Changing the nature of American consumption

[1durphul]

Is it possible to live without corporations in modern America? What if you bought everything from local stores and only things produced by local people? Of course there is still the corporate produced vehicles that transport the goods, using corporate produced oil... would we literally have to return to the horse drawn wagon in order to completely remove corporations from our lives?

[P.S. for corporation I mean entities larger than 500 employees, I know that corporation is a legal entity used by everybody from small to big business.]

[Discordia]

Hey

Well I'm from England so I'm not sure about America but I think if you only bought locally made stuff then things like computers, cars, televisions, general technology wouldn't be available? It obviously depends where you live but personally, there isn't a lot of this type of stuff locally made to me.

Also-what about food? We wouldn't be able to eat anything that can't be grown locally? I don't know about you but I'm from cold, wet, (although surprisingly sunny today) England so that'd cut out a lot from my diet.

What's wrong with a corporation anyway? (I'm an evil capitalist by the way....)

Jx

[1durphul]

Hey

Well I'm from England so I'm not sure about America but I think if you only bought locally made stuff then things like computers, cars, televisions, general technology wouldn't be available? It obviously depends where you live but personally, there isn't a lot of this type of stuff locally made to me.

Also-what about food? We wouldn't be able to eat anything that can't be grown locally? I don't know about you but I'm from cold, wet, (although surprisingly sunny today) England so that'd cut out a lot from my diet.

What's wrong with a corporation anyway? (I'm an evil capitalist by the way....)

Jx

I live in San Francisco where we have a lot of farms, and farmable land within 100 miles of us. Computer technology would be a problem since the production of memory chips and processors is most certainly not something a small business could do.

As for what's wrong with corporations, for me it personally (and may other Americans) it is their intrusion into our political system that is the problem. Our Supreme Court just recently ruled that corporations have no limitations on their political spending because they are "people" and have constitutional rights. (that's a paraphrase.) Since they control the media there hasn't been much in the way of a backlash, after all, who would fuel it?

[AntiM]

Maybe deal with medium sized corporations with a sense of ethics? They do exist. A lot of family businesses which have grown a bit seem to go along these lines, or am I naive and optimistic?

[Fire_Moose]

it's a good thought but trying to change the ways of enough people doesn't seem feasible. Maybe I'm just pessimistic.

[1durphul]

it's a good thought but trying to change the ways of enough people doesn't seem feasible. Maybe I'm just pessimistic.

Amber Lamps is watching Fire Moose. If we pray to her she'll come and observe our kicking the corporations ass.

[ygmir]

yup, I'll go to the local medicine worker and get some Cephalexin and ibuprofen.......maybe some insulin, too.
Of course, I'll need to walk there, in home made sandals.......
can't keep the stuff in the fridge, so, I'll need to go often, in the daylight, of course, since, I can't get lightbulbs, or flashlights, or batteries.
It's ok, though, I like cooking on wood fires (excluding "producer gas"), and carrying my water from the creek down the street.

[Ugly Dougly]

Ygmir, all he's got is eye of newt. He plays a pretty mean bongo, though.

[oneeyeddick]

Without corporations, there would be no twinkies.

[Token]

There are ways of implementing some of these types of ideas without reverting to stone age living.

France had some laws on the books that preserved regional architecture by mandating use of local materials in building construction, for example.

Europe in general imposes import tarrifs for foreign goods which allows locally produced goods an advantage. This is why Microsoft, intel, apple etc. all have offices in Ireland. AMD had fabs in Germany.

Know how a lot of places encourage fuel economy? Make gas expensive and make registration fees tied to engine displacement. Allot o countries have low fees for cars under 1500cc, like .1% vehicle value, then 2000cc at .5% value and anythig bigger is 5% or some such.

The list can go on and on.

Of course in the US we can't do any of this since we must have infinite consumer spending to have perpetual growth. Freedom to eat cherries all year long comes at a price, and it is steep.

[Ugly Dougly]

Instead of pointing your finger at large corporations and governments and expecting them to stop on a dime because of a post in eplaya, well, the gods laugh at your foolishness!

But the one person whom you can change - yourself - can find different spending choices. That's within your power.

[Ugly Dougly]

Here's that pinko flapping his gums:

[youtube][/youtube]

[Captain Goddammit]

Yes, we would have to return to pre-1880ish living. A hell of a lot of Americans living in cities would starve to death, and you could forget modern medicine - so don't get sick, or be OK with nature's way of dealing with that; you just die.
Then consider our ability to defend the country against the world. Soldiers on horseback carrying bows and arrows wouldn't cut it, and soon you'd have a new bigger set of problems.
I'm in Seattle... in the Old Days, the industry here was logging, and your town, San Francisco, was our biggest customer. We could just cut the rest of the trees down, but we cut 'em faster than they grow, so there'd be hard times ahead.

[can't sit still]

Corporations are evil in the same way that organized religion is evil. Their only reason for being is to increase their wealth and power. They never die,, they never pay inheritance tax. They have been described as " a pile of money looking to increase itself".
They have no conscience. They have no structure that nurtures survival outside of themselves.
They are anti-family and anti-society. They're stupid also. They treat producers like infinitely-interchangeable cogs and yet, they cater to the consumer. You can't kill off the producer without diminishing the pool of potential consumers.

Corporations used to pay 33% of the tax burden in U.S. Now [last I heard], they pay 3 %. They have the power to control lawmakers.
Searle is a perfect example. They knew that Aspartame is a deadly neuro-toxin. The possible profits were their guiding light. The unavoidable death and damage never entered the picture. Same goes for big-pharma,,, Tobacco, etc.

I'm not saying that a big company that wasn't a corporation would be any better.
It's not so much the quality of being a corporation as the legal immunity and the SIZE.
It seems that the larger the structure,,, the more dilute the general sense of responsibility. The form is partly to blame. The larger the size of a group, the less regard it has for smaller entities.
WE ARE MICROSOFT,,, YOU WILL BE ABSORBED,,,RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

It is the impersonal side of a corporation that is objectionable.

[littleflower]

[Isotopia]

Mmmmmmmm...... offal.

[littleflower]

how many sheep would be needed to supply burning man with condoms every year?

[ygmir]

if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

(well, Dougly and Sailman, anyway.........and, since they get most of the action out there...........

[Apollonaris Zeus]

if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

(well, Dougly and Sailman, anyway.........and, since they get most of the action out there...........

Ha! and quite true!

[Captain Goddammit]

if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

Goddammit!!!


Leave it to ygmir to bring this whole stupid discussion to a grinding halt, which it needed anyway!

[ygmir]

if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

Goddammit!!!


Leave it to ygmir to bring this whole stupid discussion to a grinding halt, which it needed anyway!

Grinding halt?

Ha,

I'm just stating what you all were thinkin'...........you know you were..........

"practice makes perfect".............

[Trishntek]

What was it John Prine sang years ago?

"Blow up the TV
Throw away the paper
Move out to the country
Build yourself a home.

Eat a lot of peaches
Have a lot of children
Try to find Jesus
On your own."

The most basic things in our lives, light bulbs, clothing, flooring, windows and doors are manufactured by large corporations.

[Apollonaris Zeus]

What was it John Prine sang years ago?

"Blow up the TV
Throw away the paper
Move out to the country
Build yourself a home.

Eat a lot of peaches
Have a lot of children
Try to find Jesus
On your own."

The most basic things in our lives, light bulbs, clothing, flooring, windows and doors are manufactured by large corporations.

I am so glad Glow Stixs are not

[Ugly Dougly]

Change. This something that most people speak of, with a pointed finger. YOU change, not me!

But nothing changes until we do.

Don't like corporate? Don't buy corporate. Simple.

[Trishntek]

I'm in Seattle... in the Old Days, the industry here was logging, and your town, San Francisco, was our biggest customer. We could just cut the rest of the trees down, but we cut 'em faster than they grow, so there'd be hard times ahead.

Without power tools, bulldozers, trains or hiways and depending on animal power and water flow to move the lumber? I seriously doubt that would be a problem. Of course, there would be so many empty warehouses and factories why would more construction be necessary? Keep your "industry" of lumber, we can always dig a hole or live in caves.

[goathead]

if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

Goddammit!!!


Leave it to ygmir to bring this whole stupid discussion to a grinding halt, which it needed anyway!

Grinding halt?

Ha,

I'm just stating what you all were thinkin'...........you know you were..........

"practice makes perfect".............

If you say so

[ygmir]

nice poster, GH.......is that from the wall at home, or, work?

[goathead]

nice poster, GH.......is that from the wall at home, or, work?

Why work of course.
Hmmmm, sheep can be so versital, would work for both the ABC and Furry Night at the Booby Bar I bet.

[ygmir]

yer always thinkin'..............one of the many reasons to admire you.

[Roberto Dobbisano]

ygmir wrote:
if we had sheep, we'd not need condoms..........

(well, Dougly and Sailman, anyway.........and, since they get most of the action out there...........
Ha! and quite true!.

oh app-zeus i can always count on your greekness