DennisWisconsin is offline DennisWisconsin Post #1  August 9,2009, 1:23pm
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Ultimately the government can't fix the economy, we have to do that. And this makes our choices all that more important. A capital based economy runs by the concept of supply and demand. We would be the demand side of that equation. We can let suppliers know what we want to buy.

We can also send a message that we do want to either:
Buy efficient vehicles or not.
Buy food that is grown locally or trucked across the country.
Buy products from small business as opposed to buying them from big box stores.

There are many choices we can make and each one is no less than a vote. A vote that manufacturers use to plan their production schedules. A vote that puts another Walmart in your back yard.

Your vote is worth a discount. Grocery store loyalty cards help stores track what you buy so they have a better handle on what, how, and when to market their products.

I'm not saying that any of these choices are bad. What I am saying is, next time you purchase something remember that it is not just a purchase, it is a vote.

It is up to us to pull up this economy... we can do it through our tax money or we can do it by making sound purchases.
Last edited by DennisWisconsin; August 9,2009 at 1:26pm.
 
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TaoShaffer is offline TaoShaffer Post #2  August 9,2009, 2:17pm
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Just keep buying and the economy will get better.

It's when everyone starts hoarding their money under mattresses that the economy takes a downturn.

--Tao
 
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chawks64 is offline chawks64 Post #3  August 9,2009, 4:10pm
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I wish I could "vote" for locally grown food and mom and pop type stores, but I just don't have the money.

Large producers are generally cheaper, and when I have about $3 disposable income each month, I just can't afford it.
 
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shoelace is offline shoelace Post #4  August 10,2009, 9:32am
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Unfortunately, I have to vote with Chawkes. What I would like to see in my area would mean spending more. If I could afford to spend more I would buy health insurance. So I manage to get by with staple food items (no caviar) and no health insurance and hope for the best.

Also, I disagree concerning voting for cars with better fuel economy (though if I were going to buy a NEW car, it would definitely be Japanese...so Isuppose I would be voting. Needless to say, the used car I am going to buy will also be Japanese.)

American car manufacturers fought Congress (we the people) for the past 30 years (or more) not to have to design (via innovation) their cars for a sustainable future. What they did was blatantly unsustainable, wasteful, destructive to the environment, and shortened the time available to us for changing the way we live and to stave off a global climate crisis. The car companies "educated" us to believe we deserved and wanted SUV's. George W. Bush didn't help things any by supporting the car industry's decision to maximize profits rather than wisdom.
 
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DennisWisconsin is offline DennisWisconsin Post #5  August 10,2009, 12:02pm
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shoelace wrote :
Unfortunately, I have to vote with Chawkes. What I would like to see in my area would mean spending more. If I could afford to spend more I would buy health insurance. So I manage to get by with staple food items (no caviar) and no health insurance and hope for the best.

Also, I disagree concerning voting for cars with better fuel economy (though if I were going to buy a NEW car, it would definitely be Japanese...so Isuppose I would be voting. Needless to say, the used car I am going to buy will also be Japanese.)

American car manufacturers fought Congress (we the people) for the past 30 years (or more) not to have to design (via innovation) their cars for a sustainable future. What they did was blatantly unsustainable, wasteful, destructive to the environment, and shortened the time available to us for changing the way we live and to stave off a global climate crisis. The car companies "educated" us to believe we deserved and wanted SUV's. George W. Bush didn't help things any by supporting the car industry's decision to maximize profits rather than wisdom.
Amen brother...
 
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Andrewthecarrotman is offline Andrewthecarrotman Post #6  August 10,2009, 3:02pm
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I have to agree with Tao

I have a little bit of disposable income thankfully, but that all goes into retirement savings that are independent from my 401K. It is not going to be enough. So far I am doing pretty good in the private investment market.

The economy is based on credit. What we are going through now is a credit crunch, and because of this (a few steps down the chain) there is a cash constriction. Buying more helps this. Unfortuneately, although I hate myself for saying this, I do believe that the government needs to subsume ALL of the banks and keep logs of what came from where to start the credit flow back up. Another thing that would be far safer is increased goverment spending on useful long term things. Think about the new deal, dams, roads, infastructure in general. Highways always need maintenance. Also, constrict the welfare system concurrently. People will work construction and other jobs that are "beneath them" if they are hungry enough. I work in a retail location and I have plenty of regular customers who make more money off unemployement that they do getting a job. They get food stamps, government aid for necessities, and some of them even get child support paid by the government. This is on top of unemployment.

Right now the American economy is a service economy. We get our GDP from service industries and sales industries. These jobs do not pay well. Manufacturing does, but with technological advances humans are being less and less needed. Are you going to blame the businesses for doing their best to make money?? If the benefits aren't good enough, the cost will be too great

I wish everything could be produced locally, and mom and pop stores could be cost effective. That is the thing that builds area economies and when the larger cities get back on their feet the rest of the country will in short order.
 
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DennisWisconsin is offline DennisWisconsin Post #7  August 12,2009, 2:49am
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I believe that international trade is important but not everything has to or should be traded. Especially in the case of a disaster, there are somethings that should be available locally.

Additionally it just doesn't make sense to truck some things half way across the world. We could probably cut down on a quarter of the fuel currently being used.
 
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TaoShaffer is offline TaoShaffer Post #8  August 12,2009, 3:20am
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DennisWisconsin wrote :
I believe that international trade is important but not everything has to or should be traded. Especially in the case of a disaster, there are somethings that should be available locally.

Additionally it just doesn't make sense to truck some things half way across the world. We could probably cut down on a quarter of the fuel currently being used.
Well...

International trade is extraordinarily important to many nations. Without it China's economy couldn't grow and many people in the US would be missing their cheap electronics and luxury goods.

Trade and profit is what keeps many nations at the negotiating table with us even though they would prefer to walk away. Such as North Korea.

Not only that but our developing industries in country to replace import goods would be seen by most of the world as a protectionist measure. We'd lose a lot of political capital and many companies around the world that deal with America in export and import goods would panic. Some would lay off workers, others would slash prices and try to sell locally for losses. The fallout would be far reaching on the economic stand point.

I know it sounds strange, but by having perceived weak points in our manufacturing capabilities, creating a need for imports helps us politically more than it helps us economically. Our providers have to be careful if they want to keep making money, otherwise we could raise tariffs on them.

--Tao
 
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