We Have the Power...Part 2

Sometimes it seems more difficult than it really is. The answer lies somewhere beneath a complicated mangle of thought which we have created. And all it really takes is the will to change.
For eight years, we've been drained by the Bernie Madoffs and the reversal of common sense advocated by the Bush regime. It can be summarized in four stages: greed, me first, who cares and we'll figure it out later. All of which led us into the economic quagmire we're in today. But can we really shift all the blame onto the government and lack thereof? How many times did we ignore the Made in China label and buy it anyway because it was cheaper? On how many occasions did we call customer service and connect to India? How much of our food is imported from other countries where the regulations are looser and the prices are lower? It's one thing to shop in the 99 cent store for discontinued items, but it's a whole other mindset when we buy everything we can from there regardless of where it's made.
This has been a vicious cycle which has caused us to spiral downward into mind-numbing fear. We make less, so we spend less. But can we have an impact with what we spend and where we spend it? Of course we can by using the power of consumer choice. Multiply yourself by millions of other consumers and you can see how we impacted our economy by saving a couple of dollars every shopping trip over the past few years! What about those bootleg CDs and DVDs? And you wonder why the cost of a night at the movies and the price of a concert ticket keeps going up. The producers have made a substantial investment and they know that a tremendous amount of revenue will be lost to the bootleggers. So, we go to the ticket window and get gouged. Okay, you saved a few dollors, but the rest of us paid for it. At the produce market, look for fruits and vegetables grown locally or at least in the United States. Our farms are disappearing and along with them generations of farming families. When shopping for clothing or other goods, look at the label of origin and help the American worker keep that job. If you have bought a new American product and need customer service, insist on speaking to someone here. Wouldn't you like to understand whatever directions the rep is giving you and don't you know anyone who needs a job? It's very simple...support your fellow citizens now, or support them later. In some ways we have exascerbated the problem by not thinking in the long term. When you opt to buy foreign products our money is going to support their citizens and boost their economy. Right now, China is holding notes on some of the loans we negotiated to rescue us. We gave them our money and now we have to borrow some of it back. It's a very painful lesson and we'd better get the answers right this time. But each of us can do our part. Let's think about each other, care about each other, help each other. Very simply...Buy American. We have the power to change some things and that may be enough to put us on the right path again.




Author: "Native Intelligence"
www.nativeintelligencethebook.com