what would we do if we stopped selling & buying things?

i'm willing to wager that the majority of people who read my blog are either extremely in debt, partially in debt or hovering around the break-even point, living paycheque to paycheque. why is that?

we all know the stats: the top 10% of the wealth owners hold 90% of the total wealth or something approximating those numbers. and we, the little people, are the ones putting the money in their pockets. it's time we pull the wool off our eyes, give our collective heads a shake, and take back the only real control we really have in this country. it's time to start voting with our wallets.

i have a theory, and it goes a little something like this:

every time you buy something, pay attention to how you're treated. pay attention to what kind of company you're buying from. if they aren't helpful, are exploitive in any way, simply don't shop there any more.

"oh that's easy for you to say." i can hear it from here. but you know what? it's also easy to do. if you only spend your money in places that actually value you as a customer, that actually care about the neighbourhood in which they do their business, if they actually care about things like the environment and the welfare of others, the other companies will follow suit, if only to try and woo your business to them.

imagine the impact we could have. in just one year, if each person started to buy only from responsible companies, and if each of those people encouraged only one more person to do the same, and so on, and so on, we would have an economic revolution on our hands.

oh, and another thing. let's stop spending on credit. you know, if you can't afford it -- don't buy it! credit is the one system that works the hardest against the majority of canadians and americans. i know people who have even spent their credit in order to take a vacation from the job that they hate, which they have to go back to immediately afterwards in order to pay for the debt that they just incurred.

i can hear it again. "but if i didn't [go away/buy this or that/treat myself with...] then i'd go insane.

does that kind of a system sound like something that represents sanity to you?

it's high time we remember who we really work for: the banks and the insurance companies. and the energy folks too - can't forget about them.

the next time you shop at a big conglomerate store think about what you're doing. think about what in the world it might have taken for that store to be able to offer you such incrediblely low deals on their merchandise. who lost out in the process? i bet you it isn't the place with the big sign out front and all the shiney, blinking lights flashing in your eyes.