If you have no idea what the title is about, let me bring you up to speed. Long story short, this creepy guy with a pig mask (who looks like something straight out of a horror movie) tells a guy with take-out coffee he can save bunches of money by brewing his own then says "feed me." Moral of the story is, sponsors of the commercial want you to save money and put it in the bank. Guess who the sponsor is? The American Institute of CPA's. So basically, the banks want your money. Our government wants us to spend more though. So what do we do? According to the Department of Commerce big companies have more cash on hand than ever. Holding out to that cash instead of reinvesting it is hindering our economic recovery. Again, that's what our government is saying, but there is an air of truth to that from my understand of economics.
When our economy is in the shitter, the value of the dollar, well, takes a shit. It doesn't just do it here though. The US dollar is, or rather was, a highly valued commodity on the world market and was the standard from which the value of other countries currency was judged. Are you with me? Maybe? Well basically what happened when it became obvious to the rest of the world that the US wasn't pulling its head out of the john, their currency became worth more. With, for all intensive purposes, more money, they started buy natural resources. Mainly OIL! Buyers in the US were beat out of the bidding because the only backing a dollar is debt. See why are gas prices are high? You thought all these hybrids would lower the price because supply and demand would drop? Not when you have developing nations that are starving for that liquid gold.
Back to the original question, save or spend? Spend on as much LOCAL, or as local as you can get, products. Don't break open your piggy bank to do it though. Sure the government makes more money on taxes off these big box retail stores, which does make the economy look good from a global perspective. However, there have been many big box chains that have crumbled, local business can survive for generations if care about our neighbors and spend a little more there. Not to sound all conspiracy theory, but with the mountains of debt behind the dollar and a global supply chain that runs on the ever costlier oil, how long do you think it will be before big retail crumbles? Buy local, because someday you'll need a place to buy food.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
You're not wrong :) I happen to agree with your opinion, so in turn that makes it absolute fact. I buy used whenever I can- and for food, local will always win, even non-organic. Because at the end of the day, the carbon footprint left by importing organic apples from Argentina is much larger than the impact of conventional farming done 15 miles down the road.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that we've become a nation of lazy slackers. It's much easier to go to walmart for everything- even though you pass a locally owned fruit stand, local butcher and thrift store on the way. We're complete assholes and our children's children will suffer because of it... But now who's ranting?