If Dan is right, and he may just be, especially considering the recent supreme court decision, consumers should seriously be thinking about where they spend their money. I'm not sure exactly how I started thinking about this just now, but part of the development of my train of thought took me back to some stuff in the movie Food Inc. that rung particularly true. Consumers need to treat every dollar they spend as a vote. If you buy a Big Mac, you are saying it's okay for the owner of McDonald's to determine national policy. If the placement of power is determined almost solely by the placement of money, we really need to seriously consider how and where we spend our earnings.
It is possible that a consumer shift toward more responsible companies (I don't know what this would actually entail) could help prevent future fiscal crises. I guess the main problem with this is that if a company (like McDonald's) offers things cheaper than anyone else, than people are more likely to spend their money there, whether or not the company has integrity, especially if they are poor. An interesting problem, though it could probably be better articulated. Anyone have arguments or comments? Economists?
FYI: You can check out the pdf version of the article below here. It just came out last week.
4 years ago
Whenever I happen to become aware of the political leanings of a particular company, I usually try to make a mental note to go there more, or less, or at least feel guilty or good about myself when I go there for the normal reasons, like that I'm hungry and it's convenient.
ReplyDeleteBut if you get too much information, it becomes hard to decide what to do and you can overthink it. Obligatory Daily Show link:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-27-2009/whole-foods-boycott
Like.
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