One major problem for ad hoc political boycott organizations like GrabYourWallet is that so many oligarchs who buy politicians and states are not boycottable–unless you’re very rich.
I’m not very rich. I can’t boycott Stephen Schwartzman’s Blackstone, a private equity fund or the Koch Bros’ fossil fuels businesses, which are wholly owned by them.
The target of an effective boycott has to have some sort of public consumer connection, i.e., in order to survive and profit, it has to sell us something. It needs us, it needs our money; we don’t necessarily need them.
So the Koch Bros Georgia Pacific can be boycotted, along with the gas they sell direct to consumers, as can John Schnatter’s Papa John’s pizza. And of course so can anything produced by Trump and his family. Trump’s the brand, Trump’s boycottable. As a load of charities just realized when they canceled events at Mar-A-Lago.
Here’s another biggie that needs our money and here’s why you don’t need to give it to them:just look where it goes.
End Citizens UnitedVerified account @StopBigMoney 12 hours ago
Did you know that the co-founder of @HomeDepot is a huge supporter of @realDonaldTrump? In fact, he gave $7 million to help elect him.
Buy at your local hardware store, your local appliance store, your local lighting store. Your local anything-but-Home-Depot store.