Re: Re: White Collar Spam: Another reason to hate Corporate America
Wanigas? said:
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Ever hear of Buy Nothing Day? This year it is Friday, November 28. Feel free to participate and screw the corporate shitheads that we all love to hate.
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/
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Nice idea, and I like that bumper sticker, but while these campains have noble intentions, I question whether this will really work, for many will buy twice as much the next day.
Remember those lamebrain "gas-off" days two or three years ago after gasoline prices soared to $1.75 - $2.00/gallon? Fueled by mass e-mailings, whiney motorists - probably dominated by scores of SUV drivers - picked a certain day to not to buy gas.
It failed miserably and did nothing to lessen the price of gas. All they proved was that America has a serious problem with urban sprawl, its dependence on oil and cars. They suceeded only in delaying their purchase for one day, which resulted in longer lines over the next couple of days becuase they
had to buy gas sooner or later for guzzlers and their 50-100 mile a day commutes to some pod out in the hinterlands
I thought the whole idea was just stupid refused to buy into the mindset of those "gas-off" days. In fact, I deliberately bought gas on one of those days, just to show my utter contempt for such a truly inane protest. Driving a Ford Escort, the difference between $1.50 and $1.75 a gallon was negligable. Maybe $1.00 more a week. I would gladly pay that and more if it means I don't have to be stuck behing some monstrous Lincoln Navigator on may way to work.
These whiners never, ever, take into account how absulutely cheap $1.75/gallon is
if you look at inflation. $1.75 a gallon: That's cheaper than the average price of gas was during all of the 1950s, 1960s, most of the 1970s and early 1980s. Only a few periods during the mid to late 1980s and 1990s was gas actually cheaper, if inflation is taken into account.
(Case in point. The average price of a gallon of gas may have been only 25 cents a gallon in 1950, but inflation puts that up to at least $1.75 - maybe $2.00/gallon). Futhermore, minumum was was only 50 cents in 1950, so it took a minimum wage earner a half and hour to buy a gallon of gas. Today, with the minimum wage at $5.25, it takes about 20 minutes at $1.75/gallon)
When I first started to drive in 1981, gas was almost $3.00/gallon! (adjusted for inflation). Even $2.00 a gallon is not unreasonable, if you look at the price of gas over the past 50 or 60 years.