{"article":{"id":10542,"heading":"Shop Everyday As If It Were Your Last Shopping Day, America!","author":"Mildred Pierce","created":"2001-09-21 19:36:47","modified":"2013-11-10 23:35:37","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 06:35:37","article":"

It’s been a grueling and painful week for Americans across the country. The great national tragedy of last Tuesday has shattered a sense of security that so many Americans lived by as we are now being made to face our nation’s vulnerability. Last week’s attacks not only took thousands of lives, tearing apart countless families–as if that weren’t enough–but they also played serious havoc on both American and global economy, and as days have gone by many companies had to shed thousands of their workers. Boeing for instance has cut as many as 30,000 jobs. When you add these figures to the countless people recently unemployed by the belly up of the dotcom industry the numbers become foreboding. Economists, in an effort to curb a recession which some are calling inevitable, have urged that the American public–those still with jobs anyway–go back to their daily routines and reengage in normal consumer behavior.....

If you think you can handle the TROOF and would like to read the rest of this stimulating report you must go, right now, immediately to www.saviorass.com. Thangyou and good night.<\/p>\n","contact":"mildredpierce@saviorass.com","link":"www.saviorass.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Economists, in an effort to curb a recession which some are calling inevitable, have urged that the American public\u2013those still with jobs anyway\u2013go back to their daily routines and reengage in normal consumer behavior....","numcomment":2,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/09\/10542.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":10565,"heading":"Better Idea: Shut Capitalism Down!!!","article":" Here's a BETTER IDEA: BOYCOTT THE CORPORATIONS!! DON'T BUY ANYTHING, from major corporations anyway! If you MUST consume, go to your \"mom and pop\" store, corner market, and buy anything GENERIC or LOCALLY MANUFACTURED\/PRODUCED\/GROWN. At least that's a step toward SHUTTING THIS GLOBAL CAPITALIST system DOWN!!!","author":"Anti-Fascist","parent_id":10542,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-09-22 00:54:09","modified":"2001-09-22 01:16:46","fileurl":""},{"id":10574,"heading":"buying the stairway to heaven?","article":"IF I understand this argument correctly I can use what little money I have as something of a 'vote' and cast this vote for something other than large capital (though small capital may be OK). I sense what we are talking about here is something of an economic boycott, the theory being that if I withhold my purse then the evil corporation will fail. Putting aside for a moment an argument regarding if this would work or not, what I find most disturbing is that my 'action' is reduced to mere consumerism. I strive to be more than the sum total of my consumption and I find it defeating to think that the only power I have is my power to spend, or not, my measly accumulation of capital. What is more insulting is that in this sphere where people exercise democracy and justice through their pocketbook, a guy such as Bill Gates has much more access to democracy and justice than I. How can I possibly hope to compete with the spending power of Bill Gates, to give but one example. Why should I even try? I am reminded that when the Dutch were at the pinnacle of capitalist power, the tremendous wealth of their odd economy rested on luxury goods such as tulip bulbs. No one eats tulip bulbs. They are commodities for consumption by European royalty. This suggests that the mechanism of capital does not depend on the little guy keeping everything afloat through our purchasing power alone. Our purchasing power is not relevant compared to our exploited labor. As long as we continue to believe that our purchasing power is relevant then we buy in to one of the biggest myths of capital - that we are all somehow equal though our ability to consume. Could it be that our tendency to reduce every political action to an act of consumption is in fact a side effect of living in a consumer culture? We don't have time to worry about the environment (because we are too busy working) so we write a check to the Sierra Club. We may want to become politically involved but instead we find ourselves giving money for an election effort. We have replaced action with consumption. In some perverse way capitalist culture has denied the capacity to act - to effect real social change - and instead we are asked to purchase our way into heaven.","author":"money talks?","parent_id":10542,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-09-22 02:02:01","modified":"2001-09-22 02:21:10","fileurl":""}]}