Forum Post: STOP buying from huge corporations! NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 3, 2011, 9:10 p.m. EST by lefty48197
(28)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
America is finally waking up and realizing that corporate America is trying to screw us. They send all the jobs to China because it increases their margins and "makes the stockholders happy". In the meantime, the middle class turns poor and the poor end up even worse off. What can WE do? We can stop buying from the corporate pimps who are selling us out. Yes, all the righties are mocking us because we have cell phones or computers all of which are made by large corporations, but the right wingers are idiots. What can we really do? We can stop going to MacDonalds, TGIfridays, the Olive Garden etc. etc. It would be EASY for every OWS supporter to stop shopping at corporate restaurants. I don't care if they're franchises. The owners paid a couple of million bucks for their macdonalds franchise, so they're part of the problem. Maybe you have a small independent gas station in your town? If so, then buy from them! EVERYTIME! What about toys r us? Walmart? Target? We can boycott them too! We have online shopping options for all of the products those retailers sell. We can buy from business owners who won't sell us out in the name of increased margins, or higher stock prices. Boycott the big movie mega plex! Watch movies at the small independent theater (if there's one left in your town).
In short, this should be a major tenent of any OWS list of themes or demands. i.e. BOYCOTT ALL the big corporations. Buy from Mom & Pop shops!!!!!!!
How about General Motors, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, et al?
START building cooperatives! NOW! The masses will never change their spending habits until they have convenient alternatives. Don't simply boycott Walmart, create its cooperative competitor for people to patronize and support the local legislation that limits the corporations and protects the Mom & Pop shops. Support FreeDA/CES and FreeDA/MEI http://occupywallst.org/forum/free-democracy-amendment/ .
Great comment.
Learn to turn away from ads. Recognize how the big corporations manipulate you. Stop following the latest consumer trend. Start reading labels. Research ingredients, find out where they are coming from. Stop being deceived by extravagant packaging and crappy, harmful ingredients, wrapped in unattainable promises. Stop believing every health concerns you hear from the larger public. stop identifying your self worth with status symbols and begin to be comfortable with the real you. I guarantee you, you will like what you see. Stop acting out of fear. America uses fear as the main control mechanism. Don' t go for it. Start working on abolishing the credit bureaus. They are the invisable whiplash for the corporations. It has nothing to do anymore wi paying your debts on time. But much more with making consumers pay for fraudulent charges.
Want to dismantle corporate power? Stop buying their products. The spook will be over sooner than you think.
Turn off your IPad/iPhones.
Voltaire- The Industrial Revolution OFFICIAL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRce8HzHuoM
Spend your money as wisely as possible. Especially in middle and lower class communities. Check the Fortune 500 list and limit your support of high profit/low labor industries (Hollywood, pro sports, energy, credit, pharmaceutical, cable, satelite, internet advertising, video, and music, cell phone, high fashion, jewelry, ect.). Cancel all but one credit card for emergencies only. Call the provider and demand a lower rate. Be persistent. You may get it. (By the way. I gave this piece of advice long before NBC. I'm not looking for kudos. I'm telling you that NBC is directly affiliated with the credit industry. They could have given you this piece of advice years ago. Instead, they stood by and allowed their parent company, sister companies, and network sponsors to RIP YOU OFF. Even now, they give the occasional 'good guy' financial advice only because they are pressured to do so. They carefully balance every piece of 'good guy' advice with their primary goal to GET YOUR MONEY. Which is why their 'good guy' advice is so often followed by a plug for one of their sister companies, sister channels, network sponsors, or coorporate partners. For example: They tell you to pay down your credit card debt. Good advice. They should have given it years ago. Then, they tell you to GET MORE CREDIT CARDS and use them. Bad advice. One week Jean Chatzky tells you to avoid the 'free credit report' scam because it is always followed by a monthly service charge. Good advice. They should have given it years ago. The following week she stands by as her paid fellow advisor Carmen Wong strongly implies for you to have your credit monitered on a monthly basis and praises a caller for doing so. Bad advice. This is actually a plug for one of their network sponsors, coorporate partners, or parent company. The praise is nothing but a psychological trick. DON'T FALL FOR IT. Don't take ANYTHING they say at face value. Instead, read between the lines. Carefully weigh every piece of 'good guy' advice given against their primary goal. THEY WANT YOUR MONEY.). If you need a cell phone, then do your homework and find the best deal on a local pre-pay. You may be able to get one for as little as $10 a month. Don't text. The charge may seem low at the time but their profit margins are obscene. If you want home internet access, then check for a locally based provider. They can be found in nearly every city nationwide. Otherwise, use the least expensive big name provider, and share accounts whenever possible. If you need to search, then use the less popular search engines. They usually produce about same results anyway. Don't pay for any internet download. Their profit margins for such data transfers are obscene. Don’t pay to see any blockbuster movie. Instead, wait a few months and rent the DVD from a local store, borrow it, or buy it USED. Then loan it to a friend or family member. If you prefer the outing, then choose a film produced by the lesser known studeos with lower paid actors. If you want to see a big name game or event, then watch it in a local bar, club, or at home on network TV. Don’t buy any high end official merchandise and don’t support the high end sponsors. If its endorsed by a big name celebrity, then don’t buy it. If you can afford a new car, then make an exception for GM, Ford, and Dodge. If they don’t increase their market share soon, then a lot more people are going to get screwed out of their pensions and/or benefits. Of course, you must know by now to avoid those big trucks and SUVs unless you truly need one for its utility. Don’t be ashamed to buy a foreign car if you prefer it. Afterall, those with the most fuel efficient vehicles consume a lot less foreign oil. Which accounts for a pretty big chunk of our trade deficit. Its a reasonable trade-off. Anyway, the global economy is worth supporting to some extent. Its the obscene profit margins, trade deficits, and BS from OPEC that get us into trouble. Otherwise, the global economy would be a good thing for everyone. Just keep in mind that the big 3 are struggling and they do produce a few smaller reliable cars. Don’t frequent any high end department store, mall, or any business in a newly developed center or upper class community. By doing so, you encourage greedy developers, make them richer, and draw vital support away from industrial areas and away from the middle and lower class communities. Instead, support the local retailer and the less popular shopping centers. Especially in lower or middle class communities. If you can afford to buy a home, then do so. But go smaller and less expensive. Don’t get yourself in too deep and don’t buy into the newly developed condos or gated communities. Instead, find a modest home in a building or neighborhood at least 20 years old. If you live in one of the poorer states, then try to support its economy first and foremost.
Paragraphs are your friends.
It's more possible and more effective to boycott 1 or 2 corporations. You simply can't boycott every corporation unless you spend a lot of money to do so (like running your car on veggie oil to boycott big oil). There's a boycott in the works on Bank of America. But some more consumerist type things should be boycotted as well - ideas?
By the way, MLK arranged a boycott on just one bus system and it made huge changes elsewhere.
I'm advocating a general boycott of as many large corporations as we can. I'm trying to change the American mindset to get people to stop shopping at the places they see on tv commercials and shop at the small Mom & Pop shops that are being destroyed by the likes of Walmart and MacDonalds.
I agree with what you're saying. They will certainly listen to a 5-10% drop in sales. One thing, it's hard to convince people not to shop at walmart if they're already low on money. They could also boycott junkfood - that would be a double win.
Right on. I stopped shopping Wal-mart in favor of buying local. I am also researching my planned holiday puchases to make sure they won't support the huge corps.
Oh behalf of the American people and the last vestiges of our middle class, we thank you Banjarama. Also, make sure to look for the "Made in America" label, so you'll know that the products weren't made by slave labor to create profit for an American corporation that supports slavery over our middle class.
Lefty, you're a mench:) You know I will look for that "Made in the USA" label. Also, we will be doing alot of home-made gifts, including baked goods and art from the kids. I'm so over this corporate chimera. My family is more than enough for me and provide real value for my life. I am growing more disgusted by the day. I will believe the lie no more.
Americans? Sacrifice? Less shit for more "money"? I admire your idealism...
I will sacrifice now to avoid economic slavery.
You're in it. I've been sacrificing big for a long time, the sooner others get with the program, the easier the inevitable collapse will be, then maybe we will get a taste of real freedom, for better or worse.
Most of the middle class owns these corporations in their 401K. They are the stockholders.
The middle class is selling all their stocks in order to make ends meet because the corporations are killing the middle class. People are declaring hardship because of the depression and emptying out their 401K accounts. Wake up please before it's too late!
That is not an accurate description of the 99%. While some are truly struggling, millions and millions of Americans are very comfortable right now and are not going to radically change their lifestyles.
Yeah, 3 million rich. 10 million comfortable and 287 million who are losing ground every single day. I see you've picked your side.
Do you have a source? I would think a lot more than 13 million people in America would say they have a comfortable lifestyle.
Look it up pal. The standard of living of America's middle class has been eroding for decades. Haven't you seen it? If not, then why are you here supporting the OWS movement?
I want to see campaign finance reform and a simplified tax code. I originally thought OWS would choose things like these because they appeal to the 99%. Instead, OWS has taken a giant step to the left.
Simplified tax code? You mean like Herman Cain's flat tax plan? Or Dick Armey's flat tax plan? Or Rick Parry's flat tax plan? All of these plans are designed to cut taxes for the wealthy and force the burden onto the rest of us. Your "simplified" tax code is exactly what OWS opposes. We want a progressive tax plan that stops the rich from dodging taxes, such as with the capital gains tax cuts those dork republicans gave away.
I said simple, not flat. I don't know where you got that idea. They are not synonymous. A progressive tax plan is fine. By simple, I mean something that can be printed on 1 or 2 sheets of paper, not thousands. The more complicated it is, the easier it is to find loopholes.
I dare you to stand out front of a wally world store with a boycott sign and just see how many people will boycott - probably none.
Like from Apple and shit They are one of the biggest richest bitch corps in the world! Fuck steve jobs and all his concentrated wealth
"We can boycott them too! We have online shopping options for all of the products those retailers sell."
Really haven't thought this one thru, have ya buddy.
Yes I have. I'll explain it for anybody who can't think. Online retailers are usually privately owned and therefore don't whore out the American people in an attempt to drive up stock prices or dividends. Do you think the people selling on craigslist are corporations?
The small mom and pop and online retailers still pay the corporations the same amount for the product.
If you're talking about going after large retailers this would work (doubtful) but it will not affect the producers.
Who decided to send all of the manufacturing jobs to China? Wasn't it Walmart, Target, and most of the other retailers? Then they mark up the prices extraordinarily in order to make more profit in order to create more dividends and golden parachutes. The retailers are enemy #1 so fighting against them in anyway or any form should be goal #1.
I didn't know Walmart and Target were manufacturers. Go figure.
But go ahead, boycott them. Shut them down and cause massive unemployment. Then you can guarantee someone/something will step into their place and rehire them at minimum wage. Nice plan.
If you had read what I said you wouldn't have made the mistake of thinking I said Walmart was a manufacturer. I said they sent all the manufacturing jobs to China and they did exactly that when they decided they could only afford to buy crap from China. And don't worry your pretty little head either. If Walmart goes out of business, unemployment will go DOWN. Studies have shown that for every job at a Walmart, 1.5 jobs were eliminated at Mom and Pop shops.
"Studies have shown that for every job at a Walmart, 1.5 jobs were eliminated at Mom and Pop shops."
If there are studie(S), then surely you can post some.
TROLL
TROLL
DROLL
TOLL.
Yes, all the righties are mocking us because we have cell phones or computers all of which are made by large corporations, but the right wingers are idiots.
Great argument!
I see you've figured them out too. They're trying to mock us for using certain products where our only choice is to use the product or go without (by the way does anybody go without cell phones or computers these days). That's how the righties make it clear they're idiots. They're trying to deflect the movement from boycotting the big banks or big retailers and instead focusing on cell phones. Idiots.
Exactly. Basically it's just using their own tools against them. Personally I think the irony is great.