Food Sunday: Five Simple Ways To Fight Corporate Power

[Echo In Light]

Sadly, it appears that Barack Obama is unwilling or unable to take on corporate America. He talks tough, but accommodates when the chips are really on the table – as the health care debate has conveniently demonstrated. More and more Americans are waking up to the fact that with a few notable exceptions, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington are basically employees of corporate lobbyists.

Perhaps one of the best ways to counter the stranglehold large corporations have on our economy and our government is to go underground. We can take the legs out from under the Wal-Marts, Exxons, Monsantos, and Coca-Colas of the world by finding alternatives to the corporate-consumer culture we have been raised in. Here’s a quick list of 5 ways we can get started:

1) Refuse to purchase anything from the three largest companies in any industry. This would eliminate the incentive to glean maximum profit no matter what the cost to human lives or the environment. For example, imagine how the oil business would change if all of a sudden Exxon, Shell, and BP were trying to be #4 instead of #1. If you’re feeling really daring, you can refuse to buy anything sold by a Fortune 500 company.

2) Shop more at yard sales and thrift shops, and engage in the ancient practice of bartering. Our culture is already saturated with material goods. Anything we buy new is probably already sitting unused in one of our neighbors’ houses. The idea that we should purchase something new every time we need something is a false imperative created by the corporate marketing and advertising machine.

3) Eat locally grown and unprocessed food. It’s better for you, better for the planet, and better for the non-corporate farmers. Plus, it almost always tastes better.

4) Stop watching television. Or at least watch it with an awareness of how the advertising is manipulating you. Marketing firms pay the best psychologists a lot of money to help them produce commercials to make you buy their products. The best defense against them is the "off" button.

5) Read, write, and talk about the dangers of corporate control. Even the most knowledgeable of consumers have been "branded" and make shopping decisions for reasons they’re not consciously aware of. Research shows that children begin forming brand loyalties at a very young age. I’m a pastor, but my 4-year old son can name more brand names than Biblical characters. It’s not unreasonable to say that consumerism and corporatism have become the true belief systems in our country. Like an addiction, the first step to recovery is admitting we have a problem. And we can’t admit it unless enough people know about it.

http://buzzflash.net/

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/35051

[Leftist Agitator]

1. "...engage in the ancient practice of bartering."

http://www.freecycle.org/group/US/?noautodetect=1

http://www.freecycle.org/faq/faq/faq_guidelines

[mdmc]

2. thanks for the OP

peace and low stress

[Echo In Light]

5. Indeed

:hi:

[Luciferous]

3. K&R

[Catshrink]

4. I love Goodwill!

Shirts $2.50, pants $3.50, jeans $4.00. I can't see paying full price or even TJ Maxx/Marshall's/Ross prices when I can pick up nice, albeit worn, clothing at Goodwill.

And I'll be planing tomatos later this morning. My neighbor does the lettuce and carrots.

[glitch]

9. Those are good but they don't beat half-price day at the the hospice thrift stores around here

My favorite days of the month! :hi:

[Catshrink]

10. I hit Goodwill sale day pretty regularly

Haven't checked out others but I probably should. You never know what you'll find!

[glitch]

16. If there was a Goodwill store around here I'd go to it, trust me.

There was a very nice one in Seattle that I used to go to all the time. Been going to thrift stores since I was 14, even when I had money. It just makes more sense!

[Catshrink]

19. I "grew up" at the main Seattle Goodwill store.

I still have some treasures I got there as a teen.

I've been losing weight and without the Goodwill for "transition clothes" I'd be wearing clothes 3 sizes too big. I buy some there, wear them for a few months, donate them back, and buy a smaller size. It's amazing what $20 will buy on sale days.

[glitch]

32. I used to go to the new one on 8th (6th?) NW in Ballard. Lots of good deals!

One move I separated my good clothes into one garbage bag and my donation clothes in another bag and then donated the wrong bag! Arrgh! Someone got some excellent deals that week.
Speaking of thrift stores, I just got a cast iron glass topped end table for $7.50 today. Happy happy joy joy! :bounce:

[Catshrink]

37. Cool!

Sorry about the wrong bag donation. That blows!!

[JitterbugPerfume]

14. I love Goodwill too!

I bought most of my canning jars there , as cheap as a quarter apiece.

I have found antiques there too ( other than me and my sisters)LOL

My latest find was a Sadler teapot.It looks real cool on my bookcase alongside my Goodwillin' books!

Sis found a book signed by Steve Allen She said I would have to pry that from her cold dead hand.

[el_bryanto]

6. Seems like these are more ways to make you feel good about yourself

Because the impact of a few thousand or even tens of thousands following these life choices would be negligable to the mechanisms of capitalism.

That said, I do like the idea of buying local food and supporting locally owned shops as much as possible. Not because that threatens capitalism, but just because those people are often living pretty close to the edge and it's good to help them. And the food usually does taste better.

Bryant

[omega minimo]

38. it's called self empowerment. many more than you estimate are already doing these things.

it's when folks like you finally understand that it -- and you -- CAN make a difference and start doing it.... THAT's when it gets attention.

[Love Bug]

7. The irony is, some of us have been driven to do some of those

things due to unemployment.

I love the St. Paul farmer's market. The rule is the vendors and their wares have to be local, so shopping there is a good way to support the local economy, too. The downside is there are few fresh veggies in the Winter (winter squash, anyone?) but it's still worth supporting for the producers of organic meats and poultry.

I love thrift stores and garage sales, too. Most of the thrift stores in my area are charity-based so not only do you get a good deal, you support a good cause, too.

[bvar22]

11. I loved that Farmers Market too!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=160&topic_id=21095

Now, we grow our own.

[Love Bug]

12. No fair! You get a longer growing season

but you do have bigger bugs. lol

[bvar22]

29. Love the Country,

...bit miss The Twin Cities. :(

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. I live for Farmers Markets!

Soon it will be asparagus picking time in Michigan (just across the border) I doubt if I will be up to much picking this year , as I am bearing down hard on seventy years, but I have a wonderful daughter in law who is more than willing to help the old woman!Nothing tastes better than just picked asparagus.

[bvar22]

30. Fresh, hand picked Asparagus is food for the gods.

We planted a bunch last year.
I did well, and appears to have OverWintered well.
If it comes back strong, we may be able to harvest some this year.
:hi:

[Chellee]

35. she's not technically a pedestrian...

Do you think she knows?

Because if it's a reminder to herself to not mow people down, shouldn't she face the sign the other way?

Hmmm...

[Maat]

8. Well, the oil companies are talking about laying people off.

At least ExxonMobil was talking about that.

Consumers can and do have an effect, no matter what the reason is. Imagine what consumers could do if millions of them took action.

John Perkins points to the huge growth in the market for hormone-free milk and organically-grown food. That's because it was all certain consumers (a number of them) would buy.

We just need to focus on buying locally-grown, organically-grown food as much as possible. I know that some may not be able to participate; but, if enough of us do, in the movement, there will be an effect.

[Trillo]

13. Brand loyalties at 4-years of age? Wow, if true.

The corporation seems then to have usurped human's natural social or tribal nature.

Now our only human value is monetary?

[Echo In Light]

15. Why else do corps pay millions for psych marketing, or to prevent actual HC "reform?"

[jtuck004]

34. Not 4. 2 Years of age. Kids can recognize brands before they

recognize their name.

Huge industry. They start so early that you won't know where you got the memory that triggers
you to do something, or why.

If you read "Fast Food Nation" there is an interesting treatment of this in chapter 2, I think it was,
talking about how McDonalds and Disney and cigarette companies started working on the science of selling
to kids, and the references in the back will point you to some good texts on how to school good
consumers, employees, cannon fodder - whatever you want.

[leftstreet]

18. K&R

[JitterbugPerfume]

20. RE: stop watching TV

better to start watching Link and Free Speech TV where you can see and hear the likes of Amy Goodman, Thom Hartman and Laura Flanders daily. there are also documentaries about Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky. Raj Patel etc. regularly, plus some of the coolest music and foreign news available anywhere

[RedCloud]

26. +1 FSTV rules and takes MSM an eternity and then some to get to that point.

[Cal Carpenter]

21. Personal consumer choices

by the small minority of people who can actually make such choices, do NOTHING to challenge the system that allows such corporate power to develop.

Sorry but I think this is a load of crap. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to buy local or from small companies, just that the idea that this could "counter the stranglehold large corporations have on our economy and our government" is laughable. :shrug:

[Echo In Light]

24. Baby steps are crucial

[Cal Carpenter]

27. Baby steps are useless

when the machine is taking leaping bounds all over the globe :shrug:

[Echo In Light]

28. One mind at a time & civil disobedience

[omega minimo]

36. None of that is true. That standard ill/logic is what's "laughable"

Even now, even if this message is too little too late, it is still valid and the TRUTH is, it's the only real power Americans have.

They still need us to buy their crap. We don't have to.

[whattheidonot]

22. one thing

one thing corporations will do when things get bad enough for them is change. People have to change 1st and the change has to show up in the dollars column.

[Mari333]

23. knr

[Mari333]

25. I get a wonderful feeling when I do not purchase anything new

barter is what I use with friends.
I try to walk everywhere.
and I wish the public would rise up and boycott every corporation that sends out their lobbyists to capitol hill to schmooze every politician who is on the take.

we can destroy them, en masse, by not buying their shit, or we can sit here and cry.

we can ruin the wall street whores if we stop buying into their greed.

[omega minimo]

39. +1

[bvar22]

31. We pretty much did that in 2006.

We moved from the Big City to The Woods and planted a BIG Veggie Garden.
We keep chickens and HoneyBees too.
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.

We are no longer Good American Consumers.

Next year, we will "consume" even less.
It is a process.

Our focus has become local Humanitarian Issues, and finding new ways to withhold funding for Corporate America and their bought politicians.
We live well on a very low "taxable" income.
If the Democratic Party is going to Keep the WARS going, and bailout Wall Street and the Health Insurance Industry, they will do so without our money or concern.

[omega minimo]

33. wow, is that called "underground"?

:yoiks:

[Lorien]

40. I'd add to that; get your goods on eBay, Etsy, Craig's list and Freecycle

if you'd rather not drive around town to thrift shops and garage sales. You'll get what you want and hopefully help out someone who could use the cash in the process.

[Echo In Light]

41. Bump