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Forum Post: Protest with your Dollar!

Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 21, 2011, 5:15 p.m. EST by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

What will you accomplish by only using your right to free speech through protest? Almost nothing! The one percent laugh at your feeble protest, drinking champagne and eating caviar, looking down from their high balconies as the police violate your most fundamental rights. So what will make a real impact, one that even the corporations, the stock traders, the banks, and the governments that they are so intimately entwined with? They don't listen to your political vote! That system is rigged against you, courtesy of the one per cents enormous monetary influence. No amount of legislation will change your economic well being! If you patiently expect elected representatives to help you, don't hold your breath. They are the one per cent! Only you can make the difference! But first you must understand the cause of this injustice, and second, the great power that you possess to fight with. The very basis for all economic inequality is for one group to overvalue their goods and services while the other group undervalues theirs. If you trade two hours of your labor for another persons labor of one hour, will you become richer or poorer? Poorer of course! And who's fault is it? Yours! In your battle against the unfairness of this economic system, you ignore your most powerful weapon! Your dollar! It is your labor, in a portable form. It's not just a piece of green paper made of plant fibers. What it represents has great value! It is the only weapon that wall street and the corporations will take notice of!
So where do I use this weapon? At the source. The marketplace. This is where the battle must take place! Here you will find that a 1 pound box of cereal cost 3 dollars, yet the grain inside only costs 11 cents? Or a soda at a fast food restaurant that costs nearly two dollars, yet it's ingredients are worth pennies? Surely it isn't due to the high cost of water. Why does the name brand product always cost half again to twice as much? Are you that brainwashed to believe that a logo will guarantee you quality and status? It is amazing that the poor crave the very things that keep them in poverty. Don't buy name brands! Period! Buy generic, even better, buy used or make yourself! If you protest against these greedy corporations, but continue to buy their products, what will be the outcome? Nothing! You protest against the corporation on one side, but support the corporation on the other by buying their products. How will that make any change? Closing ports will only raise prices that you will pay for in the end. The objective of your protest is not to feel good about what you are doing by occupying a space or closing a place of business. The purpose is to make positive change in the balance of economic power! My God, if you can't see that, rip off those glasses you wear that have been darkened by years of false advertising and empty promises. Open your eyes and use your mightiest weapon. You the 99 per cent must value themselves higher and the 1 per cent lower! It is the only form of protest that will make change! Protest with your dollar!

29 Comments

29 Comments


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[-] 1 points by mediaauditr (-88) 12 years ago

Thank god someone makes some sense on here Bravo. All this talk about evil corporations. Unlike to government, we have CHOICE when it comes to corporations. But WE choose to patron them and make them rich. The corrupt government FORCES us to pay them in taxes. CHOOSE not to support the 1% by boycotting evil corporations. If they begin losing money based on their evil business practice, they will change so they can once again turn a profit.

[-] 1 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 12 years ago

I'm in total agreement, although this has been said on this site before. I buy used all the time and have a long list of companies, both multinational and local, that I boycott.

[-] 1 points by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA 12 years ago

Happy to hear you are taking positive action! Now if only two hundred million more would understand and take action as well.

[-] 1 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 12 years ago

We're trying to get the word out. The more that push the message the better. Welcome aboard, I hope you're in for the long haul.

[-] 1 points by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA 12 years ago

I've been on board for years but didn't realize there were many others. What do they call this economic form of protest and where do they gather?

[-] 1 points by gnomunny (6819) from St Louis, MO 12 years ago

I've actually been boycotting certain companies for years, all of them for valid reasons of course. I'm unaware of any organized groups yet; I only know of the handful I've met on this site. The word does seem to be spreading though, albeit slowly.

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[-] 1 points by ithink (761) from York, PA 12 years ago

Yes! And if we can focus our effort on one thing in particular, that will make a much bigger statement.

[-] 1 points by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA 12 years ago

Boycott soda. Wonder if a few million could.

[-] 1 points by Mooks (1985) 12 years ago

I know I couldn't do it.

[-] 1 points by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA 12 years ago

Interesting how much like a drug soda is. I know many who have to have it. Probably a bad choice for a boycott.

[-] 0 points by XenuLives (1645) from Charlotte, NC 12 years ago

Let's boycott the large banks first. Get more people to move to a credit union. We could use another "Move Your Money" day.

[-] 1 points by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA 12 years ago

Bumperstickers won't lower the price you pay (your under valued labor) for a product (their over valued labor) in the marketplace which supports the one per cent. Only your refusal to buy will.

[-] 1 points by orz (83) 12 years ago

My declaration of "Cosmic Oneness Now" is seen on a daily basis.

Soon there will be a (r)evolution and you will thank me for the free food.

[-] 1 points by orz (83) 12 years ago

"It is the only form of protest that will make change!"

I will get rid of my bumperstickers, then.

[-] 0 points by Stormcrow (11) 12 years ago

The vast majority of you who complain about the "wealthy" are in part the ones who contribute to the wealth of others.

You have a credit card that is owned by a big corporation and you pay a fee for using it.

You have a bank account that you place all your money in and the bank uses it.

You go to a ATM because it is more convenient for you to use and you pay the big corporation a fee for using it.

You own a house and have a mortgage and you pay your monthly payments to a big corporation.

You have a beautiful new SUV sitting in your driveway and you pay your payments to a big corporation.

You have thousands of dollars in credit card debt that is owned by a big corporation and you pay them to have it.

You go to the grocery store to buy your food and that is owned by a big corporation.

You go to the gas station to buy gasoline for your gas guzzling SUV and that is owned by a big corporation.

You go out to dinner and you pay with your credit card that is owned by a big corporation.

If you have a job, and you work for either a small business or big corporation you contribute to their existence and their motive for making a profit.

You have cable television and you make your monthly payments to a big corporation.

You have several cell phones and you make your monthly payments to a big corporation.

You have electricity and in most cases you make your payments to big corporations.

And last but not least you have wireless electronic devices that you have and use and the fee you pay to use them goes to big corporations.

I am sure there are a lot of other things that you do that contribute to the "rich" in this country but I think you now get the picture.

So tell me, how many of you are willing to stop using these products and services so that you can shut them down because they are "evil rich and wealthy"?

[-] 0 points by XenuLives (1645) from Charlotte, NC 12 years ago

I cancelled my cable months ago.

Don't forget that a lot of the food that we are buying from grocery stores are going to fund mega food conglomerates like ConAgra. Buy from Farmers' Markets or flea markets instead. That's as local as you are going to get without growing the food yourself.

My credit card is for emergencies only. I don't want to fall into the "credit trap" that has screwed so many people.

I would love to switch to a smaller, more local company for my energy needs. Most of us only have one choice when it comes to utilities. Trust me, I would dump Duke Energy in a heartbeat if I had the choice.

I would trade in my gas-consuming car for an electric model IF the electric models were affordable and offered the same performance as their conventional counterparts. Ideally we would all be driving perpetual motion powered vehicles, but that's more a dream than anything at this point.

My money is held in a local credit union instead of a major bank.

I try to pay with cash at the local businesses. That way, they aren't charged a fee by those payment processors to take my money.

Its not as easy as just saying "no" to every corporate product.