Well, it would really suck for the millions who are in customer service/retail. You've essentially made them homeless and struggling even more than they were before.
I wish anyone who has idealistic thoughts of protesting like this, would think things thoroughly. Seems like protesting in general, it's just about do action now, thinking almost never.
Someone has to think things through, that's for sure.
The main problem with these things is people buying stuff before, so they can boycott the next day. Makes absolutely no difference.
Obviously, what you're describing is different.
agree. the main idea is to shift away from buying new to buying used, bartering, using cash. there's such abundance of used goods in the US people actually wouldn't have to compromise their lifestyles and this could continue on for months and months and months.
Im already trying my best to move off any services tied to any oligarch at Trumps inauguration.
I just bought a kindle but planning on donating it and moving to Kobo.
Side hobby to learn to pirate safely. Im now using any alternate website to Amazon.
We have the power of voice with our wallets.
Just use the kindle without amazon stuff, maybe install KOReader, you can get your books from somewhere else.
I would but just knowing its a kindle disgusts me. Already bought a kobo.
I think ill donate my kindle instead.
The Day the World Stops Shoppong examined this and found that it doesn’t take a whole lot of concerted action to tank the consumption economy.
Buy nothing days are good but less good if you return to regular habits and redouble your consumption after the boycott is over.
If y'all aren't already aware the first test date for Consumer Power is on Feb 28th. Don't buy ANYTHING on that date. Yeah, it's brief, it will probably be a blip, but this is like a test of the emergency broadcast system. If we can get say 2% of people to do that, then watch closely for reactions, it will help us spread the word for the 2nd test. Then the 3rd. It's only through this grassroots organization that we can accomplish anything.
I had a friend tell me that they'd already seen organizations trying to make it their idea and honestly, I'm not at all concerned about who is putting their brand on it. The POINT here is that we need to start exercising our muscles to make this a real tool for change. Stop focusing on that message and start embracing the larger goal here. Spread the word. RESIST.
Thanks edited my OP to advertise this. i like passive resistance, it takes much fewer resources, non-violent etc.
I already have. Long before the threat of tariffs. I shop thrift stores, yard sales, and social media markets. I go to electronics recyclers and find perfectly good laptops that just need an OS installed.
I’ve had the same phone since 2017, and the same car for 10+ years, neither of which were new when I got them.
I've already planned with my wider family that for the next 4 years we aren't doing jack shit for holidays. No black friday (tbh we never did anyway), no cyber Monday. No gifts for Christmas.
I've been doing homemade gifts or local market goods for xmas the past couple xmas
I haven't celebrated xmas for several years now and it's seriously been so liberating.
I already barely buy shit. I've always said "if the economy hinged on my purchasing habit, the country would go bankrupt". People in general should start living within their means without any protest. It's good for everyone and also will make corporations slow down on killing this planet.
Fix things. I don't know what they did to my father but the man starts getting twitchy and starts scratching at his face if he hasn't ordered anything from Amazon in the last few minutes. I have to STOP HIM to give me a chance to repair things.
I already barely buy shit. I’ve always said “if the economy hinged on my purchasing habit, the country would go bankrupt”.
well, you're already part of the movement:)
yup. Im in a similar boat. could not reduce more. we really need a blender and I saw one for an estate sale next weekend. hoping they have some plates, bowls, and cups to. eff the corps.
Facebook market place has a ton of cheap things. I bought two 27" 4k HDR monitors for $130 from there. Those monitors are literally $1100 new. I bought my GPU for $100, and it's $380 new. People buy shit they don't need and upgrade in a year, too. It's fucking insanity. Check it out if you have an account. I use my wife's.
yeah its more avoiding corp as much as possible. The money saving is a side effect. So im preferring garage and estate sales and certain second hand shops. Old fashioned person to person local.
Plates, cups and bowls can be bought second hand at charity/opp/goodwill shops in my experience. They also often have small appliances, sometimes new as people donate unwanted gifts. Pie makers are very common. Noone should buy new pie makes.
Great recommendation. I always get cheap cloths from goodwill and other charity places. You can find great t-shirts and pants there for real cheap. Good "brands", too.
It certainly would, but I would be worried about the people at the bottoms whose salary depend on this. Rich people can afford not getting revenue for a month, but people with precarious work contracts often can't.
What about mass boycott targeted at the companies undeniably supporting this government?
It could impact bottom people less.
This is where mutual aid comes in.
Share cash with people who need it. Pay their bills, pay their rent, pay their bail money, pay their medical expenses.
The capitalists will hurt people to try to get you to stop boycotting and striking.
Not to be a dick, but I barely have enough money to cover myself and my wife. I don't exactly have any extra money, and our budget is tighter than a tightrope wire, which I suppose is part of the point.
The definition of precariat.
Maybe... You shouldn't have to be on a shoestring budget? Maybe this economy should let you support yourself more comfortably.
And maybe you should be the recipient of mutual aid during a general strike if you need it.
Wow, I don't even know where to begin here. Make more money, right? Work harder? Perhaps the system should provide more? That ain't reality. Despite making pretty good money, everything is outrageously expensive. It's comforting to live in should/could/would land, but one has to have their feet on the ground when providing for their family.
Make more money, right? Work harder?
That's not even close to what they're saying.
They're saying that, given the amount of work you put in, you shouldn't have to be living on such a tight budget. Not that you should just magically make more money.
Furthermore, they aren't leaving anything in should/could/would land. They aren't implying that you should be providing aid to those that need it, but that you should be receiving aid if you participated in this and fell on hard times because of it.
There’s nothing wrong with you, it’s the modern day slavery we all are suffering. You get paid barely enough to keep you alive, nothing more and they have you believing that you can someday be millionaire if you work harder. Those times are far away, you are nothing more than slave. We need to unite and stand up for our rights, it’s not left and right, it’s up and down.
We need society to go back to our earliest economy. The gift economy, just sharing things expecting nothing in return. I wonder what life would be like if that was our main economy.
"Culture Is Not Consumption"
Write that on a tee shirt you already own.
Anything that $peaks their language will work better than protests IMO
that would probably be impossible and wouldn't have a lot of effect cuz demand is an elastic band or something
but a lot of the demand can be met by buying used stuff
Buying used stuff should be illegal! The government is losing out on taxes, and the producers don't get the revenue. Are you not thinking about the shareholders?
Tap for spoiler
/s
You jest, but I'm pretty sure all the secondhand shops I go to collect and pay sales tax.
If even a relatively small number — say 10-20% — just refused to buy anything other than the bare essentials (like food, energy, utils) until action was taken, you'd probably see more action than if those people got out in the streets and protested.
That action would be increasing the price of bare essentials to compensate
If you got a substantial amount of people to it, like 40-50% of the population it would probably collapse the economy via domino effect. So much is underpinned on people spending money on any given day
But, I don't see it happening in reality, just getting 20% to actually do it would be a massive undertaking and 20% would probably be painful, but not cause a cool cascade of collapse
They'll just buy the things they didn't buy before hand, or afterwards, washing it all out in the average.
After a long enough period of striking it begins to have repercussions beyond the individual budget.
If the flow of money slowed to a crawl for an extended period, companies don't have the funds to pay workers. Enough job loss leads to further reduced spending, thus impacting stock value, thus impacting employment, etc...
A month would have a noticeable impact, but a full fiscal quarter would be the first cliff where the big corporations would really sweat. But generally I agree, an economic strike with an end date is like an overnight hunger strike
I'm sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but any publicly traded company no longer needs to post a profit. Boomers are retiring and 401ks ensure that these companies will make money purely from "value potential". Maybe in 20 or so years as the demographics change this will be different, but this is how I see it going down today.
If all of America collectively decided not to purchase from publicly traded companies, and instead only bought from small local companies for just one month. I doubt it would even register on a YTD stock price chart. It would need to be a true philosophical change in how we consume products, and it would have to last for longer than a month to be effective. On top of that, only privileged households will realistically be able to "choose" not to buy consumer goods.
I think we should all buy less and be more mindful of where our money goes. I think we should buy locally and promote businesses that you agree with on levels beyond the value of the good or services they offer as often as possible. However, I don't think we can effectively protest this way unless it was a true lifestyle change for a large portion of the country.
should all buy less and be more mindful of where our money goes. I think we should buy locally and promote businesses that you agree with on levels beyond the value of the good or services they offer as often as possible. However, I don’t think we can effectively protest this way unless it was a true lifestyle change for a large portion of the country.
I'd disagree, we saw it with COVID how vulnerable corporations are. They'll always focus on stock buybacks and stuff like that over recession-proofing. Also, this is quite an equitable movement. Those who can't afford new shit are already contributing to it.
They'd buy more goods for a few weeks leading up to that month, then buy a bit less during, then buy more for two weeks after
Both. Definitely both. Every person has a unique capacity for resistance, so however you’re able is good and important. Talking about it, protesting, boycotting (even in tiny amounts) is something! Being nice to yourself and others in non-consumerist ways is also resistance; like hand-write a note instead of buying a card; your loved one will still appreciate it.
The point is to be a dandelion - they try to pave over us, and we pop back up through the cracks, even in our own little unassuming ways. We may be ants to them but insects outnumber vertebrate life forms by orders of magnitude.
Lots of metaphors as I get sidetracked but case in point: if you can do it, do it!
ETA: Decentralized forms of resistance may be our best bet. Big coordinated efforts are good. Making them play whack-a-mole is also good. If they don’t know where to look next even better.
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