YES! - The de-corporatization of "Main Street America" is necessary if we want to rebuild the Middle Class and our economy.
73%
NO! - Corporate Capitalism is a supranational force & everything is a commodity to be exploited for profit. It can't be stopped.
27%
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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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"Right through the worst of the Bush years and into the present, Thom Hartmann has been one of the very few voices constantly willing to tell the truth. Rank him up there with Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers, and Paul Krugman for having the sheer persistent courage of his convictions."
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
From Screwed:
"I think many of us recognize that for all but the wealthiest, life in America is getting increasingly hard. Screwed explores why, showing how this is no accidental process, but rather the product of conscious political choices, choices we can change with enough courage and commitment. Like all of Thom’s great work, it helps show us the way forward."
Once a year we make a trip cross country and one thing has struck us like a brick in the head. There is no more small town mom & pop buisness districts left in the down town areas of America. Many of these small town busness districts are boarded up or just closed as a result of the big shopping centers on the outskirts of these towns with their Wal-Marts, Appelbees, Home Depots, chain restaurants, and big stores like Target, Cosco and the likes. Its realy tuff to find that mom & pop restaurant / diner with good food, or a local 5&10 for a souvenir. Our second home town of Versailles Mo. is a perfect example - Wal-Mart moves in on the outskirt of city limits and the entire 3 square blocks of down town Versailles comes to a halt in just a couple years. Very Sad.
It will change if we work on making it change. The other side is working on preserving it, so it won't change without our help. but it can change.
We need to start a whole separate economy based on worker-owned businesses that are based on fairness and service. If we get a small-business economy going, eventually the big corporations will topple of their own weight. Big corporations are not actually more efficient than small businesses, except in one area: buying cheaper by buying in bulk. Small businesses can compete with that by forming associations of businesses that do the bulk buying for them and then share it.
We already know that small businesses are the job creators. They are also the places we turn to buy local. As our consciousness grows the "buy local movement" will lift small businesses over their corporate competitors. Of course a mileage tax on everything consumed will hasten the transition to the hopeful future we are fighting for.
I agree. If anyone travels along interstates you will see a repeat of travel stops all promoting big business, like Subway, which I like by the way, Colonel Sanders Chicken, etc. I have run into a few that are local, but not many. I am old enough to remember when "malls" were first built and how we loved them. We could shop for a multitude of items all in one place. At the same time, they included a lot of local business, which is no longer the case. So much of this has gone on under our very noses and hardly anyone noticed it. I didn't really think much about it either until Thom pointed it out some time back. They were very subtle in the beginning and changes crept up on the American people, but now they just flat out come out and say it and yet there are many who still believe in these so called patriots who are hell bent on destroying our country in the name of profit. As Sinclair Lewis pointed out "When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flat and carrying a cross." We've certainly seen our share of Republican spouting their patriotism and Christianity, so beware.
I voted "yes," though I hasten to add, simply because it may be obvious that there exists an imperative for change does not inevitably create conditions and actions that effect change. Only by taking personal responsibility will we alter the existing paradigm to one more agreeable to those of us less empowered by our relative lack of wealth. Without the dedication and motivation to take persuasive action in concert with others, even while suffering personal discomfort and inconvenience, nothing will change and corporations will continue to dominate the economy and our lives.