Month: April 2007

Buying Local

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There is nothing completely new in the premise of Scott’s Buying Local Saves? I’m fairly sure that I have heard stories almost exactly like this one:

. . . Kelly Cobb’s effort to make a suit of clothes using only resources available within a 100-mile radius of Philadelphia. ‘The suit took a team of 20 artisans [eighteen] months to produce — 500 man-hours of work in total.’

That should serve as conclusive evidence that you can prove almost anything with the right setup. Scott does a good job of illuminating some of the reasons that cause these kinds of results and calls into question the theory behind local-only shopping. The thing that held my interest is that I have preferences towards that kind of behavior, for some similar reasons to what he discusses.

There is a major difference though – I do not favor local products and services strictly for some moral good, and I don’t favor them in all cases. I think I would call my purchasing habits a pragmatic approach to buying local. I favor getting my hair cut at the local barbershop because I see no reason to pay my money to Great Clips or any other chain. I am especially pleased by the fact that the local barbershop is no more expensive, and I like the haircuts better than the chain stores. I also shop at the local grocery store rather than Walmart. I know some people who think Walmart is evil, but my reasons are much more mundane. I like the fact that the local grocer is not open on Sundays – I like to support businesses that don’t live in the 24/7 world of business. I also like the fact that the local grocery store is only one third the distance from my house as the nearest chain grocery store.

What it really comes down to is the fact that I have tried to divorce myself from the idea that saving a penny is always worth the cost. I save more in time, energy, and fuel by shopping local than I spend extra because their merchandise is 3 cents more expensive per item than Walmart. My favorite result of this new mindset is the freedom to look at things from more than just a checkbook perspective. It’s quite liberating.

Tags community, ideal, money

General

Endorsement Update

It’s time for my monthly update on candidate endorsements. From my last list I still have Barak Obama and Mitt Romney to cover. I said that I thought that most of the candidates were in at that point – I was surprised to find that there are 8 more candidates to add to the list now. Being that far behind I give up on getting them in the right order. I’ll cover them alphabetically (when I get to this list):

Donald Allen
Bob Jackson
Mike Jingozian
John McCain
James Mccall
Ron Paul
Tom Tancredo
Tommy Thompson

In addition to the endorsements (if they ever end) I will be giving an update on the candidates I have endorsed and my take on the overall landscape of this election.

Tags endorsements, updates

General

Rudy Giuliani

Another surprise in the endorsements. Before doing my homework I did not expect to find Rudy Giuliani to have good potential as a president. I knew that there were some positions he held which were not consistent with my own views though I do not expect to endorse only candidates whose views fully parallel mine. If I did, I would have to endorse nobody unless I was running – which I can’t quite yet and don’t dream of even when I can.

I found that Giuliani’s views are generally pragmatic which matches the mood of most voters despite any ideological views being espoused by some vocal people. He certainly has the experience of governing and facing tough problems. In short, I endorse Rudy Giuliani.

Tags 2008, endorsements, national candidates

General

Political Prognostication

Post author By David
Post date April 4, 2007
No Comments on Political Prognostication

A random train of thought today brought me to a very interesting destination. Let me preface this by saying that I am not among the ranks of those who would have anyone but Hillary for President although I have no intention of voting for her at this time. For all those in the anyone-but-Hillary camp here’s a hopeful prediction. This is the one and only real chance that Hillary will have to become President of the United States. If she is not elected in 2008 she would be facing an incumbent in 2012. Beating an incumbent president would be much harder than winning what is essentially an open seat in 2008 – unless the next Republican president was as unpopular as George W. Bush has become.

If she were to lose the Democratic nomination and the Democratic nominee were elected she would not even have a chance in 2012 (unless she were to become a Republican -which will never happen) and by 2016 she is unlikely to have the kind of support that she has enjoyed during the last decade. Also by 2016 she will be 68 years old which is older than nearly all the presidents we have ever had. So in reality this is her only real shot at moving back into the White House.

The other side to this story is that if Hillary were to be elected in 2008 she would be a very safe bet to serve two terms because she is smart enough politically to avoid any mistakes which would make her particularly vulnerable as an incumbent.

So my prediction is that Hillary will be President from 2008 – 2016 or else she will never be President.

Tags 2008, candidates, thoughts