The Rev Dr. Rick SchlosserDear Friends:
With all that’s going on, massive cuts proposed for both social supports and even our earned income for retirement, the House budget yesterday had infuriating projections for our nation.
Despite cutting TRILLIONS from all government programs, the addition of another massive tax cut for billionaires and corporations will actually ADD $2.2 TRILLION to our national debt. The cuts to food, medical care, humanitarian aid, and everything else we’ve fought for over the years is just to ease that mischief, not solve a problem.
The loss of income to working families and the poor will have consequences. Every human being serves two economic functions: they produce goods and services that generate wealth for companies and the nation. The second function we all have is as consumers. We buy the things we and others make. Without that function, the entire system collapses. Silicon Valley sells information technology mostly to businesses. Businesses produce things that we buy. The failure of us to buy ripples upward to not needing information technology or anything else. Our role as consumers is critical to the whole mix.
Using that power and leverage, we at California Council of Churches are working with thousands of groups to encourage a one-day economic boycott of everything except very local businesses. No shopping means no income to the rich who are getting tax breaks on our backs and those of the poor.
Yes, it’s a token. But as in “A Day without a Mexican”, sometimes the power of a demonstration has significance to other people’s understanding. This is also consistent with our Lenten awareness of sacrifice. It’s a small thing, but it may have huge impacts.
Please join with others and boycott everything – large food retailers, fast food, big box stores, Amazon, and the like. The is foreshadowing for them. If we lose income to finance their tax cuts? They will lose much more from our inability to be consumers. It won’t be just one day then. It will be all days.
If you know homeless or very low income working people, they are exempt from this. They are living on the margins and, if they need a burger from McDs because they can access it, well, so be it. We don’t need to ask them to sacrifice more. They already are. Power matters. So does kindness.
We urge your participation. You can also Google corporate consumer lines to call to let them know you will not be shopping with them Friday and why. “A Day without Our Dollars.” We can do this!
Thank you!