Blackout Day is here!

I think this is a good start, and I know there are other days planned, but I have thoughts and questions. First thought, I remeber a few years ago folks tried to organize a "dont buy gas on this certain day" to protest high gas prices. It was ineffective, as I expected. The thing is, shifting purchases from one day to the next does not effect the bottom line of any business. If you have a household budget of $4000 per month and you spend mostly the same amount for gas, groceries, utilities, meds, clothes, eating out, etc., if you spend the $4000 in mostly the same manner but you shift your buying days, the companies you are patronizing will still make the same profit. I think today might be effective in sending a message that a lot of people are pissed off, especially if 100 million+ folks actually hold the line on the boycott. It will not cause any pain. Of course, many of us are already trying to do as little business as possible with various targeted corporations, for DEI, for Palestine, for endorsing Trump/Musk. These seem to be working to some extent, I hope we keep it up. there again, it only has the desired effect if 100 million folks do it. Though there is the thing that if you are the only one, it might not change the business but it can change you... An effective boycott leads to another question, though. Lets say Starbucks, McDonalds, Coke, and Pepsi, etc. feel the pain and change their ways. Do we then go back to these companies and reward them for their improved behavior (bringing back DEI, ending their support for Israel [and the USA] genocide)? Do we continue to avoid doing busienss with them because we know them to be creeps who only changed their behavior under duress? If we dont return to them, will they see us as just lost market share and double down on their evil ways to try to improve their support among people who support the evils?

Back to the general black out today, to be truly effective, we need to change our spending patterns. The thing is, for most of us, our spending patterns are largely determined by our budget realities, more than simply habit. I would prefer to boycott Walmart everyday. I like Publix, but for a lot of the same reasons, I would like to boycott them, and to be honest, Walmart averages about 20% cheaper, which is a chunk of change out of our$1000+ monthly grocery expenditures. We have an Aldis nearby, but as our health requires a mostly keto diet, and Aldis doesnt really carry much of that, we have a Trader Joes 20 minutes away (Walmart, Publix and Aldis are all 5 min away), and it too, is limited in its selections and the extra gas (cost and as well as environmental damage) is something to be considered.

We have already, mostly for health and finance cut out the frequent trips to drive thrus, eating out once or twice per month, and then usually at a local establishment. What we need is a good strategy to slash spending overall. I would, and maybe will, plant a garden, but in my entire life, I have never had a successful garden. Also, if we do cut off their lifeblood but cutting spending, we have to realize we will be costing our friends, family, and neighbors jobs. So, where do we go from here? I am supporting the Black out and the future dates of targeted black outs, only because I dont have a better plan, but we need one! I do think supporting local, and especially Black/LGBT and other marginalized persons' business is great. Unfortunately, to those of us who are living on limited funds, which is most of us, often supporting local cost more. Yes, you are, in the long run, returning more of the money to the community, but if you pay $10 instead of $7, in the short run, you might go hungry. Again, This has to be a sustained effort to overturn a corrupt system, there will be sacrifices, which some of us can afford to make easier than others. But to create a path forward, we need an organized strategic system, a roadmap that we can all take on as much as possible and we must be careful to not judge the least well off among us for not making the level of sacrifice as those of us in the middle or upper levels of economic success. I realize I am laying out the problems and not offering answers. That is because I dont have answers. Thoughts?