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Voting with your wallet doesn't work. There is no ethical consumption under our current economic system. The only way to end this is to end the global neolibera
by kunai 5y ago
Voting with your wallet doesn't work. There is no ethical consumption under our current economic system. The only way to end this is to end the global neoliberal anti-protectionist social and economic order which permits serfdom in third-world countries for lower prices on final goods here at home.
Note that I'm not advocating for protectionism. Free trade is largely a good thing. But the current system is unsustainable and affords too much privilege to multinationals to self-police. It cannot be allowed to continue unchecked, lest we sacrifice our environment and the living/working conditions of families and individuals halfway around the world.
- vanusa 5y agoThere is no ethical consumption under our current economic system. This is manifestly false. It may only exist in narrow domains. But it most certainly exists, and in the mainstream. I'm sure you can think of a few examples. You're right though that it cannot be relied on a strong lever in the near-term. The only way to end this is to end the global neoliberal anti-protectionist social and economic order which permits serfdom in third-world countries for lower prices on final goods here at home. Unfortunately there's no clear route to "just doing this" either. It's a genuinely vexxing problem that I certainly do not pretend to know the answer to. Indeed, it's kind of one of those big questions people have been wrestling with, and throwing bombs, and whacking people on the head over for quite some time now, is it not. I only know that I'm not going to pretend this shit doesn't seriously bother me. And as a matter of principle, I try not to buy fancy gadgetry of any kind that I don't literally need to get through the day.