I’ve never been a supporter of “buy local” programs. It may have something to do with growing up in Detroit when Honda and Toyota were making dependable cars, and nobody would have refuted the characterizations of the Big Three related in Ben Hamper’s Rivethead. I recall hearing on an automotive radio show that a Japanese model was in the works that was going to get 60mpg. I decided then and there that was what I wanted to drive.
Yet patriots and economists will disagree. The Downtown Sylva Association is promoting a 3/50 project. It is part of a national movement to get every employed person to spend $50 a month at independently-owned businesses. If they would, “the purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue.” It’s not that money spent at chains evaporates; rather, “statistics show” 68% of money spent in indie stores stays in the local community, as opposed to 43% spent in chains. The word “stays” is not defined.
My problem is, I was under the impression that most people still spent most of their money on bills, and the discretionary remainder was divvied up between gas, food, and pharmas. It’s illegal to buy from the indie drug industry, we have no local gas refineries, and the cheap chain food markets continue to be jammed with bargain hunters.
