserve more.

[villager]

56. And thoughtful "replies" like yours help clarify use of the ignore list!

Thanks for the "discussion!" :hi:

[Egnever]

59. Aww my heart is broken I wont be able to reply to drivel

how awfull for me!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

64. Hardly Idiotic....

Can you move entirely off the corporate grid? Yes. It's REALLY difficult, but you absolutetly can do it (ask the Amish). Nobody expects you to adopt that lifestyle, but you can make a difference by being more thoughtful with your purchasing power. Buy Local whenever you can and avoid the big box merchants. But Organic and Buy Sustainable whenever you can.

Doesn't have to be 100%. You don't have to be a fanatic about it. But even being purposeful with 10% of your income can make a huge difference if enough of us do it.

[villager]

86. Precisely what I was trying to say!

Thanks, Jeff!

:hi:

[jonathon]

44. I agree - even if we just stopped buying all the unnecessary crap, it would be a huge blow to them

And, there is always the option of buying many things you need second hand...

[villager]

51. Exactly! They count on us *never* putting our money where our mouths are

n/t

[SoCalDem]

61. Unfortunately, "they" have such a stranglehold on society,

that as people "hurt" them, they just lay more people off, and most of us "out here" in the real world, have contact with these fatcats, even if we try to cut them out of our lives..

We have gotten ourselves into such a co-mingled mess, that our food depends on Big-Corpo...our health depends on Big Corpo, our jobs depend on Big Corpo, etc..



Even if you retreated to a bucolic commune & started a yarn business, grew your own food, and rode a bike, you would still need to sell that yarn to people at craft fairs.. People who have no money would make their own or do without.

When we "swear off" restaurant food, beauty salon haicuts, etc, we eliminate jobs for the folks who work there (used to work there).

There is a great unwinding to come, but it will be harsh, and all-encompasing if it happens, and not many will land upright..

Our government keeps trying to soften the landing, but they've only managed to open the chute a little... our descent may be slowed, but we're still likely to die when we hit the ground...it's just going to make our fall last a little longer:(

[villager]

62. Well, alas, there is the question of that inevitable "landing" once the house of cards permanently

falls. To mix metaphors.

Still, right now, we don't have to sign off on it every single day with every single purchase. If nothing else, it makes us more routinely aware, as citizens, and is a practice that lets us see more clearly the "lei lines" of power in this corporate economy...

[SoCalDem]

65. Many of us (perhaps most, these days) have cut back

and are managing our own financial lives positively, but every time a daughter or son or sister or brother loses a job at Big Corpo, or Little Corpo, it gets closer and closer.. and many here have lost a job of their own.

Everything we "have" , somehow touches Big Corpo..

Life has become so damned co-mingled, it's hard to escape..

Here's an example. Tuesday, it's pouring buckets and my husband's commuting car (our beloved '91 Honda Accord) is having window problems...like the drivers' side window is stuck in the 4" OPEN mode..:grr:.. so there we are in the rain & wind, at 6 AM trying to position a trashbag to keep the interior from becoming SpongeBob Honda.

Yesterday Honda called.. $500.00 to fix it..

options? ..fix it or don;t fix it.

We don't want to junk that car yet.. It's only got 220K miles on it & still runs like new...so we will have to give Honda $500 for a repair on a car that we "might" get $1k for if the right stooge came along :rofl:

Cars no longer have crank windows that the owners can "work on"..everything is planned to be so difficult to fix, that we are all beholden to the companies that sell them to us..

Then our choices are to keep trading up before stuff breaks (and end up rolling old financing into new, year after year) or paying to fix stuff as old cars break down... and at some point, the only place you can have these older cars fixed reliably, is at the dealership..
Thankfully, we have the $500, but many people cannot , and they get talked into car loans for cars they cannot afford..

[JDPriestly]

67. At the very least, stop subscribing to TV cable and newspapers

and magazines that run their ads, especially if they publish political ads in them.

Stop watching TV.

And buy magazines like Harper's, Mother Jones, etc. when you see an article that takes a stand against corporations. If you know of some other magazines you would recommend, please say so.

Subscribe to local, liberal internet news blogs. Listen to Thom Hartmann and other liberal radio shows.

Marches just get ignored. You have to vote with the few dollars you have.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

69. Actual headline in our local weekly rag:

"America IS a Christian Nation!"
Front page above the fold editorial. :banghead:

This is in rural East Texas.

Walmart has sucked all the life out of our little towns. Most of our choices have been eliminated. There are a very few small businesses. I have to drive 20 miles just to BUY GROCERIES. I drive a lot more than I did when I lived in Houston, which is a HUGE city of 40 miles across.

If I want to shop anyplace but Wallyworld or Lowe's, I have to drive EIGHTY MILES.

If I want to go to Costco I have to drive 150 miles.

Kolstad's Jewelers in Palestine, was the oldest jewelry store west of the Mississippi. It died about fifteen years ago when Wallyworld killed downtown.

I have three old electric Singer sewing machines, all steel, that were my mother's and I know how to sew. All steel and they will last forever. That is one way to get unique clothes if you have the time to work on it and learn.

You can also knit and crochet your own hats, sweaters and such.

[villager]

70. Thanks for the post, Manifestor

Sadly, those in towns like yours, getting wrung out by the corporadoes, find it easier to turn to a pre-packaged version of "God," rather than put the pieces together of how their town got that way...

[JDPriestly]

72. Yes. We need to make sure that our children and grandchildren learn

to use their hands and not just for texting but for making useful things. It is empowering.


"I Pledge my Head to clearer thinking,
my Heart to greater loyalty,
my Hands to larger service,
and my Health to better living,
for my club, my community, my country, and my world

http://4-h.org/4hstory.html

Used to belong. Back in the day. I loved it although I was not gifted at hancrafts. I still sew, etc. when I have the time.

[spanone]

71. that's it..quit driving. quit eating. quit buying clothes. quit working. good idea.

[laughingliberal]

77. It is possible for some to spend their money more wisely

Local grocers, if available, are better than the big box places. Drive less. We now do not drive unless we have a job to work on and we make stops to run errands on the way to or from job sites. If there's no job that day, we stay home. Our wardrobe requirements are pretty simple as we work on constructions sites with stains and finishes so we buy our clothes at 2nd hand stores. As for work, we are surviving on my husband's business that is seriously crippled in this economy but is providing basic needs so far. I am registered with a locally owned temp agency for nurses and am not able to work much but tend to accept assignments, if any, that are for locally owned agencies and institutions and the county hospital here. I will 100% of the time turn down offers of shifts at the hospitals in the area owned by for-profit corporations. Not only do they short staff to increase profits but they are just crappy companies in general to work for. Going in as a temp to work for these companies just allows them to continue avoiding the hiring of adequate staff.

We had to cut back when the business failed and I lost my job. Now, we think if things turn around we will not change how we do it now and any money above what we use for survival will be deposited into the local bank we moved our money into and used to, hopefully, escape to a less expensive part of the country one day. Or to another country entirely should we get really lucky.

But that's just us. Others are free to keep feeding the beast as they see fit.

[TheKentuckian]

76. That's a start but at this stage they probably don't need us which is why they are just dumping

[laughingliberal]

84. For all their money and power I find corporate interests to be amazingly short sighted in a lot of

ways. They are very astute at buying the votes of our legislators and getting laws passed to their benefit but the mentality of never looking past this quarter's earnings leaves them vulnerable to issues to which they pay no attention. Every corporation looks to lower their labor costs to increase their profits by lowering wages or laying off employees or shipping the jobs out of the country. I guess it has not occurred to them that once all the employers in the country have done that there is no one left to buy their goods or services but that big picture thinking is not in their nature. It is their labor costs and profits they look at. It will catch up to them. They can destroy the working and middle classes here and almost have but, eventually, they will go down with us or move on to the new developing markets. Either way, the sooner we are rid of them the sooner we can begin to rebuild a sustainable manner of living here.

[Odin2005]

79. The only way that is going to happen is by overthrowing Capitalism.

Whoever controls economic power controls political power.

[tranche]

80. Have you unplugged your computer and internet connection yet?

They're everywhere, and where we go, they'll buy up. Corps just got too big. We'll now have to wait for them to collapse (which they could have just a year ago, but WE bailed them out).

[Cleita]

83. That could be next, at least the TV and radio. All the ads and propaganda

they want to bombard us with wouldn't be listened to. I have no problem going to the library, still not a propaganda outlet, to keep informed. As far as the computer, you can still control the content on it.

[DisgustedInMN]

90. Bingo, we have a winner.

I have to laugh, here I was getting lectured about how I'm "feeding the beast" by living my life in the only way possible.......


... on a communication venue OWNED BY THE BEAST!

You can't make this shit up.

[Cleita]

82. Best idea yet.

To start with, as soon as it stops raining and I can go outdoors, I'm planting a vegetable garden and I think I will start making my own clothes again too if I'm up to it. I really went out of my way this week to try to find stuff not made in China and other places when shopping but I'm not giving up. I already have switched my banking to a local credit union. Baby steps, but if we all make an effort to try, I think it will make a difference. Also, part of the reason I've decided to grow stuff, is to use my extra produce to trade with others who grow locally, like trade for eggs for instance. The more we create an underground economy through barter, the less money there is to tax. I'm not into supporting all these wars and providing welfare for corporations. I know we still have to buy gas and insurance, but as soon as ways open up to do these things in other ways, I will switch over.

[villager]

85. Trade and barter is another great extension of this, Cleita...

From personal actions to collective ones....

[amborin]

87. K&R helps the environment, too n/t

[bvar22]

89. My wife & I did that in 2006.

WE are no longer Good American Consumers.
In 2006, we sold everything, left the Big Northern City, moved to the Woods (Deep South), and planted a BIG Veggie Garden.
We also keep Chickens and HoneyBees.

We live and eat well on a very low "taxable" income.
We buy almost nothing NEW.
What we can't make ourselves, we buy or barter 2nd Hand or Salvage, and make it work....or do without.
No credit cards.
No credit.
No mortgage.



Next year, we will "consume" even less.
It is a process.
Our focus has become local humanitarian issues, rural Community living, and finding ways to deny FUNDING to Corporate America and the Political Parties that have become their lap dogs.

Its NOT for everybody.
My wife and I have no dependents, are strong and healthy, and have a complimentary set of skills that make this fun.
We are using a lot of things we learned in the 60s.
:hippie:
Less IS more.

[villager]

91. Fantastic, Bvar

Thanks for the post -- and the inspiration.

Can we come for a weekend campout at your place? ;-)

[bvar22]

93. Sure.

Bring your Work Clothes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x2601

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x2747

I found it amusing that so many in this thread ATTACKED you for suggesting that people "consume" LESS.
Especially sad were that surprising number that took an ALL or NOTHING stand.

It is not really practical to completely cut all ties to Corporate America.
There ARE some items we will NEVER be able to grow ourselves, like coffee, grain crops, chocolate (essential).
It IS possible to BUY these things IN BULK and cook from scratch.
We avoid "packaged" food where ever possible.
It IS easy for everyone to begin using LESS.

WE are still ON THE GRID for electricity, and we do use some gasoline.
But we NOW use MUCH less, and are working on passive energy efficiency.
When our Rural Grid allows us to Sell Back electricity, we will add active systems (Solar Panels/Wind).

We do NOT suffer from the delusion that Corporate America is going to notice that we are no longer Good American Consumers.
We didn't do THIS to hurt THEM.
We did this FOR ourselves.

Our "taxable" income is so low, that very little of OUR money is NOW going to FAILED Wall Street Banks, OR to KEEP the WARS going.
"THEY" are going to have to do this without us or our money.

Solar Clothes Dryer

Toxic Emissions = 0

Carbon Footprint = 0

Energy Consumed = 0

Money given to Big Energy Corporations = 0

Taxes Paid For WARS and Bailouts of The Rich = 0
:hippie:

[villager]

94. Fantastic follow-up, as well. And yes, the "all or nothing" stance of the naysayers

has stumped me, as well. Because we can't do everything ourselves, in terms of disentangling from corporate America, should we therefore do nothing?.

And yes, it's as much about self-empowerment as anything else.

finally, should get down into your neck of the (literal) woods, I may fire you a PM for a look-see. I may be in the region summer after this... not sure if anything will crop up prior to that...

[LWolf]

95. You make a good point.

I'm looking at what I pay to corporations:

Mortgage
Cable/internet/phone
Car insurance
Gas
Most food...more than I did when I had more disposable income.
Some clothes.
Some books.
Tires, etc..
Entertainment: movies, restaurants...there are a few local independent places to eat, but not many, and they tend to be high-end, so only for very special occasions.

What I don't:

Electricity: I live where we get power from a co-op. As a matter of fact, my co-op sends me a small check every couple of years when income exceeded their working budget.

Eggs, some meat, some fruits and veggies.

Water. I have my own well.

Vet bills (my local vet is mobile, works out of his house, rents space from a local equine health center if he needs bigger, more advanced equipment.)
My farrier, my chimney sweep, and my handyman.
Wood to heat the house for the winter; guys with trucks, trailers, and chainsaws get $10 permits to take downed trees (beetle kill) in the local national forest. They cut, split, and deliver themselves.
Some clothes, some books.
I shop at a locally owned feed store for supplies for the horses, but they carry name brands, so that's still money to corporations.
I buy locally grown hay, straight from the independent growers.
Car repair: use local independent shop.
Entertainment: Attend local "music and movies in the park," provided by the local parks and rec districts, in the summer. Attend a variety of local festivals throughout the year. My favorite is the literary festival: "The Nature of Words."

The bolded items at the top, though, consume most of what I make.

I've got a long way to go.

:hi:

[villager]

96. We've all -- well, maybe except for bvar! -- got a long way to go, LWolf...

I'm back from picking up some more clothes and kitchen items at the local thrift store -- all recycling, that reduced corporate "bottom lines" a teeny little bit. But if everyone starts with where they're at, and does what they can, the process can take off...

It's the Gandhian "gathering salt by the sea" principle, applied wherever we can, in our lives...

:hi: