According to community economics advocate Michael Shuman, mainstream economic development today is a scam. States and local government agencies spend big money to lure corporations to their region but do little to stimulate the local economy or support local businesses. And those small businesses, not the chain stores, are often what give a neighborhood its unique identity and make it desirable to live in.
In his new book, The Local Economy Solution: How Innovative Self-Financing “Pollinator” Enterprises Can Grow Jobs and Prosperity (Chelsea Green, June 2015), Shuman debunks many of the myths around economic development—that tax breaks for wealthy corporations are beneficial for all, that only big businesses create jobs, that consumers only care about price, and that social enterprises can't be self-financing.
It seems like common sense that supporting local businesses means keeping more money in your community. I think the rise of Farmers Markets and small business incubators is a sign that people are starting to value local and regional culture/business moreso than large, faceless chains. This is something I still need to improve on, though. Most of my produce and bread comes from local vendors, but a lot of my groceries do not. Some of this is largely unavoidable, such as cleaning products (as far as I know) but I could still be putting a lot more money into the community. But other commodities such as beer and roasted coffee are widely available on a local level. I think encouraging people to go out and support local businesses and raise awareness is something worth doing.
There are limits based on the values we assign to commodities. I bought a farmer's market chicken once. It was frozen and $26. It was not four times as good as Foster Farms. Bill McKibben relates his attempts to get local farmers to produce local bacon and discovering that they break even at $8/lb. Should we be paying $26 for a chicken and $8/lb for bacon? Yeah, we should. But if you give people a choice between paying what something costs to produce locally and sustainably or what giant factory farms cost, they're gonna go with the giant factory farms.
The statistic I probably use the most is that Cuba prdocues something like 3000 Calories per day per person, from one of McKibben's essays (it's in his Reader). I love to compare it to the propaganda pictures showing empty grocery store shelves, and say that the stores are empty because they eat fresher produce. I'm both excited and cautious towards the current warming of relations with the US, because I would hate for Cuba to adopt the commercial food practices of the US. Really, we need to adopt practices they've perfected, like community urban gardens. That is just one great point McKibben makes. He is one of the thinkers we should really be looking towards more, he has an approach to climate change that manages to be urgent, but not overwhelming. It isn't a sort of hippie-radical approach that is quickly dismissed put of hand, but a more academic and reserved approach.
It's too bad a lot of people can't afford to buy local and sustainable food, but that's an entirely different issue. I might have to pick up that book and look into others related to the local economy and food system.
God, I can't wait to have a spare moment to read this. I am a huge, huge advocate for supporting small and local businesses. Everything from stores, to restaurants, to entertainment. Not all of them are shining examples of morality, accountability, etc., but they're a huge step up over faceless corporations (though some corporate giants have their place). I honestly think that it's one of the best ways to spend your money and that the benefits of supporting your local economy is well worth any premium in price.
As far as I'm concerned, the one thing LA has going for it is it's a superheated consumer economy... which means chains tend to fare poorly here, while small locals can actually get established. Boutiques, restaurants, clothing labels... they do pretty okay in LA. of course, you pay $70 for $30 sushi and $12 for socks but it's something.
Yes, but to be fair, you're not paying that money just for sushi and socks. You're also paying that money for it to better circulate in the local economy, develop and foster relationships with the employees and business owners and be able to give direct feedback on their products and services, encouraging them to continue to participate in the local economy, and on and on. Most of all, you get to be smug. Fuck you Lowes. I'm getting my $1.75 worth of nails at Jimbo's Hardware and I'll be GLAD to pay him $3 for it. Like I said, when you stop to think about it, the benefits are well worth the premium. I might buy that guy's book. It seems like an interesting read.Of course, you pay $70 for $30 sushi and $12 for socks but it's something.
Sure! Things get downright bucolic up north. And Redneckistan went from "dirt cheap" to "expensive as hell" to "cheaper than dirt" in the housing crisis. Only problem is you have to live there.
I've been increasingly thinking that the economy and government holding all the power in American society has become too monolithic and distant to adequately represent or care for the people. Leading to isolation, social structures falling apart, and so forth. And that the best way we as a people can combat this is by localizing as much as we can: skill sharing, participating in the community, modern day villages, with the government slowly changing to match, allow for this. I'm really liking the open source, DIY, crafts and building things movement I've been seeing, and wondering where it will go in the future.
Ohhhhh, Tucson had an alternative currency in the 90s. My design class did a case study, on how it collapsed from too many maseuses and not enough car mechanics with faith in it. The idea is to make the people self sufficient enough to tell the rich, the have the wrong paper. When I have my old teachers critique my work, I will have to have someone look at the bussiness model too. Great reminder.
Sounds like the Craigslist problem: the people wishing to pay via barter generally have the least financially-valuable skills and products. I think this is where most microcurrencies fall down: those whose products and services are adequately priced in regular currencies have no incentive to adjust to a microcurrency that suddenly makes one massage worth five oil changes.
The COOP I worked at took the currency, and gave it to the employees. That was way before I worked there. At the end of it there was a dentist burried in a colapsed note. Reading about MMORPG economies and balancing them sound impossible to me, can't imagine pulling strings on actual markets.