Stimulus Plan: Buy Local, Pay Cash
VINNY GOOMBA
Posts: 1,818
It's a simple idea, one that requires slightly more effort on the part of everyone, but it is completely do-able, and doesn't require trillions of dollars to be pumped into the economy:
Make an effort to, whenever possible, buy everything from local small businesses and pay them in cash. This may require keeping some cash on hand, or withdrawing from an ATM once in a while, but nothing more. Can Joe's Grocery compete with Super Wal*Mart? Well, maybe not yet. However with more people shopping at Joe's, and with Joe presumably being able to keep a greater share of his earnings through cash payments, in time, you are going to bring his prices more in line with Wal*Mart's. With more money at his disposal, Joe should be able to employ more people and run his business more efficiently. Even if you are paying more to shop at Joe's, you are "investing" in Joe's in some ways: If there was ever a shortage of whatever you needed (food specifically in this case), who is going to take better care of their good customers, Joe or Wal*Mart? Maybe it's even a "Karmic" investment for those that subscribe to "what goes around comes around." When you buy something somewhere, think about who you are helping and who you are hurting before you do it.
The other benefit to paying cash is that it might keep your own spending habits more in check-- When you pay cash, you see money that you have, that you actually own leaving your possession in exchange for something, when credit couldn't really be any more opposite. It's not your money, it's not physically there, how hard could it be to trade it for something else? It isn't. Imagine how hard it must have been to part with a piece of gold or silver when buying something years ago before paper bank notes were traded as currency? This whole concept is probably the primary reason why casinos favor chips and now swipe cards over cash-- combine that free booze and sensory overload from lights, buzzers, bells, music, and hot cocktail waitresses, and tell me how you're NOT supposed to get robbed in there
? It's just that much more easy to part with something that you less easily equate to money, given to you by your earnings.
When you absolutely need to go to one of the big retailers, save your credit / debit card for them. They can handle it. Buying a turkey sandwich and an iced-tea (or any small order) at Frank's Deli with your credit card takes out of Frank's profit on the trade-- sadly, since so many people have become accustomed to paying this method, small businesses have been forced to make a choice: keep it gangsta and cash only, or accept the plastic with Visa taking its cut every time.
In the end, this practice of paying cash and buying local will keep more money in small businesses in the private sector. Could this practice avoid another collapse of our economy? Maybe. For one thing, if people were able to keep more of what they earned, they could actually save some money and feel more secure in times where the television is screaming at us crying CRISIS! CRISIS! BAILOUT! BAILOUT! Speaking of that, in an economy that runs on little more than confidence, isn't panic the absolute WORST thing anyone can do, be them a bank, a media outlet, or Joe Schmoe? There's certainly something fishy going on there, for that exact reason. So, how do you guard against it all?
Independence. Anonymity. How do we achieve it? Again, we need to re-direct our resources away from the over-sized institutions that cram this stuff down our throats, and give the little guy the advantage by our own choosing. No matter how manipulated any economy can be, underneath it all are still the basic principles of the market, where demand truly dictates everything-- we simply need to demand the opposite of what is in demand right now, and it has to be done as a collective.
Do it through the market. You have to anyway. Legislating against big business practices only shows them your cards ahead of time, and they fight against it much harder, or find ways to take and highjack whatever laws were written that were supposed to be their undoing. It has to be a silent coup, through our own silent, yet HUGE demand for something different-- Whatever your bag is:
Demand clean energy.
Demand organic, non genetically modified foods.
Demand a TRUE free press.
Demand peace.
etc...
Do it secretly, silently, and through small avenues, and we might just get somewhere. Thoughts?
Make an effort to, whenever possible, buy everything from local small businesses and pay them in cash. This may require keeping some cash on hand, or withdrawing from an ATM once in a while, but nothing more. Can Joe's Grocery compete with Super Wal*Mart? Well, maybe not yet. However with more people shopping at Joe's, and with Joe presumably being able to keep a greater share of his earnings through cash payments, in time, you are going to bring his prices more in line with Wal*Mart's. With more money at his disposal, Joe should be able to employ more people and run his business more efficiently. Even if you are paying more to shop at Joe's, you are "investing" in Joe's in some ways: If there was ever a shortage of whatever you needed (food specifically in this case), who is going to take better care of their good customers, Joe or Wal*Mart? Maybe it's even a "Karmic" investment for those that subscribe to "what goes around comes around." When you buy something somewhere, think about who you are helping and who you are hurting before you do it.
The other benefit to paying cash is that it might keep your own spending habits more in check-- When you pay cash, you see money that you have, that you actually own leaving your possession in exchange for something, when credit couldn't really be any more opposite. It's not your money, it's not physically there, how hard could it be to trade it for something else? It isn't. Imagine how hard it must have been to part with a piece of gold or silver when buying something years ago before paper bank notes were traded as currency? This whole concept is probably the primary reason why casinos favor chips and now swipe cards over cash-- combine that free booze and sensory overload from lights, buzzers, bells, music, and hot cocktail waitresses, and tell me how you're NOT supposed to get robbed in there
? It's just that much more easy to part with something that you less easily equate to money, given to you by your earnings.When you absolutely need to go to one of the big retailers, save your credit / debit card for them. They can handle it. Buying a turkey sandwich and an iced-tea (or any small order) at Frank's Deli with your credit card takes out of Frank's profit on the trade-- sadly, since so many people have become accustomed to paying this method, small businesses have been forced to make a choice: keep it gangsta and cash only, or accept the plastic with Visa taking its cut every time.
In the end, this practice of paying cash and buying local will keep more money in small businesses in the private sector. Could this practice avoid another collapse of our economy? Maybe. For one thing, if people were able to keep more of what they earned, they could actually save some money and feel more secure in times where the television is screaming at us crying CRISIS! CRISIS! BAILOUT! BAILOUT! Speaking of that, in an economy that runs on little more than confidence, isn't panic the absolute WORST thing anyone can do, be them a bank, a media outlet, or Joe Schmoe? There's certainly something fishy going on there, for that exact reason. So, how do you guard against it all?
Independence. Anonymity. How do we achieve it? Again, we need to re-direct our resources away from the over-sized institutions that cram this stuff down our throats, and give the little guy the advantage by our own choosing. No matter how manipulated any economy can be, underneath it all are still the basic principles of the market, where demand truly dictates everything-- we simply need to demand the opposite of what is in demand right now, and it has to be done as a collective.
Do it through the market. You have to anyway. Legislating against big business practices only shows them your cards ahead of time, and they fight against it much harder, or find ways to take and highjack whatever laws were written that were supposed to be their undoing. It has to be a silent coup, through our own silent, yet HUGE demand for something different-- Whatever your bag is:
Demand clean energy.
Demand organic, non genetically modified foods.
Demand a TRUE free press.
Demand peace.
etc...
Do it secretly, silently, and through small avenues, and we might just get somewhere. Thoughts?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
i pretty much avoid big box and shop at local grocers, farmers markets and my consumption on stuff outside of food is minimal ...
Glad to hear it. I've always participated to an extent, but it's only been within the last year or so that I've been making a concerted effort to go out of my way to make sure the little guy wherever I go gets paid with cash instead of the plastic. I get the feeling that not many other people do this from the small business owners I've talked to. It's sad, really.
i also read the other day through a number of measures the city has so far cut their energy bill by $65,000
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Ahh yes, another reason. I didn't even really think about this one! Thanks for mentioning it...
I apply the cash at the gas stations when I'm at my friend's garage where they happen to sell gas as well. Sunoco gets the plastic.