How many of us buy/invest ethically?

[McKenzie]

an inane question perhaps. Think about it though. The boycott of Barclay's Bank forced them out of South Africa and there are other examples.

WTF do I ask this silly question? Hmmm, we are railing against the way the world is going but feel powerless to do much about it. Maybe if we all stopped buying from unethical suppliers, or investing in dodgy enterprises, we could actually achieve something. If companies knew they would lose market share unless they changed their ways they'd soon get the message. They need our money. OK, it won't affect high finance but it would be a start.

I must admit that I sometimes buy something for convenience. I'm in a hurry, I don't stop to think and so on. Maybe we all need to look deep inside and ask ourselves if we are as ethical as we could be.

In my own small way I try to help buy buying Fairtrade and avoiding scumbags who invest in armaments and other nasties.

[shirlden]

1. More and more I am

going the "Buy Blue" route. Have stopped shopping at a couple of my favorite places. Have my meager investments in Domini Funds. Buy fair trade and organic from Trader Joes and shop local, especially farm markets, when at all possible. Live near a huge Amish community and shop there often..........I know my money is not going to GE from them.

:bounce:

[SmokingJacket]

2. If Democrats could unite as a block, we could do even more

We really do have ENORMOUS power, if we could decide, en masse, to use it.

If we all have our own personal ideas of a "good" company and make our buyings decisions that way, that's fine and quite ethical.

But if we'd could blow some major socks off if we did it all together.

[Squeech]

3. How to do it? (and one useful link)

Especially investing. I used to have a punk rock stockbroker, who convinced me I should buy an investor-owned electric utility called Southern Company, that they were good people earning the gratitude of their customer base by being so well managed they could keep the price of electricity well below the national average. Now I find out that they have ties to the Bushies and gamed the FERC. Gotta sell that stock...

My recommendation is for the humble but useful product, toilet paper. There's a guy doing business under the name ShitBegone, who sells toilet paper made of 100% recycled fiber, and all the work (milling, rolling, printing the wrappers) is done in union shops, and it's competitively priced with other recycled and premium brands. He'll sell it to you direct, if you can buy it in case lots (96 rolls)-- and I should note that he had a ban on selling to red states which may still be in effect. The web page is http://www.shitbegone.com