Homegrown Businesses, Not Global Chains, Build Community Prosperity (ReclaimDemocracy.org)

[marmar]

Homegrown Businesses, Not Global Chains, Build Community Prosperity


By Jeff Milchen
Published May 14, 2007

I'll say this for the featured speakers on the opening day of the recent Montana Economic Development Summit: they were consistent. Speaker after speaker noted Montana must “compete in the global economy” to thrive and how the internet was key to doing so. The clichés quickly grew old, but ideas only become clichés if they present some truth.

Technology and international trade undoubtedly serve an important role in Montana's economy. Yet the cheerleading for corporate globalization only elevated my skepticism of the keynote speakers' motives (all out-of-state, white, male millionaires or billionaires). After all, if something really improves people's lives, you don't need to tell them repeatedly how great it is.

More concerning was the invisibility of community-serving businesses—hardware stores, grocers, farmers and countless other businesses that serve the everyday needs of Montanans. These businesses may lack the sex-appeal of global exporters, but they are the bedrock of local economic vitality. Moreover, their importance only will grow as transportation costs rise and diminish the advantage wielded by global corporations dependent on cheap fuel and weak regulations abroad.

Unfortunately, Target and Wal-Mart—the only two retailers with tables in the Summit's exhibition hall—represent the opposite of sustainable economic development. Global chains' displacement of local businesses ensures more dollars will leave the local economy and fosters dependence on corporations with no real commitment to our communities. The history of Butte, MT, where the summit was held, provides a prime example of how such dependence ultimately can ravage a local economy and environment. ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/independent_business/local_prosperity_montana.php

[Vidar]

1. K&R.

[bemildred]

2. Nature hates monocultures.

Sound ecologies are complex, not simple. Giantism is a sign of ecological weakness.

[Demeter]

3. The Internet Will Not Unclog a Drain, Build a House, Diaper a Baby

or do any of the other tasks that sustain physical life. The Internet will sustain the Intellectual Life, and bust up the Entertainment/News/Art/Communication monopolies and cartels.

There needs to be both the Physical Life and the Intellectual. And every person needs both. Work and play need to be reorganized to take this balance into the end goal.