Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Democrats now involving themselves in our buying habits

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As we all know, government is more intrusive than ever. Now we have the Democrats heavily suggesting that consumers need to know more about certain companies and where our money goes when we buy a particular product. They only want you to support those companies/corporations that support progressive causes and they want to save you from yourself. If they had their way, no one would have a mind of his own. But their main goal is to bring down big Republican donors such as the Koch brothers.  Here is what was sent out by a local liberal--

New App Helps Consumers Avoid Koch Industries and Monsanto Products and Trace Corporate Ownership of Everything in Their Shopping Cart.


Giving consumers the info that they need to make conscious buying decisions.

May 15, 2013

Given the byzantine corporate ownership structures of practically every item Americans purchase, it takes near encyclopedic knowledge to know which companies you are supporting when you buy, say, toilet paper.

A new free app will help conscious consumers know whose pockets they are lining, and help them avoid supporting right-wing causes and truth-obscuring corporate conglomerates like Koch Industries and Monsanto. The free downloadable app scans everything in your shopping cart and traces the ownership all the way up to the parent company. Sometimes that trail will resemble a complicated family tree, since parent companies don't always want you to know who their offspring is. Just by way of example, Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper and Dixie Cups are all products of Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries.

The Brothers Koch also have gotten their corporate hands into the seemingly progressive yoga pants industry. But when you buy stretchy Lycra-containing pants for your downward dog, they are made by Invista, a textile company Koch bought.

The idea for an app for more consicious-shopping first germinated at a Netroots Nation gathering, when Darcy Burner, the former Microsoft programmer, suggested some app developer work on it. A group calling itself Buycott was already at work on the challenge, ultimately making the app even more sophisticated than Burner envisioned. It took 16 months for freelance programmer Ivan Pardo, 26, of Los Angeles to develop the app that allows you to scan the barcode of any item in your shopping cart and find out who your purchase is enriching.

But it goes beyond that, as Forbes.com's Clare O'Connor reports. Users of the app  "can join user-created campaigns to boycott business practices that violate your principles rather than single companies. One of these campaigns,  Demand GMO Labeling, will scan your box of cereal and tell you if it was made by one of the 36 corporations that donated more than $150,000 to oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food." Monsanto, of course, comes to mind, but it has plenty of company including: Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kraft and Unilever.

On a more positive note, Buycott has campaigns to support companies that support progressive causes, like Absolut and Starbucks, both of which have supported marriage equality. The app is free and downloadable to the Android or iPhone.

8 comments:

  1. It sounds like the Democrats got ahold of the Republican play book and are using it against them.

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  2. It is all crazy. What bugs many is that places like FAU only sell Pepsi products on campus, not allowed to sell Coke since they have some agreement with Pepsi, maybe kickbacks of some sort. It just seems wrong that a public university supported by the people and state can do that, they need to allow all to sell on their property, it is wrong.

    I can see if LA Fitness does this, they are a private business, but FAU is owned by the state.

    Our government and rules and all is crazy. We should not shop in any stores that require cards to get the discount either, they just want your info. and sell it. it is all wrong.

    This all might be why so many people are now saying they are NPA no party affiliation, because the dems as just as bad as the repubs. they are all so bad and controlling.

    You are right, we need to think for ourselves, not be controlled by our government and places that want to impose all these rules and cards, etc, making you stay with them to get the deals.

    I am fed up with our gov!
    Thanks Lynn for sharing.

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  3. @ 1:38--you mean you're blaming this on the entire Republican Party and not just Bush?

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  4. I'm not blaming anyone. I'm just saying this is the same playbook used by Lee Atwater, Tom Delay, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Only the ideology is different.

    Anonymous @ 1:38

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  5. You're somewhat emotional here, anonymous. I wish you guys would make up your mind--one day I am poorer than dirt and can't afford a pot and the next day I am part of the 1%. LOL. What I am is someone who sees the wrong in certain actions and this is one of them. Do you really want a group telling you what you should or should not buy? Orwellian for sure. While you are at it, check out some of Obama's top donors who want to "rape the earth" or control elections, or...... This should not have anything to do with the Koch brothers who are Republicans with oodles of money and give support that you Dems wish you had.

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  6. Practicing Liberals are a minute portion of today's population. Ask any company that boycotted Rush's program after Sandra Fluke, and then begged to come back. Ask Starbucks when they put out the bulletin that banned firearms and then had to put out another welcoming gun owners. The point is that conservatives will destroy a company with boycotts but liberals do not have the staying power.

    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/07/clearing_up_misinformation_on_our_sponsors

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  7. Lynn, Your are a democrat for christ sakes

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