I hate Walgreens, Wal Mart, and Albertsons.

I won't go into detail now, but Walgreens, WalMart, and Albertsons are all disgusting institutions. THey should all cease to exist. For, example, they might all be turned into public companies, and the wealth of the owners should be severely taxed. Walgreens, to mention only one problem, is nasty. They are aggressive in selling things that should be free--vaccines for children, e.g. Moreover, my eighty something mother has had to endure no end of irritation and anxiety because Walgreens makes it very difficult for her to regularly acquire the medicines which she and my equally aged father require. Albertsons has fruit and vegetables which are simply second- or third-grade. Just two days ago I purchased a small box of mushroooms which should not even have been for sale---unless at half price as damaged/stale goods. Today they show evidence of being at least two weeks old. I never saw such old mushrooms when I lived in Slovakia, and Slovakia aint Switzerland. Moreover, all of these stores have no hesitation about purchasing goods made in sweat shops. You tell me that Honduras has unions and decent wages? Don't you follow the news? That was the point of the military coup a while back, a coup which, it seems, is just fine with the United States government. But where can I go shopping? There are no alternatives. And that too means that I am not, in any real sense, free..... But what I most want to complain about is what happened yesterday in Walgreens. The worker there asked me to call up and tell her boss how she was doing. This is the nastiest, most insulting and manipulative form of abuse. Putting me to work for the company. It represents a sort of total-control workplace...It is nasty. It is ugly. Get me out of here. This is not freedom, but rather the opposite, and these anti-humane forces and processes are omnipresent in this country....all things that Stalin would have loved to use.....all forms of the velvet glove over the iron fist...for the junk food is soft pedaled with excessive and exquisite ads---more intelligence devoted to marketing and advertising than quality---and that sincere worker wanted me to help her with a good report. But why the hell? How dare they! This is an insidious culture, an anti-culture. And so long as there is capitalism, things are going to get worse. It's time to talk about fundamental things, like how capitalism doesn't work, and what alternatives there may be, alternatives which would take power away from the likes of Mr. and Mrs. Walgreen, Mr. and Mrs. Wal Mart, and Mr. and Mrs. Albertsons.... all citizens who enjoy power and wealth which is destructive of democracy. If you want democracy, you need another economic system....if you want democratic freedoms, then you dont' want capitalism...

Objection: what are the alternatives to capitalism? I myself am convinced by several fundamental objections to capitalism, e.g. that articulated by Robin Hahnel, according to which the phenomena of counting the consequences of business deals out of prices is enough to show that capitalism is fundamentally immoral.

But even if that is too brief to be convincing, one should be wondering about how to make things better, about other possibilities.

For a start, social democracy (such as is found in Europe, and especially Northern Europe) is better than what exists in the USAt; it is a better form of capitalism, but there are proposals such as "Economic democracy"(David J. Schweickart) and "Participatory Economics" (Michael Alpert and Robin Hahnel), and I now think any serious social thought needs to take account of Nancy Folbre's feminist critique of classical economics (and I take it she is one of a group of thinkers with fresh insights). So, there is no shortage of intelligent thinking about what's wrong with capitalism, but it's not widely discussed, and that should change. And, yes, I also think that capitalism should change, and ultimately be replaced with a humane and democratic system. Today the social system, the economic system, the political system--all of these things are atrocious, and that's what I complain about a lot on this blog.....albeit at very much a mundane level....sometimes by comparing the USA to other countries I've lived in, and mostly the USA comes up loser, inferior, worse, a worse, more unhappy place to live, and that makes me very unhappy....

An After-Thought

Is this title over the top? Is it too much?

I don't think so. Look at it this way: Advertising, e.g., for Wal Mart, regularly features such effusive talk as "I LOVE X". If they can (mis) use language in that way, and do so with impunity, shouldn't an ordinary citizen be allowed the same license?

So, my first argument is that even if the language is less than exact, such non-exactitude regularly occurs in public.

Of course, I use such language precisely because Wal Mart and such corporations themselves employ over the top language in their propaganda. However, though such language may be attention getting, the real question is whether there is anything behind it. In the case of advertising, nine times out of ten (or maybe ten times out of ten) there is no substance.

I hope that if anyone takes the time to actually read what I've written, there is more being said.

But, then again, my language is not an exaggeration. I really do feel unhappy on account of having no shopping options. Where can I go and buy a t-shirt that wasn't made in a sweat shop? I cannot do that! And that is worthy of hatred, and disgust, and sadness. I don't like the idea that I am, actually, being forced to participate in a system which creates misery in the world. You cannot possibly love that. Nor can you be indifferent about it. If you are indifferent, then you are indifferent to the abuse of people who deserve happiness every bit as much as you do.

Another approach: Walgreens, Wal Mart, and Albertsons are unpleasant, but they are part of my regular schedule. I wish they were not. I think that it is totally possible for there to be better ways to buy food and other goods--better both in terms of simple pleasantness, as well as relations of justice rather than relationships of inequality and oppression. And it is merely honesty if I attempt to report and describe my honest reactions to these entities. Haven't I got a right to do that?

Sober Footnote:

Professor Leiter has a useful link today..... to the following:

http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105?currentPage=all

HATE WALGREENS?

If you feel that way too, I discuss Walgreens at other entries in this blog. You might want to check it out. Here's the question: are my experiences and complaints common? Do other people have the same problems?

I will not hide my opinion: There should be no private, for-profit health care. Health care is too important, basic to a decent life, to be left to so-called "market forces".... IN other words, it is not just about one rotten apple. It is about a rotten capitalist barrel.

It is not just that Walgreens is a bad company. It is that companies will tend to be bad in a system which encourages them to ignore the consequences of their actions--a.k.a. the problem of "negative externalities"....

What can we do in the meantime? I'm not sure, but I am sure that it is important for people to share their experiences. we need to know that we are not alone---In plain English: a lot of us are getting screwed....