First, the good news: a judge shut down the merger (biggest in history) of Kroger and Albertsons. A step in the right direction, so of course Albertsons is suing: they had already counted their profits ahead of the dirty deed. The bad news? Walmart is still in the business of klling smal grocery stores, with the public enabling this. Only community action will stop this!
The irony is WalMart's prices are NOT lower than local supermarkers. Too bad so many people assume that they will be getting a good deal by shopping there.
You are right about that. This is the same irony that is behind the belief that Trump is good for America. Ever wonder when people will wake up and smell the coffee??
We the ~80% working class majority are not as stupid as the ~19% upper middle class D party supporters seem desperate to believe. For decades we've tried to get the Ds to listen to how their party's corporate sponsorship affects us.
Read Les Leopold's 2024 //Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do about It)// for in-depth studies and robust stats.
Perhaps the ~90%+ enraged support for the UHC assassin is finally loud enough for the arrogant D leadership to hear. BTW, characterizing us as 'asleep' is merely a softer version of dismissing us as "a basket of deplorables." Not a friendly way to recruit us back to your party. A party that was once ours until the neolib D elite purged New Deal remnants and passed financial deregulation.
Lest y'all dismiss this as just another stupid white guy, I'm BIPOC and LGBTQ as well as working class.
I remember quite a while ago, their was a town with a long-time grocer that served just about all the shoppers in town Everyone liked the store, good service Than a Walmart came to town with lower prices. Soon everyone shopped at Walmart The local grocer went out of business. About a year later Walmart left town, for lack of profit. The town was left with nothing! In places where I have lived, ask anyone where to buy anything-Walmart! We shopped several grocery stores, told neighbors about that, but where did they go? Back to Walmart! I now live where Walmart & Target is just about it When I travel, I have noticed you can tell the poverty rate in a town by the grocery store-like Dollar General!
Again, we can trace many of our current abuses to St. Reagan. I am proud of our local transit, MARTA, which in the summer months offers fresh produce at many stations which are in these notorious food deserts. But defeating the real culprits (thank you, government, for rejecting the Kroger/Albertson's merger, which would have decreased competition and increased the problem) should be job one when Democrats sweep Congress in 2026. I know, but I can dream.
Reagan is not entirely to blame The D party was usurped by the neolibs starting in the late '70s, probably related to the '71 Powell memo. These elitist Ds dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor, the ~80% working class. These same Ds passed financial deregulation.
We the unheard majority remember the Ds did FOR the suffering, unemployed Rust Belt same as they did TO the Wall St. vultures causing the '08 crash--NOTHING! Whose interests are served by a corporate sponsored D party? By a party that refuses to fight an econ system defining away devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems as unimportant externalities?
I live in the sticks. Monopolies are the only places that can last out here. We can’t afford the co ops. And farmers markets only have so much and they are expensive too. Lots of issues. Please don’t forget about us rural folk. Thank you Low Down.
We were a food desert. Oh sure there was an independent grocery store but it had limited selection and sometimes dubious quality meat. One man opened a storefront on the main drag near the only stoplight for 20 miles. His selection was limited but the deli counter was always filled with fresh meats. Soon his business grew and he needed more space so he approached the owner of the grocery store and inquired about purchasing it. The asking price was ridiculously high so our guy acquired land across the road and built a new IGA and drove the other guy out of business by offering good food at reasonable prices. In a few years he had to expand. After 25 years or so he turned the store over to his son who is keeping up the family business.
Last year, Dollar General opened a store about 2 miles away in a little town. The people in that town like being able to walk but I don't think it has affected the IGA very much. And the old grocery store is now a local hardware store -- affiliated with Ace but definitely local. We like it.
Years ago we had a food co-op store downtown, it lasted for about 25 years until Kroger put in a natural foods section and our co-op went out of business. Then Kroger got rid of their bulk natural foods section shortly thereafter.
When I was a teen growing up in Brooklyn, I shopped after school for dinner every day: the local grocery, local butcher, local produce store, local bakery. Everything was fresh and nothing was wrapped in plastic!! Healthier, more social, far better for the environment.
Let’s get that grassroots movement moving, then! So much of this is like the weather; everyone talks about it and nobody does anything about it. Seems the time is ripe, considering the impending collapse of the regulatory system, for the general citizenry to rise in defiance of this wrong, and in support of the laws on the books.
I agree that large monopolies have gained economic dominance. During the lockdowns of COVID we saw many small businesses go under while Amazon and Whole Foods, and Walmart became the only game in town. So many had their groceries delivered because they were afraid to brave shopping in person would expose them to COVID. Interesting that Liquor stores and Pot stores never got closed down. I'd like to hear some admission to the effect that these lockdowns also played a big part in closing down many small businesses and enriched the big corporate companies. But thank you for the important perspective.
The local bars were closed for COVID and went out of business. We are not yet recovered from the economic impact of the former administrations handling of that viral plague
I’ve lived in two small towns with small grocery stores. Both stores were known for their butcher department. Quality meat, cut to order, was their anchor.
Overturning Citizens United would help eliminate these “charitable givers”. It’s the perfect illustration of quid pro quo.
YES! Watching 'The Aviator' with Leonardo DiCaprio
First, the good news: a judge shut down the merger (biggest in history) of Kroger and Albertsons. A step in the right direction, so of course Albertsons is suing: they had already counted their profits ahead of the dirty deed. The bad news? Walmart is still in the business of klling smal grocery stores, with the public enabling this. Only community action will stop this!
The irony is WalMart's prices are NOT lower than local supermarkers. Too bad so many people assume that they will be getting a good deal by shopping there.
You are right about that. This is the same irony that is behind the belief that Trump is good for America. Ever wonder when people will wake up and smell the coffee??
We the ~80% working class majority are not as stupid as the ~19% upper middle class D party supporters seem desperate to believe. For decades we've tried to get the Ds to listen to how their party's corporate sponsorship affects us.
Read Les Leopold's 2024 //Wall Street's War on Workers (How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do about It)// for in-depth studies and robust stats.
Perhaps the ~90%+ enraged support for the UHC assassin is finally loud enough for the arrogant D leadership to hear. BTW, characterizing us as 'asleep' is merely a softer version of dismissing us as "a basket of deplorables." Not a friendly way to recruit us back to your party. A party that was once ours until the neolib D elite purged New Deal remnants and passed financial deregulation.
Lest y'all dismiss this as just another stupid white guy, I'm BIPOC and LGBTQ as well as working class.
Amen! Do not fraternize Walmart. This is the largest international criminal I know of.
I remember quite a while ago, their was a town with a long-time grocer that served just about all the shoppers in town Everyone liked the store, good service Than a Walmart came to town with lower prices. Soon everyone shopped at Walmart The local grocer went out of business. About a year later Walmart left town, for lack of profit. The town was left with nothing! In places where I have lived, ask anyone where to buy anything-Walmart! We shopped several grocery stores, told neighbors about that, but where did they go? Back to Walmart! I now live where Walmart & Target is just about it When I travel, I have noticed you can tell the poverty rate in a town by the grocery store-like Dollar General!
Again, we can trace many of our current abuses to St. Reagan. I am proud of our local transit, MARTA, which in the summer months offers fresh produce at many stations which are in these notorious food deserts. But defeating the real culprits (thank you, government, for rejecting the Kroger/Albertson's merger, which would have decreased competition and increased the problem) should be job one when Democrats sweep Congress in 2026. I know, but I can dream.
Reagan is not entirely to blame The D party was usurped by the neolibs starting in the late '70s, probably related to the '71 Powell memo. These elitist Ds dumped the New Deal and abandoned labor, the ~80% working class. These same Ds passed financial deregulation.
We the unheard majority remember the Ds did FOR the suffering, unemployed Rust Belt same as they did TO the Wall St. vultures causing the '08 crash--NOTHING! Whose interests are served by a corporate sponsored D party? By a party that refuses to fight an econ system defining away devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems as unimportant externalities?
We have the best government $$$ can buy....hook,line and vote.
I live in the sticks. Monopolies are the only places that can last out here. We can’t afford the co ops. And farmers markets only have so much and they are expensive too. Lots of issues. Please don’t forget about us rural folk. Thank you Low Down.
We were a food desert. Oh sure there was an independent grocery store but it had limited selection and sometimes dubious quality meat. One man opened a storefront on the main drag near the only stoplight for 20 miles. His selection was limited but the deli counter was always filled with fresh meats. Soon his business grew and he needed more space so he approached the owner of the grocery store and inquired about purchasing it. The asking price was ridiculously high so our guy acquired land across the road and built a new IGA and drove the other guy out of business by offering good food at reasonable prices. In a few years he had to expand. After 25 years or so he turned the store over to his son who is keeping up the family business.
Last year, Dollar General opened a store about 2 miles away in a little town. The people in that town like being able to walk but I don't think it has affected the IGA very much. And the old grocery store is now a local hardware store -- affiliated with Ace but definitely local. We like it.
I shop almost exclusively at my neighborhood co-op. Local produce, everything I need. And the farmers market nearby supplies the rest.
Years ago we had a food co-op store downtown, it lasted for about 25 years until Kroger put in a natural foods section and our co-op went out of business. Then Kroger got rid of their bulk natural foods section shortly thereafter.
When I was a teen growing up in Brooklyn, I shopped after school for dinner every day: the local grocery, local butcher, local produce store, local bakery. Everything was fresh and nothing was wrapped in plastic!! Healthier, more social, far better for the environment.
Let’s get that grassroots movement moving, then! So much of this is like the weather; everyone talks about it and nobody does anything about it. Seems the time is ripe, considering the impending collapse of the regulatory system, for the general citizenry to rise in defiance of this wrong, and in support of the laws on the books.
I agree that large monopolies have gained economic dominance. During the lockdowns of COVID we saw many small businesses go under while Amazon and Whole Foods, and Walmart became the only game in town. So many had their groceries delivered because they were afraid to brave shopping in person would expose them to COVID. Interesting that Liquor stores and Pot stores never got closed down. I'd like to hear some admission to the effect that these lockdowns also played a big part in closing down many small businesses and enriched the big corporate companies. But thank you for the important perspective.
Sometimes I think booze is the only way we survived the lockdown. : )
The local bars were closed for COVID and went out of business. We are not yet recovered from the economic impact of the former administrations handling of that viral plague
"Citizens United" has to be overturned and violations of campaign financing rules have to be enforced with severe penalties. Otherwise, we are gonzo.
I agree!
Teddy Roosevelt got money out of politics. Citizens United brought it right back.
I’ve lived in two small towns with small grocery stores. Both stores were known for their butcher department. Quality meat, cut to order, was their anchor.