It really hit me when the big box stores/online big box stores/product arrays (ie Nestle, etc.) became "THE THING" backed by the federal government through merger after merger. I watched business after business (not of my own) fold because of China et al matched the needs of this type of business model that the federal government sanctioned as a way of proxy socialism. The federal government saw it as "let mega competitors stand so we can call it capitalism and competetion, and allow for a socialistic array of cheap goods from a limited source".
250+ worker places have gone UP, and 250- have gone down significantly. Those are the "you and me" places. Well, were. Yet, MBAs are x20 now, yet they do usually go to make their own business. They go to support these government backed behemoths, with their tax deals with the states or merger deals with the federal govt. And it is invading every aspect of economic life.
Why does it matter? Our most valuable vote is with the dollar, and the best we have been doing is "don't spend here" instead of "I love such and such, and support them". We've been voting with negative logic instead of positive logic, because we are forced to, and that is simply WRONG. Morally wrong and ethically wrong.
In capitalism, the strongest bond and the least distance is the space between the consumer and their choice (ie relationship) with goods/services. Currently, we have ease of access, but not specifically choice. If I want a specific wood now, for example, good luck getting it. But I can get a crooked piece of garbage at Lowes that they somehow refer to as a 2x4x8.
It really hit me when the big box stores/online big box stores/product arrays (ie Nestle, etc.) became "THE THING" backed by the federal government through merger after merger. I watched business after business (not of my own) fold because of China et al matched the needs of this type of business model that the federal government sanctioned as a way of proxy socialism. The federal government saw it as "let mega competitors stand so we can call it capitalism and competetion, and allow for a socialistic array of cheap goods from a limited source".
250+ worker places have gone UP, and 250- have gone down significantly. Those are the "you and me" places. Well, were. Yet, MBAs are x20 now, yet they do usually go to make their own business. They go to support these government backed behemoths, with their tax deals with the states or merger deals with the federal govt. And it is invading every aspect of economic life.
Why does it matter? Our most valuable vote is with the dollar, and the best we have been doing is "don't spend here" instead of "I love such and such, and support them". We've been voting with negative logic instead of positive logic, because we are forced to, and that is simply WRONG. Morally wrong and ethically wrong.
In capitalism, the strongest bond and the least distance is the space between the consumer and their choice (ie relationship) with goods/services. Currently, we have ease of access, but not specifically choice. If I want a specific wood now, for example, good luck getting it. But I can get a crooked piece of garbage at Lowes that they somehow refer to as a 2x4x8.
“The financialization of America” - Steve Bannon