While I am intrigued by the idea of boycotting Black Friday (something we normally do but call it “avoiding the mad-house”) I’m wondering who it will hurt and is that a good target?

WalMart? Sure! Wally World has shown that being a big retailer and providing low prices and jobs CAN be more than off-set by the communities it destroys, the suppliers it castrates, the products that are cheapened, and the foreign producers that replace domestic one.

Best Buy? I’d hate to see the last big retailer of electronics go down the tubes. I don’t know nearly as much about BB as WalMart, and, yes, it’s a big corp, but I’ve generally had good or excellent service from them.  They just seem far more benign than Wally World.

Barnes and Noble? The last surviving book store chain, the one that Borders was going to crush and is still around? Not sure about them.

Macys? The pretend-department store that specializes in schlock and being out of the size YOU need?  Sure!

Single- or double-store, family-owned businesses? About the only good that comes from boycotting them is if THEY have influence and pressure the local powers for change.

Airlines? Amtrack? Definitely will make an impact!

Stock and bond trading? Now THERE is someone it would be good to boycott.

But a GENERAL strike and boycott, on that day, if it somehow could be organized to make a dent, could be very effective.

I’m sort of thinking aloud here…no real conclusion.

I’m a Canadian and the same thing is happening here.
Graduates are so full of debt they can’t walk. Education here is now for the rich.
Ronald Regan has been reborn and now walks the earth as our prime minister Stephen Harper. Thank God we have single payer health care and no one can get elected here who wants your system. Democracy? Our voter turnout is sinking fast and soon will be the equivalent of US turnout. I fear the corporations that destroyed America are destroying us too.

Outraged,

I hadn’t thought of that, but, yes, Thomas Friedman does behave like a
politician who straddles both sides of the fence.  If Romney is
elected President, he will be a big problem. Short of that, Friedman
is much more insidious than Romney is. 

In Washington, when the ecosystem is pitted against war, what wins?
War. 

Neoliberalism and globalism v. the needs children?  Neoliberalism and
globalism wins.

And on and on and on.  So, Mr. Friedman can create these liberal paper
tigers that never win and yet be regarded as a progressive by people
who do not read closely between the lines. 

And then, when the chips are down, he can advocate war and be
considered a moderate liberal who just happens to be pro-war, thereby
giving other “moderates” cover to be pro-war. 

The fact is it will be a cold day in hell when Mr. Friedman—before
a war starts—writes a strong article condemning it.  Doing so
would destroy his contacts with generals and “diplomats,” on whom he
depends for access as he jets around the world collecting stories for
his book-long anecdotes.

Likewise, he’ll never write a hard hitting story about the damning
effects of neoliberalism because it is not in his economic interests
to do so.  He makes tons of money on speaking fees, and, again, his
access to corporate titans gives his clunky prose the gravitas it
would otherwise lack. He doesn’t want to piss those guys off.   

And on and on. The day he writes an article noting the United States
could apply more pressure in the Middle East process by denying loan
guarantees to Israel will be a great day for hockey in hell. 

He’s a poser in other words.  Pretending to be a progressive while
always—always—coming down on the side of the perpetual
war economy.

He quibbles. He clarifies.  He backtracks. He jumps to the other side.
He holds contradictory positions, but he’s consistently pro-war at the
start of wars.

There’s a malignancy in Washington….a malignant belief that experts can solve our
problems by telling us what’s wrong with things….we don’t need that anymore…

By now every corporation that can has cut it’s work force to the bone, turned it’s
professional staff into clerks, sold of it’s real estate, and has everyone working from their
apartment or bedroom via cisco..there just no more to squeeze….

Since this process impreses Wall Street into believing those huge profits justify huge
bonuses, and skyrocketing stock prices, this is the work world the declining middle
class is used to living in…

But the question is, what will they do nest year? How will they continue to generate
those huge profits, once there is nothing left to make more efficient….merge, with
others?

Next year might be a problem…..if they really want to be 100 percent efficient, then why
don’t they just close down, turn off the the lights and go home…

Re:  D.R. Zing, November 3

From your post I would say Tom Friedman is Mitt Romney
reincarnated…..

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

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keep it up.

Mr. Reeves,

I agree with the gist of your report.

You’re not going to find many Thomas Friendman fans on this
website, however. 

He’s pro war. He endorsed the Iraq War. He’s a faux-progressive,
someone you think you can count on—until the chips are down,
at which point he’s just another advocate for the permanent war
economy.

But I’ll give Thomas Friedman this, if being a cameleon is a sign of
intelligence, he’s either a genius or an idiot, perhaps both. The
man can—and does—hold diametrically opposed points of view and
sees no contradictions.

He’s pro-war and pro-environment, seemingly oblivious to the
fact that war is the reason we have destroyed the ecosystem
supporting human life. 

He’s pro-globalism, yet now is quite concerned about the children
whose lack of opportunity was caused by globalism and the neo-
liberalism that goes along with globalism. 

He’s pro-Israel and pro-Arab spring. 

It’s too easy to say the man is an idiot and not quite right to say
he’s a genius, particularly when one considers his prose clunks along
like an old, rusty automobile, belching smoke and squealing.

But he is intelligent. 

And it would be interesting to see who all cuts him checks
during the course of any given year.

No way in hell would I ever buy a book of his.

In closing, as I’ve said before, I’ve read and enjoyed your columns for
many years, Mr. Reeves. It’s good to see you here at TruthDig.

D.R. Zing

Too many are unable to look ahead, consuming the hate speech, the apartheid propaganda that is fed in large pablum doses by the right-wing, to see how the decline in investment in education, infrastructure, human capital, real capital, technology, and jobs are the death knell for our democracy. The conditions are great for global corporations but anathema for the middle class and democracy as we know it. The increase in hopelessness is just a reflection of those trends which could help turn us around.

Miscreant Republicans and conservatives overall will not let it happen. They would rather destroy all for personal gain.

I would have said the U.S. was in decline, but if a klutz like Thomas Friedman thinks so, I’m going to have to revisit that judgement.

An Alternative to Capitalism (if the people knew
about it, they would demand it)

Several decades ago, Margaret Thatcher claimed:
“There is no alternative”. She was referring to
capitalism. Today, this negative attitude still
persists.

I would like to offer an alternative to capitalism
for the American people to consider. Please click on
the following link. It will take you to an essay
titled: “Home of the Brave?” which was published by
the Athenaeum Library of Philosophy:

http://evans-
experientialism.freewebspace.com/steinsvold.htm

John Steinsvold

Perhaps in time the so-called dark ages will be
thought of as including our own.
—George C. Lichtenberg

I believe that a general strike may be in the offing. Those who are less than optimistic about such must remind themselves that this movement is yet in its infancy and as it matures I believe it will gain numbers and coherency.

I have our family’s traditional Thanksgiving meal every year, generally attended by all my local kids and grandkids, numbering nine grandkids ,three kids and their spouses. I usually take the girls shopping on Friday, the boys on Saturday and thus making my Christmas shopping much less onerous.

I have informed them all that ,this year, we will not be doing so on Black Friday. Those who cannot stay until Sunday will get their presents another time. Small things can add up to big impacts.

Yes, California and America’s rapid decline can be traced back to Prop. 13 and the rise of the Reagan revolution. Its been downhill ever since.

Bill Pilgrim - I’ve suggested general strikes since OWS got going. Seems as if it’s not a popular idea because Americans are too afraid of a) their corporate/boss masters and b) they simply can’t “afford” to go on strike. Imagine NOT SPENDING for a few days or NOT PAYING their fair share of taxes that the wealthy are now demanding from them.

I’m all for a series of HUGE general strikes, but alas, America is in decline unlike Gandhi’s India that had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Here, today, we have everything to lose and won’t do much about it…......

The Status Quo can’t last; what will take its place, only God knows ...

Many students will gravitate to the on-line schools
and will have to take out loans which will keep them
in debt for many years after graduation.
That’s the way it is in today’s America and we only
have ourselves to blame.
When a society regards taxes as an onerous assault on
personal freedom and not a way of improving the lives
of all of its citizens, the result is our present
situation.
What is to be done? I suggest a general strike like
the ones we see in Europe. Everybody except essential
personnel in medical, fire and police should just
stay home. I suggest Election Day; however, that’s
only a week away, as is my second choice, Veteran’s
Day.
Maybe Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and
the busiest shopping day of the year would send a
message to our corporate and political leaders that
we are pissed off. Stay home. Don’t go shopping.