RoadDave

We’re going to go there.  The R Word means Race. 

Race can be talked about, openly, by grownups, as long as one is respectful, supportive, honest and inclusive, which is exactly where we are going to stay, but expect some mild discomfort along the way.

Specifically we’re going to talk about the obvious observation, that Senator Barack Obama is black.

There.  We said it.  Notice the planet is still revolving, gravity still applies, buildings have not fallen over, there has been no rain of flaming frogs from the sky and George W. Bush is still depriving a small West Texas village of their idiot.

The Pundit and Poll Trolls have been talking about something called The Bradley Effect as a shy code-word for a phenomenon where people tell pollsters how they’re planning to vote, but doing something else when confronted with the pencil, voting lever, chad puncher or computer doodle on an actual ballot.

To truly simplify The Bradley Effect and strip away what is being implied, hang onto your socks, here it is:

Will white people actually vote for a black man for the office of President, in America, in November 2008?

There.  We said it.  Out loud.  No sugar coating, no indirect obscure references and no coy batting of eyelashes. It is a difficult question that should make you uncomfortable, especially if you’re white. 

(Disclosure:  I’m so White that White people point at me and say “Who’s the White Guy?”  Technically, I’m English-Scottish-Irish-Welsh-American cross-bred with several generations of Ottawa Valley hillbillies.  I rest my ancestral case, M’lord.)

So there sits the question.  For the majority the answer is “Hell, Yes, we will vote for Barack Obama as he is the right person for the job.” 

However, there is that percentage that will not vote for Obama.  Not because Barack Obama is the wrong person, or inexperienced, or any number of disagreements with policy, but who will not vote for Obama because he’s Black. 

Now, how does that make you feel?  Do you feel queasy or lightheaded?  Sit down for a bit and take a few breaths, you’ll be fine. 

We all belong to various races, as race is a taxonomic term that groups very broad physical characteristics by commonality as a short-form descriptor.  Caucasian, African, Semitic, Nordic, South Asian, Asian, Aboriginal, Innu are all terms that describe the collection of physical traits associated with a race.  Ninety-nine percent of the genetics are the same, but we needed a way to describe a Samoan and a Swede in the same sentence.

Unfortunately, the term “race” has been corrupted to include politics, nationality, affiliations and behaviours real or imagined associated with that race, in a hurtful and discriminatory way.  That’s why you are feeling uncomfortable now.  “All Elbonians are horse thieves” is an example of a negative racial statement.  (It’s wrong too:  All Elbonians are goat ropers, not horse thieves.  I’m kidding, relax.)

Now that we’ve defined our terms we can come back to the core question.  Does race matter in the US Presidential Election?

My answer is a very simple No, as race is the dumbest reasons to vote for or against someone.  The potential that any sensible human would even consider voting based on race is repugnant to me as it calls to all the worst aspects of the human animal.  Race voting precludes thinking for yourself and succumbing to very dangerous and very stupid fears.     

However, there is a percentage, who vote, who don’t use their brain as anything other than a spacer to keep their ears from touching in the middle of their skulls.

These include people who insist that only small town America is patriotic, or their policy is going to benefit Joe SixPack and Joe the Plumber and The Real America, whatever the hell that is.  This includes pundits who point to The Bradley Effect as a way for some people to vote by race and feel OK about it. 

This also includes commentators who claim that Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama solely on a dermal melanin percentage.  This also includes the perpetrators of the Barack “Osama” typographical “mistakes” and the hundreds of other petty, dumb beasts out there.

They’re playing a fear card and a race card in the ugliest way possible, by indirect inference.  They don’t have the courage of their convictions to stand up and be direct about their beliefs.  I’ll give swine like George Wallace and Bull Connor one point for being straight-up Honest-to-God Racists:  At least you knew where you stood with them.

The sleaziest and scummiest are the ones that mouth the pieties of America out of one side of their mouths, while doing a Zarrow shuffle with the cards and getting the Ace of Spades to magically appear every time.  These are fear-mongers of the worst kind.  The kind who stoop to using race as they know they can’t win any other way. 

We still have that question sitting out there don’t we? 

Will white people actually vote for a black man for the office of President, in America, in November 2008?

I have my answer:  I truly hope that white Americans will vote for a black man for President.  He’s the right person for the job.

Now, you have your say.

Using the concept of Quo Bono? (Who Benefits?) regarding our personal spending, we can choose to spend our hard-earned money in such a way that it benefits our local community by deliberately choosing local stores, services and businesses.

Why local?  If your city, town, village, hamlet or unincorporated rural municipality isn’t working, then it isn’t a nice place to live, bring up your kids, work, retire, or simply hang out in, then your life sucks.

Why should your life suck? 

Employed, reasonably prosperous people with a half a shred of hope tend not to engage in looting, shoplifting, arson, vandalism, drug turf wars, drive-by gun play, selling their bodily orifices for money, or opening arbitrage accounts.

Working communities are very resilient when things go wrong, as they know they can rely on each other.  Working communities are not afraid of change.  Working communities are willing to offer a hand up, not a hand out, when times are bad. 

Working communities encourage citizens to say things like “No” or “Piss off” when offered the new and improved, change you can believe in, more convenient, more economical, larger, faster and better as determined by Wall Street and Big Corporations.

Best of all, working communities scare the crap out of politicians, Wall Street and Big Corporations, as it demonstrates the potential for citizens to actually think and act together, instead of being lead around like cattle. 

Therefore, change must come locally first.  Wall Street and Big Corporations do not care about where you live.  You do.

Second, the political class in the US and Canada are as a group, a bunch of lying sacks of shit who will say anything and do anything to get their lips on the money teat.  Unfortunately, we cannot legally euthanize them for the good of society as we would rabid raccoons, chickens with avian flu or cows with Bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Remember that Wall Street got its bailout from politicians.  Did you get a piece of the $700 Billion?  Did you get invited to a spa day and management retreat after declaring bankruptcy, like the folks at AIG did?  Do you have a Gulfstream V business jet at your beck and call?  Is Henry Paulson on your speed dial?

Did your bank call up out of the blue, to give you a couple of months to rearrange your finances and renegotiate your mortgage to a better payment plan that recognizes the way the economy is going?  Did someone from Wall Street offer to share their bonus with you?

Me neither.

We should ensure that those responsible for dumping us in this mess get their attitudes adjusted.  The least offensive way is to take away their money and power. 

Politicians need an attitude adjustment and the only one they understand is being voted out of office.  Wall Street and Big Corps?  The only way you can adjust their attitude is to deprive them of money and their buddies in power.

All politics is local.  I didn’t say that, Tip O’Neil said it and he was absolutely right.  Even in national elections with a global focus, what happens in your community is what matters.  Promises of ‘prosperity’ and ‘change’ are just promises, unless the politicians are very specific about what, locally, is going to change.  Promises don’t put money in your pocket, groceries on the table, or jobs in the community.   

Politicians at the local, state, provincial and federal levels need to fear that your community is watching them closely and will use the ballot box and the media to keep them in line.  That’s how lobbyists do it.  They engender fear in the politician that the lobby group will contribute massive amounts of money to the opposition if the politician doesn’t play ball.

Which is why we come back to working, local, communities.

Now you have the secret of Quo Bono.  It isn’t actually to slap Wall Street and Big Corporations upside the head, no matter how tempting. 

Quo Bono is designed to change the whole game by changing the political landscape, by changing the local landscape, by taking money from Wall Street and mindfully spending it locally where there are real benefits, not benefits for Wall Street.  OK, we do get to slap Wall Street a bit, but not the way they deserve it.

Conclusion?  When you put your hand in your pocket to pay for something, ask yourself; Quo Bono?

The rest will come.

The crux of How To Get Even With Wall Street is taking a fraction of a second before you buy something and asking yourself Quo Bono (Latin for Who Benefits).  Who Benefits from me giving them my hard-earned money? 

If the answer is a big faceless corporation, then should your money come out of your pocket?  Quo Bono means giving your money to local organizations, businesses and groups, where possible.  If you want to be precious, call it Mindful Spending.

The thesis is this:  Wall Street and Big Corporations do not care about you, where you live, your family, your friends, your neighbours, or what you do.  This is obvious, as the $700 billion dollar bailout shows.  That’s where we’re coming from.  Wall Street and Big Corporations hate us, but they need us, as we supply their profits.

The second part of How To Get Even With Wall Street is knowing that the system is rigged for Wall Street’s benefit.  Fine, our politicians let us down, but if the system is rigged, let’s find a way, using that knowledge, to deprive Wall Street of some of your money, with little or no impact on your own life.  Let’s bring the benefits of our money closer to home.  Let’s focus on where we live and work and exist. 

Individually, we can choose who gets our money when we buy things.  There’s no barter, or other weird economic voodoo setting up a parallel economy in Quo Bono.  There is no website, membership cards, t-shirts, buttons or secret handshakes.

You can think for yourself and don’t need to be ‘organized’.  You know where your wallet is located and how much money is in it.  You don’t need someone to manage your buying decisions. 

We both know that consumer boycotts don’t really work.  Wall Street doesn’t give a fig if consumers rise up. Even the Cesar Chavez – California Grape Boycott was spotty in its results, as enough people bought grapes to keep the growers in business.  Sorry folks.  We know it is almost impossible to opt-out of the economy, but you can use your money strategically.

Quo Bono is pragmatic, from the standpoint of knowing for some things, you have no choice:  Credit cards and pharmaceuticals come to mind.  There are no local (or regional) credit card companies, or pharmaceutical companies.  It sucks, but that’s what we have to work with.

What does work is individual action, which is at the heart of Quo Bono. 

When you go to a local store, tell the manager that you are actively choosing to give them the sale, instead of a big box store.  Something along the lines of: 

“I’m here to buy things because I know you and your store is part of our community and you do things for us.  I appreciate that, so you’re getting my money.  I’m looking for a…” 

I’m willing to bet that the local store owner or manager has never heard anything like that in their entire retail career.  You will probably get exceptional service, or at least a sincere thank you. 

You are clearly telling the store that you are mindful of how they behave and what they do for the local community and are very deliberately with malice aforethought, choosing that store, instead of some Wall Street corporation.

So, let’s go back to the previous post and add some extra content:  Creative Complaining.

Creative Complaining is a polite, straightforward and legal method of communicating with Wall Street in a way that leverages the gamed system. 

Large corporations spend millions tracking consumer behaviour.  The PR Rule of Thumb is one complaint = ten unhappy folks who didn’t take the time to complain, but are still unhappy.  However, consumers very rarely complain, or spend strategically.  We just do our thing and keep our frustrations inside knowing that ‘things will never change’.  Sound familiar?  Now, let’s use that expected behaviour to our benefit. 

Take tomatoes for example.  Have you ever gone to the supermarket manager and very politely asked for more in-season local produce from local producers?  Why not?  Theoretically, that store manager is supposed to give you ‘service’ that makes you feel good enough to keep coming back to that store.  The manager is allegedly on your side. 

But the store manager isn’t (or very, very rarely) compensated on service.  He or she is compensated on sales.  That’s how the system is gamed:  Move your mouth with the ‘service’ platitudes to distract the customers, but if your sales aren’t going up, you get your head handed to you on a platter.

Back to our example of asking for local produce:  The answer from the manager is usually “We get what head office sends us.  Sorry.” 

You now have a choice to make, a Quo Bono decision.  Since the supermarket is not supporting local farmers and the local economy, do you want to give that supermarket your money?  No is a good answer, but there is another step:  Tell them why.

There are three levels of complaint that you could use:

Polite:  “Then I’m not buying tomatoes today, as I don’t want what you have.  Mr. Manager, you’ve lost a sale.”

Mildly Grumpy:  “That’s not the answer that you should give me.  I am a customer in your store, who spends money here.  Please request local produce from your head office.  I am not buying what you have today and you have lost a sale.” 

Dave Grumpy: “Since you haven’t offered to complain to head office for me and request more local produce that benefits our community, then I choose not to give you my money for groceries today.  Here’s your shopping cart back.  Thank you.” 

Then walk out.  Leave your half-filled shopping cart in front of the manager and walk out the door. 

There is no law that says you can’t change your mind in mid-grocery shop, especially if the manager is not being responsive to your needs.  If Mr. Manager wants to call the cops, let him.  The cops will laugh until they drop their coffees and their Tasers.   

I’m willing to bet that the Manager will tell his supervisor: “Murray, I had four customers walk away this week!  And two more ripped me one for not having local friggin’ tomatoes!  WTF?”  Using the PR formula, six lost sales = Sixty unhappy customers who didn’t hand over the money.  Yikes!  That’s a bottom line shot.

You might get more local produce, or not, depending on how responsive the head office is.  If they’re not responsive, then don’t give them your money. 

If you want to ratchet it up a notch, tell the store manager that you will shop at the competitors, as they carry local stuff:  Competition also scares the crap out Wall Street because a competitor means that store isn’t getting all the money that your and your fellow shoppers have to spend.  You are spreading it around, mindfully, and that cuts into sales. 

Sales are what matters.  Not service, not happy customers, not well-stocked shelves.  Sales.  Dollars.  Your dollars.

Another example:  Self-Serve, U-Scan or Customer-operated checkouts.  When a self-serve lane was put in the supermarket where I used to shop, I tried it a few times.  I found a manager and asked if I get a discount for dong the work the store used to do.  He laughed and said that no, U-Scan is the same price.

So, I do the work and I get what?  Convenience?  Actually, an average cashier can scan my stuff and bag it up faster than I can.  I know this to be true as I timed it, more than once.  Try it yourself.  How many items can an average cashier zip over the scanner in 30 seconds, compared to how many you can scan in 30 seconds?  The cashier wins every time. 

(Self-serve checkouts are designed to go slower than a cashier, as the technology weighs each item and also weighs the carousel where the bags are hanging.  If you go fast, like a cashier, the system stops you.  The U-Scan technology compares physical weights at the pre-scan and in the bag area.  If the weights don’t add up then something is wrong and the machine screams at you.  Supposedly this ‘reduces shrinkage’ and mis-scanned items, as the machine assumes you are trying to steal stuff by going faster than the machine wants you to.)  

If the store gave me 2% or 3% off the total for doing the work, I’d consider using a U-Scan or self-service checkout, but that isn’t going to happen as it cuts into the store profits.

I found the manager a few weeks later and said “I will not use your self-serve checkout, as you are not making it worth my time.  In addition, self-serve means you can lay off people, who need their jobs.  You’re doing nothing for me or my community with your ‘convenience’.  Please tell head office.  Thank you.”

I didn’t yell, scream or act self-righteous.  I chose a course of action and made sure that the manager knew what I am doing and why. The Manger looked at me as if I had just broken the secret code:  U-Scan is a way to lay off employees and increase store profits.  It isn’t more convenient.  It isn’t faster.  It actually hurts the local economy by putting people, who need those jobs, out of work.

But the store and head office promote it as ‘convenient and fast to save you time in your busy day’.  Quo Bono?  Not you, not me and not your local community.

The third part, which includes more creative complaining, will show you a couple more ways to beat the system, by using the gamed system to beat Wall Street over the head with their own hammer.

In doing some thinking and some reading I think I have come up with a way to get even with Wall Street.  The reason I want to get even with “Wall Street” is simple: Wall Street is a shorthand for the big corporations who have jiggered the game with willing politicians to get around their collective responsibility for our financial mess. 

Plus, we’re not allowed to talk about the physical, emotional, cultural and social mayhem that would result in the population rising up and taking control back from politicians who should be driven naked through the streets at the sharp end of a bullwhip.  So, we won’t go there, or even suggest it.  That would be wrong.  

I’m calling it the Quo Bono Moment.  Quo Bono means, approximately, Who Benefits, in Latin. 

Here’s the nub of it.  When you go to reach into your pocket to pay for something, ask yourself, “Quo Bono?”  Who Benefits from me making this purchase?  Where does my money go?  Does it go to people, or things, or organizations that have my best interests at heart?  Will this money I’m handing over provide benefit to where I live?  Or does this money, that I’ve busted my hump to earn, go to some faceless anonymous corporation to piss all over the place like an incontinent raccoon?

(Before you go off on a “He’s a gol-durn Socialist” rant, I think profit is good.  Very good, in fact.  I just choose to be mindful of who benefits from my contribution to their profit.)

An example or three, should suffice.  Tomatoes.  You can buy tomatoes from just about everywhere in the world at your supermarket.  Costa Rica, California, Chile and sometimes, local growers.  You know that they all taste more or less the same and the prices are more or less the same.  But somewhere in there is a Quo Bono moment that should help your decision regarding which tomatoes to buy.

Tomatoes from Costa Rica have travelled thousands of miles and were probably grown by some peasant getting a dollar per ton of finished product.  Someone in the supply chain is making a lot of money and it isn’t the grower:  The system is gamed to screw the grower and keep them poor. 

Therefore, do you want to give your money to a middleman who is raking in gobs of profit for doing nothing except arranging long distance shipping?

Or, do you want to give your money to a local farmer, who actually makes more per pound, as he or she doesn’t have to ship the tomato 1200 miles through some broker and middleman?  Who is more deserving of your money?

In a perfect world, it would be the organic, local grower who also lives in the local economy, employing people, buying things, paying taxes and contributing to the economy.  Ideally, I’d be buying from the farm gate, but that isn’t always practical at 9:30 at night when you want a sandwich. 

Quo Bono is, if nothing else, pragmatic.

Gasoline is another Quo Bono moment.  Honestly, it is.  Yes, the gasoline comes from a petroleum oligarchy that is determined to screw you as hard and fast as it can, as frequently as they can.  This is hard to change, but you can still nudge the ship around.  Don’t give money to a gas station that is owned by the oil companies.  Those are called O&O (owned and operated) stations, as in O&O’ed by the corporate head office. 

If you want to buy brand-name gas, look for a station that is a franchisee.  A local franchisee.  Look for a station that has a garage attached to it, as odds are the operation might be owned by someone you can walk up to and talk with. 

Yes, that local franchisee makes a pittance on the fuel you buy, usually in the realm of 2 to 3 Cents per litre, but that 2 to 3 cents is important.  That profit the local franchisee makes, although small, is going to feed and house the family, pay taxes, put the kids in school and, if profits are good, might even allow that local dealer to sponsor a softball team next summer. 

The O&O store?  The local community gets sweet Foxtrot Alpha.  Don’t believe what the head office says.  They are not involved in your community.  Sure, they hire two people and pay them minimum wage, but that’s where it stops.  The profit the O&O makes goes into a big pile in Houston for the executives of the oil company to roll around in while naked.  (I’m making that up, but it isn’t too far-fetched as executive compensation.  Ask the folks at the Department of Energy)

There are holes in Quo Bono and I’ll be the first to admit it.  We don’t have a textile industry, or a cotton industry any more.  The footwear industry is gone, along with office furniture, televisions, consumer electronics and a big piece of the steel industry.  It is harder to buy strategically when entire industries have disappeared, but it can be done.

As an example, the big screen TV you want to buy.  Televisions are no longer made in North America.  They are made in China, Korea, Taiwan and less so, Japan.  You could buy that big screen at any one of the big chains.  You know who they are:  The Smiley Face Place, The Bulls-Eye, The Yellow Price Tag, or any of the regional chains. 

Assume you’re at The Smiley Face Place and are ready to put your hand in your pocket to pay for the big TV you want.  Stop and think: Quo Bono?  Answer: A Big Corporation. 

Could you buy the same big TV at a local store?  Probably, assuming you have any local stores left.  Would the local dealer (Crazy Ernie’s?) price be the same as The Smiley Face Place?  Probably not, but a price difference of $20 on a $1,200 item is less than 10 percent. 

That 10 percent difference means that a local business, (who might even deliver your big TV, set it up for you, as well as take away the box and your old TV for a nominal fee) gets to stay in business, employing people like your neighbours, paying taxes and contributing to your local economy. 

(If that extra $20 on a $1,200 item is going to bankrupt you, then you don’t need the TV:  Try buying your kids some food and clothes.  Pay the back rent on the trailer before you’re evicted.)  

There are places where Quo Bono does not work.  There are no ‘local’ or ‘regional’ credit cards:  They’re international Big Corporations.  Insurance is Big Corporations, but a few still have local brokers:  Try a local broker.

Banks generally are Big Corporations, but many have local branches that employ a few people.  Go into the branch and actually use a teller (pardon, Customer Service Associate) instead of online banking or the ATM. 

I’ve found at my bank, when confronted with a long line at the ATM’s, that even a pudding-headed teller can deposit my cheque to my account faster than I can, waiting in line to use the ATM.  Going to a teller contributes to the usage statistics of the live humans employed by the bank.  Higher usage statistics means a few more branches might actually remain open, employing people.  I not only save time, but I screw the bank out of the ATM ‘convenience’ fee, which feels really nice. 

The objective of Quo Bono is to speak to Wall Street and big corporations in the only language they understand:  Profits.  Wall Street and Big Corporations do not care if you like them, but they will do anything to get your money.

In asking yourself Who Benefits, if the answer is Wall Street and Big Corporations, then consider putting your hand back in your pocket and not giving them your money:  It is imperfect, but it is a start. 

Quo Bono can’t happen overnight, as big businesses think in terms of financial quarters, at least when it comes to change that affects the bottom line profit. 

There is a second component to Quo Bono that I’ll post later this week:  It involves you complaining creatively while using your money strategically.

Quo Bono?