Wednesday, May 18, 2016

OK, Maybe Atlas Didn't Shop...



But if he had, and if he'd gone to a place like Costco, he have plenty of choices (enough to make your head hurt), reasonable prices, and a workforce that has a decent enough standard of living...and that's something we can choose to have...

2 comments:

  1. Out in SoCal we belonged to Costco, had a membership and guess what? They had a union! Not sure if they still do or which one they have today, but at one time they had the Teamsters as their union. Decent wages even 17 years ago. The management seemed to respect the workers. Just my own observation and memories of that store/chain. There was a Sam's Club before Sherie died even a Walmart not too far from our home there, but we never shopped at either.
    Every human being should be treated with a minimal amount of respect, just because. I try every day to just treat everybody I come in contact with the way I like to be treated. It is so bloody simple and not at all hard to do. Sure, some days you run into some surly person, but you just might be the only person they meet that day who is half way polite to them. I honestly think it WILL make a difference. Put aside all the petty "differences" such as skin color, religion, birth place, etc.. If we all just try, I am certain this world could be a much nicer one for all life. Oh, and put an immediate END to all the goddamn, useless, mindless bullshit wars of choice. Those wars do nothing except make those who are far richer money wise than they need to be.
    As the old poster from the 60's said, and my personal Vietnam experiences show; War IS unhealthy for children and other living things. ENOUGH of the damn fool wars of choice. Bring ALL our troops home. It IS called the Defense Department after all. OK, I'd allow the Marines to keep guarding the embassies. They have a tradition of doing that and from what I remember of my marine days, embassy duty was good duty. Lots of polish and dress uniforms, but still good duty. Beats getting shot at every damn day for sure.
    Sorry for the long winded rant, just got me all fired up…..again.
    Take care my friend, enjoy the rest of your work week.

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  2. There's a Costco here, but I haven't joined...yet. Still mulling over the idea, because I'm not sure I need stuff in bulk. My footprint is pretty small.

    Oh, I'll go to Walmart if I must, but just don't do much shopping period. Can't even remember when I last went to a mall. Maybe when I got my eyes checked (there was an eye doctor at one of the malls here).

    And of course have never been to a Sam's. No need.

    Still, Hanauer's right: even if you're a selfish asshole, it's in your interest for everyone to have enough money. Businesses need customers, plural. And there's no reason why anyone working at any full time job should be impoverished. Hell, for that matter, the times I've had to go to Walmart? I might not like the store, but the work crews have always been gracious, especially when I showed up needing a new tire ASAP after the old one shredded after running over something...during a heavy rainstorm.

    No, there's a whole ugly side to some of our fellow citizens, and the usual wingnut rhetoric is rapidly fading in favor of their true voice: they just don't like poor/minority/anyone outside their own tribal affiliations, and their love of Trump reflects that. As Hunter Thompson wrote years ago (I've seen the War is Unhealthy poster), anyway, Thompson quoted RFK as saying Nixon represented "the dark side of the American spirit." Trump even more so.

    Well, time to get back to stuff here. Tomorrow's the last day of the week, TGIF, but next week sees me possibly on the jury...

    Take it easy.

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