Amy Letter

Amy's Blogtown USA

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Well, I told you that all I wanted for the holidays was help getting this country back from the evil corporate puppets now in charge....

and you came through!

I originally gave my Dean for America page a goal of $500 -- I didn't think that goal would be reached so quickly, but it has! So I've made a new goal: $1,000! (I feel like I should say that like Dr Evil or something!) I don't know any rich people, but with all of us giving a little here and a little there (you've overtipped waitresses more than I'm talking about here!) we make a REAL impact, a REAL change.

V I S U A L I Z E C H A N G E:

It might look a little something like this!

Thank You again, all of you who helped reach that $500 mark -- let's make 2004 the year that America learned to breathe free again!

¶ 2:27 PM

Friday, December 26, 2003

I can never tell how far behind the times I've fallen: I just don't pay enough attention to movies and music and TV and all that jazz -- I don't know who the people are, what they've done, or why I should care.

But the other night, flipping channels, I came across Jason Mraz on Austin City Limits on PBS. Now, I may not pay much attention to what's trendy, but I know GOOD. And this guy is GOOD. Gorgeous voice. Fun style. "Lyrics with substance." And otherwise just plain good.

He's also cute. (Click me!)

I'm buying his latest CD: suggest you do too!

¶ 2:48 PM

Here's some really interesting news for "shoppers" from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

'Sam's Club has 71 percent more U.S. stores than Costco, yet Costco's total sales are 5 percent higher. The average Costco store generates almost double the revenue of a Sam's Club. By any hard-nosed business measure, Costco is succeeding brilliantly against what may be the most formidable competitor in any industry on Earth.

'Furthermore, Costco's success translates directly into benefits for workers and customers in the very manner that cheerleaders for corporate America have long described. The company offers "the best wages and benefits in retail." Its starting hourly wage is $10. Full-time hourly workers earn annual salaries of $40,000 after four years.

'And get this: Whenever Costco buyers negotiate a good deal on products, the savings are actually passed on to customers. No, seriously; markups are capped at 14 percent.

'Well then, you say to yourself, Costco CEO James D. Sinegal, the architect of this marvel, must be taking bows as a Hero of the Republic. Wrong. Instead he's defending himself from powerful forces that better understand how a business ought to be run.

'In a single paragraph tucked matter-of-factly into Fortune's hymn to Sinegal and his company, as if it were one more piece of incidental data, we learn that "some of the practices that made Costco great have lately come under attack by Wall Street." What the complaint boils down to is that Sinegal is too generous to the peasants. Stock analysts have "pounded on" him to trim workers' health benefits "and to otherwise reduce labor costs." The critics' view is summarized by "Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher, who recently wrote, 'Costco continues to be a company that is better at serving the club member and employee than the shareholder.' " '

Click me to go to Costco's website, which offers online shopping as well as a warehouse locator!

¶ 2:35 PM

Hey! Happy Whatever You Celebrate! Me, I'm celebrating the coming end of the holiday season! WOO HOO!

Some of you may know, I hate shopping. There are lots of reasons why I hate shopping: I hate locating my body in a wicked den of consumerism, for example. I hate having my eyes assaulted by brightly colored displays that have been scientifically designed to make me want to buy something. I hate being pressured and manipulated. I hate "stuff." I hate muzak. I hate the way brat American kids behave in stores. And I hate most of what's on the shelves: made-in-a-banana-republic gouge-the-buyer and wage-enslave-the-worker shite.

I read in Jim Hightower's wonderful book "THIEVES IN HIGH PLACES" (highly recommend!) that the difference between the slave wage and a living US wage, per t-shirt, is about 25 cents. So if you were willing to pay 25 cents more, the greedy corporations could make just as much profit, and the sweatshop worker could make a US union wage. If that curls your toes, you might consider looking at buying some UNION-MADE clothing: clothing made by people in the US of A, people earning a liveable wage.

Brian found this website today for me, and I plan on buying some tops and yoga pants: they even have Union-made ORGANIC cotten clothing. Mmmmm. Nature. (Click me!)

I might actually be able to go shopping without feeling waves of frustration, horror, guilt, dismay, and anger. Yay!

¶ 3:44 AM