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Today, I stayed home and bought nothing. In a minute, I'm going to an anti-war demonstration. Am I "PC" or what?

I'm not totally getting the message here, though.

Maybe it should be called "want nothing day" and we'll do something to relieve "want". If you want a warm bed, that's one kind of want. If you want a $25 t-shirt from the Gap, that's a different kind of want. Both should be relieved, but in different ways.

Not just one day, don't buy anything coroprate for the entire "Holiday" month.

Slow the war economy.

Only the Earth can make food. Grow a garden plot.

Most of the people shopping right now are not out there because they have run out of clothes to wear; they are out there buying clothes for x-mas, clothes that the receipients will probably not even like. OR these people just have too much money to spend and nothing good to do with it. I am a retailer and keep in contact with a group of women on a yahoo group who are absolutely obsessed with the brand of clothing I sell. They have hundreds of pieces of clothing. They ARE NOT running around naked. And neither are these people. Consumerism hurts us and hurts the planet. If I could get a different job I would, but it's hard. I don't think there is anything wrong with giving your clothes away. Buying at thrift stores reduces the impact on our planet of producing new items (think: pesticides, water usage, run-off, energy usage, pollution caused in production, transportation). And yeah, you're right, we can't just make our own food and most of us are not lucky enough to be able to grow our own food, but cooking our own food is much better than buying processed foods. Buy organic and locally and think before you buy. Use your brain.

Boycotts can sometimes work if they are well-organized and precisely targeted. However, in general, this is a weak way to organize, because it reduces us to our role as consumers who act individually to spend (or in this case, withhold) our money, and so there is no inherent basis for unity. That is, by boycotting, we are accepting the role that we have been assigned--alienated consumers.

Plus, you have to buy stuff to live in this society, and with the production end of things very tightly sewn up by a bunch of cut-throat corporations, boycotting one ultimately sends business to another. It's kind of like holding your breath until you turn blue; eventually you have to breathe again.

As a lifestyle choice it is a good thing to reduce your footprint on the planet, of course, but it is not likely to result in serious changes to the concentration of power and resources.

Better to organize a union or try to take some power locally in an insurgent political campaign. Or build alternative media. Or struggle to take back government through propositions or other political initiatives. Or work to re-allocate spending from this war to human needs, and simultaneously protect the rights that we have, through collective public protests.

I bought nothing just to see if it would make a tremendous difference. Here is an insight of what a morning of buying nothing is like:
I made coffee that morning. I noted that the coffeemaker was bought a year ago, the coffee filters and coffee were purchased a few months back. I microwaved some instant oatmeal. The microwave was purchased about 3 years ago. The bowl Was purchased more than five years ago and so
was the spoon I ate with and the measuring cup needed to add 2/3 cup of water. I don't remember when I bought the oatmeal, but it was within a month's time. I was wearing clothes that I had for about two years, but it was purchased.
I could go on and on about the rest of my day, but my point has been made: we are going to buy something someday. So despite one day of buying nothing, we are still consumers.

I am suggesting the current comments are fanatical, not the idea itself that the people should and ought to boycott not buying anything. Thats a GOOD idea.

How do you that have posted here reason that only 1% of America's population holds 33% of appearant wealth ?

How do you that have posted here reason that the other 66% of America's population make on the average of no more than $10 per hour.

How do you that have posted here reason that thousands have lost their manufacturing jobs that have went primarily to China.

How do you that have posted here reason that anyone has m o n e y to buy goods and services when the 66% of these individuals don't make enough money, or are unemployed.

YES, buying NOTHING is a good idea, and sends a clear message that the disparity between the wealthy and the poor has widened, and that the middle class is no mas.