We've Moved Our Money

Well, we did it. Today we ditched Wells Fargo.

On November 1 we opened the multiple accounts we need at one of the local credit unions here in Tucson. For the past two months we've been working through the hassle of getting checks, ATM cards, catching up with all the autopays and direct deposits and getting all the minutae moved from the old bank to the new credit union.  And today we identified the final stragglers as being moved, so we went down to our local Wells Fargo branch and closed all our accounts. Never being ones to leave quietly, we also sent a letter to the President and CEO of Wells Fargo to make our opinions known. Below is the text of our letter. 

Dear Mr Stumpf,

We, Cathy M. Hemler and Stephanie Bader, are moving all of our accounts to Tucson Federal Credit Union after years of being Wells Fargo customers. The folks at the Wells Fargo Bank Bear Canyon branch in Tucson have been unfailingly great and are most courteous and helpful. However, we have decided to quit doing business with banks that are too big to fail, and by depriving Wells Fargo of our funds we are hopefully contributing to a reduction which will bring banks back into the realm of failure as a consequence of ill-conceived business decisions where all other businesses must survive. 

We find Wells Fargo’s business practices abhorrent. We refuse to do business with a bank that defrauded their customers. As noted by the Federal Reserve Board: “Wells Fargo has agreed to pay an $85 million fine for allegedly steering customers who were potentially eligible for prime interest rate loans into more costly loans and for falsifying information on mortgage applications.  According to the Federal Reserve Board, the purpose was to make it appear that the borrowers qualified for loans when they would not have qualified based on their income.  The $85 million civil money penalty is the largest the Federal Reserve Board has assessed in a consumer-protection enforcement action," the Fed said in a prepared release. In addition to this and other national issues, Wells Fargo has directly taken advantage of the poor economic climate in Tucson. In yet another exhibition of ethically challenged behavior, according to the Arizona Daily Star (August 7, 2011), Wells Fargo is one of several large banks that is buying up struggling homeowners’ tax debt right here in our community.

Of course, Wells Fargo is not the only scoundrel, but not only did banks play perhaps the number one role in creating the 2008 economic disaster (in partnership with the stellar congresses who so kindly removed all those pesky regulations), and take huge amounts of our money in bailouts (how come 99% of the population isn’t considered a group that is “too big to fail”?), they are now sitting on the piles of money they received from us and not lending it to the businesses and individuals in need.

So we thought, “What’s a poor consumer to do?”  We answered ourselves, “Stop doing business with the banks.”   We thought, if only one or two of us do this, we will certainly feel better about ourselves and how we interact with the world. But if many of us do this we make a statement that can be heard outside of our own four walls. In the immortal words of Arlo Guthrie: “…And friends they may think it's a movement.” And therefore, we’re posting to all our Facebook friends and family to share this idea, as well as adding this letter as the latest entry to our blog.

Moving our money is a big deal to us. We have been with this bank for a long time. We ended up with Wells Fargo because Southwest Savings, where we started sometime in the ‘80s, was bought out by a small bank, which was bought by a regional, which was bought by Wells Fargo, which is part of the problem with banks, because of deregulation they are no longer minding their own business.   Although it's a big deal to us, now is the time for us to make the move, and yell long and loud about why.

So we have opened our new credit union accounts, and today we are closing the Wells Fargo accounts and becoming bank-free.  At this point there is nothing that will change our minds, but an apology to the American people for all the damage the banks and all their Wall Street financial industry friends have done to “We the People” would not be remiss.

  

Sincerely,

  

Cathy M. Hemler & Stephanie Bader

Vote with your wallet, and Happy New Year!

Steph

Boycott Black Friday

The holidays are upon us. 

I tend to not much care for the religious aspects of this season (those of you who know me well know I’m exercising significant diplomacy in this description, but that’s a whole ‘nother rant), although I love the music and will play classical holiday music non-stop from now 'til Epiphany. I’m also partial to little flashing lights, which is probably a result of my ‘60s upbringing.  I dive right in to decorating the yard with luminarias and blinky stuff, and pass it off as a druidic solstice celebration just because I love how it looks. However, the fact of the matter is that holidays are mostly an excuse for gifts as far as I’m concerned. I am extremely partial to gifts. Like to give ‘em and like to get ‘em. But gifts means shopping, and shopping sits somewhere not too far below organized religion on my pet hate list.

Here's the thing: I do not want to think of y’all heading out on Black Friday and giving your money to a faceless multinational in order to satisfy your gift list. There’s a huge chunk of money changing hands between now and solstice, and it’s a prime opportunity to make a statement and vote with your wallet. These days I try and stay local whenever I can, and I am also trying to aim my dollars toward doing some good.  So here are some thoughts about how to combine putting your money in responsible places, and finding fun stuff for the folks on your list.

Shop at the gift shops of your local zoos and museums.  Memberships in same are also good (if you know your recipient isn’t already a member).  It’s also a great excuse to go to the zoo. Our zoo has lion cubs (they are 4 months old now), so it’s a really fun trip all the way around.  For the gardeners on your list, the Tucson Botanical Gardens has a wonderful gift shop (and if you live somewhere else I’ll bet your local botanical gardens does too), and the Desert Museum gift shop could easily be your only stop.

Hit your local craft shows and farmers markets. There are all kinds of wonderful seasonal items that are locally grown and/or made.  Shop with local small business people. Don't miss those small shops that sell truly unique things.

If you just can’t find local items to satisfy everyone on your list, catalogs/websites from your favorite non-profits often have cool stuff (NPR, and the Metropolitan Opera are a couple of my favorites).

Gifts that give to others are also a fine idea. Heifer International is a really cool way (www. heifer.org) but there are others as well – if you have a favorite charity there’s probably an opportunity there to give a gift in the name of someone on your list.

And this year don’t forget that we are the 99%, and if you are so moved you can gift to your local Occupy camp. We just dropped off supplies to the Occupy Tucson folks and they are most grateful.

So give thanks for what makes you smile, and vote with your wallet.

Steph

Move Your Money

I hate banks! OK, those of you who know me realize that what I actually said was “I f****  hate f**** banks.  

Not only did banks play perhaps the number one role in creating the 2008 economic disaster (in partnership with the stellar congresses who so kindly removed all those pesky regulations), and take huge amounts of our money in bailouts (how come 99% of the population isn’t considered a group that is “too big to fail”?), they are now sitting on the piles of money they received from us and not lending it to the businesses and individuals in need.

So what’s a poor consumer to do?  Stop doing business with the banks.  If only one or two of us do this, we will certainly feel better about ourselves and how we interact with the world. But if many of us do this we make a statement that can be heard outside of our own four walls.  In the immortal words of Arlo Guthrie: “…And friends they may think it's a movement.”

Moving your money is a big deal. Most of us have been with our banks for a long time. Cathy and I ended up with Wells Fargo because Southwest Savings where we started sometime in the ‘80s was bought out by a small bank, which was bought by a regional, which was bought by WF. Which is part of the problem with banks.  But although it's a big deal it can be done, and now is the time for all of us to put in the effort, make the move, and yell long and loud about why.

We started by deciding that we would not look at local banks but would only consider credit unions. Why?  Look at the prior paragraph – it’s too easy for your small local bank to end up being an appetizer for WF or BofA or some other odious institution.  Also, and equally if not more important, credit unions are non-profit and owned by their depositors, as opposed to banks that are owned by and responsible to shareholders rather than depositors, and must always be looking for ways to make money…which they can only do by charging the folks with whom they do business (that would be us) every time they...I mean we...sneeze or turn around. Also, since they are not required to squeeze a profit out of every depositor, the rates are higher and there are no fees for the regular banking services we need.

Having made the credit union only decision, we next did a search on what credit unions there are in our neighborhood (for those of you who live somewhere like Manhattan, "in our neighborhood" means within 7-8 miles from our house).  There are 5. We determined that they are all federally insured (that’s important – some are state insured and when your state is Arizona that means anything can happen). Then we put together a list of questions about products, services, fees, and business practices. I put this list into a spreadsheet and made a visit to each of the credit unions to get details on what they have to offer. I could have done this by searching their websites but I wanted to see what it is like to interact with the employees of each institution, and I really didn’t want to try and click through endless screens to find 20-odd bits of information on 5 different websites.

Based on what we discovered we narrowed the search down to 2 institutions. We then went online to the National Credit Union Administration (http://www.ncua.gov/Pages/default.aspx) and looked at each institution’s respective financials.  This was enlightening because although both of them were similar in terms of asset value, one was lending twice as much money as the other. The other had half their funds invested…guess where…in banks and other financial instruments. That made our final decision easy.

So yesterday we opened our new credit union accounts.  It will take a couple of months before we are sure that all the automatic activity has been moved over and can close the Wells Fargo accounts, but we’re on our way to being bank-free.

If you are interested in climbing on this bandwagon, here are some resources that will help you work through all the hassle:

https://www.hellowallet.com/mym/list.php This site helps you find alternative institutions in your area.

http://www.moveyourmoneyproject.org/checklist-0  Here’s a checklist of all the things you need to do and in which order.

http://www.rebuildthedream.com/move-your-money/  When you’re ready to make the change, go to this site and take the pledge – making sure your action is counted is important!

If you would like a copy of the spreadsheet we created, send me an email that includes your email address and I'd be happy to share it with you.

Finally, when you are completely moved, send a letter to your old bank and let them know what you have done. Remember part of the power that comes with voting with your wallet is publicizing your vote.

Vote with your wallet!

Steph

New Balance Part Deux

After publishing yesterday’s post one of my readers told me that there had been a response from New Balance to this issue. I did some searching and finally found a copy. Here’s the link: http://www.lgbtpov.com/2011/08/new-balance-ceo-distances-company-from-big-donation-to-romney/. The only way to get this directly from the New Balance folks is from their Facebook page, and you have to click “like” on that to see the post. Interesting way to get folks to “like” you, but that’s another story.

I find the letter from New Balance to be a study in avoidance. And I don’t see how it’s possible to: “...sustain an environment where everyone – our associates, consumers, customers and guests – are treated with dignity and respect,” when the message from the top is that supporting a bigot is acceptable.

As you know from my prior rants, informing those impacted by your wallet voting actions is as important as taking the action, so I wrote a letter to the New Balance executives. See below for the complete text.

Should I happen to get a response I will publish it here.  In the meantime, New Balance is on my list and I’m in the market for new sneaks.

Vote With your wallet,

Steph

My letter to New Balance:

Gentlepeople,

I have been a completely satisfied wearer of New Balance, and in fact just removed my current pair.  I am also a socially concerned member of society and I have recently become aware of your CEO’s $500,000 donation to a conservative PAC that supports a self-identified anti-gay candidate.  I am, as well, aware of the response you posted to your Facebook page (and apparently nowhere else).

While I recognize that the donation was made by an individual and not by NB, your attempt in your response to distance the company from the action doesn’t cut it. I have been involved in extensive corporate diversity activity and it’s a pretty basic concept that every time a senior leader acts in a public way that action reflects directly on the company.  If New Balance’s most senior leader condones bigotry, then your corporate culture, as viewed by your customers and I would assume by your employees as well, is ambiguous at best. The actions of the leaders don’t match the words of the company’s stated values, and your response does not indicate any concern with your leader’s actions.

For this reason, I have just thrown my New Balance shoes in the trash, published my opinion on my blog, and I’m shopping for new shoes.

Yours no longer,

Stephanie Bader

Comment from Amy

We're all still figuring out this blog thing. Amy wanted to post a comment but the s'ware isn't cooperating, so here it is:
Before dismissing New Balance as anti-gay and encouraging a boycott of what is a very good product, why not first write to the CEO and raise his awareness of what message the PAC contribution is sending to the gay community and others.  It is quite possible that he is oblivious, or if not, his awareness might be raised and, who knows, if he hears it enough, he might change the PAC recipient in the future.  Certainly, a direct communication would send a direct message while news of a boycott, however personally satisfying to the participants, might never reach him.  

Where the lines get blurry

One of the gay websites I follow recently posted the news that the CEO of New Balance gave $500K to a conservative PAC that is outspokenly anti-gay (oh, and btw so did the Marriot brothers).  I look at my feet and guess what? I’m wearing a pair of New Balance shoes.

My ethics are challenged on two fronts here.  First, how do I think about a company based on the actions of one individual?  Second, if I’m going to boycott a brand, what do I do about the implicit advertising I’m giving it by walking around with it on my body?

In answer to the first question:  I absolutely initiate a boycott based on the behavior of the CEO.  First of all, the company is paying him enough money that he can afford to part with half-a-mil for a disgusting cause. So in a sense that donation is company money. Second of all, there hasn’t been a peep out of the company in terms of apology, denial, request to don’t do that anymore…nothing that I can find.  In my view the CEO is representative of the corporation, and so the two must be viewed as part of the same whole.  Think of it in the context of the recent ruling by The Supremes – if the corporation is a person you wouldn’t condone the behavior of a murderer because only the right hand did the deed and the rest of the body wasn’t involved. 

So I’m calling boycott on New Balance. But it isn’t a black-and-white issue, and I go looking for what’s been done in similar situations to try and gain clarity. The Target boycott offers some insight but no clear answers. When it became public knowledge that Target’s political arm gave money to the campaign of anti-gay conservative Tom Emmer, moveon.org initiated a boycott that remains in place today. HRC remained neutral on the boycott but dropped Target from the HRC buying guide.  Target had been a high scorer on the HRC Equality Index, which means the “official” corporate culture is actively pro-gay, and that index is the basis for the buying guide. So the body is working for good while the right hand holds and wields an ax at a minority group. It’s a challenge and you’ll need to draw your own conclusions, but my take is you can’t separate the parts. Here’s more info on the Target situation if you are interested:  http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/08/20/HRC_Drops_Target_From_Equality_Buying_Guide/

Second question: I’m looking down at the NB logo and feeling pretty guilty. I’m not the only one struggling with this dilemma. A while back I posted a “Boycott companies with headquarters in Kansas” blog entry, and I got a note from my cousin Nancy saying that Levis are headquartered in Kansas and they are (of course) the only jeans that fit her properly so she has several pairs in her closet.  Being a principled soul, Nancy was wondering whether she should ditch the offending products she already owns or just take the pledge going forward.  Now I’m in the same boat (or shoes). My feet are kinda hard to fit (thanks mom) and I went through a bunch of different athletic shoes before I found these New Balance ones that fit me well. Do I consign them to Waste Management or continue to wear them? My advice to Nancy was you don’t need to pitch the existing product but don’t buy anymore. Does that still sound right now that I’m applying it to myself? I’m walking around with the brand name on my feet, providing advertising for a company with which I have a moral issue. Maybe I continue to wear them but take a marker to them and add a slogan along the lines of “New Balance supports bigots – don’t buy them”?  How many people examine your shoes to see what brand you are wearing?  I’m not sure where I’m going to end up with this, except that I feel guilty every time I wear them off the property so I guess I need to start shopping for a new pair of shoes. And if you know me you know how much I hate shopping for shoes (or any other clothing), and you will appreciate my dedication to the boycott. 

What would you do? Post a comment with your thoughts. And vote with your wallet.

Plastic Packaging: a follow-up

As we become more sophisticated about how we use the web for both communication and purchasing, the opportunities to actually have an impact by voting with your wallet grow commensurately.  Social media and web evolution are teaching us to group and organize quickly and effectively, and at the same time they are simplifying the opportunity to speak up and have a place in the conversation.

One of our readers clued me in to a recent initiative that is a result of direct feedback from individual shoppers:

http://www.amazon.com/frustration-free         (click on the 'learn more' link)

It seems that Phillips Electronics was really getting pasted in their user experience feedback for their impossible-to-open plastic packaging.  They took the feedback to heart and have started to redesign their packaging to make it more user-friendly, and are paying close attention to the user feedback on the changes. One can only hope that the feedback also stressed environmental friendliness so that the new designs incorporate both.

My point is that even without an organized virtual ‘initiative’ or ‘movement’, people taking the time to provide feedback on things that are important to them in their purchasing lives have a rapid and direct impact on suppliers. So when you actually vote with your wallet and take the time to speak up and let folks know what you’re up to, good things happen.

It’s great to be home.  All that green obscures my view of the sky.

Vote with your wallet.

Steph

Plastic Packaging - letting companies know how you feel 07-17-11

One of the key components to making voting with your wallet an effective means of social change is informing your target(s) of the actions you are taking. As an individual you have limited impact – one user disappearing is not a concern (and indeed probably not even noticed), however as a vocal consumer with the ability to bring multiple users along with you, your influence grows. So when you vote with your wallet be sure to say so.

I recently received a note from one of my readers asking for ideas on how to go after companies that are contributing to global environmental ills by using excess plastic packaging on their products.  She suggested mailing the excess packaging back to the company - an idea I absolutely love. However if that seems like more time/energy/money than you can devote, here’s a  classic opportunity to vote with your wallet.

In this case that means not purchasing products that you feel are packaged in an environmentally unfriendly manner, and taking the time to contact the companies who over-package to let them know that their actions are having a negative impact on their bottom line.  My method is to go to the company’s website and look for a name, preferably CEO or Marketing/Sales VP, and send and email directly to those individuals. However if you can’t find a name, generally there’s a “contact us” or “consumer relations” link on the website that you can use. And don’t forget that snail-mail is also still an option.

Below is a sample communication that I use…with appropriate variations…to announce my intentions regarding my various vote with your wallet actions. It is easily changed to meet the specific need (i.e. instead of “because you are contributing to ruining the environment” your rationale could be “because you are supporting right-wing lunatics” – change the words to suit the occasion).  By including the fact that I will be broadcasting the boycott request to my social media contacts I increase the impact of my words and actions which (hopefully) creates a greater sense of urgency. Please feel free to use my verbiage exactly or change it to suit your own style. The key is that communicating your actions is as critical as the action itself.

So vote with your wallet…and say so!

SAMPLE LETTER: 

Dear _______

I have in the past been a satisfied consumer of your product ________. However today when I looked at ___ in the store I found that you are using excessive plastic packaging in your presentation.  I will not support a company that does not care about their environmental impact, and based on the way you are packaging your products you do not. Therefore I will no longer purchase _____  and I will ask my friends and social media contacts to do the same using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email.

It is my hope that once you realize the negative impact your packaging is having on the environment that you will find more environmentally friendly ways of presenting your products, and at that time I will gladly return to using them.

Tracking Current Boycotts 07-04-11

We are each others’ best resources.  I sent a note asking for advice on how to find current boycott info, and one of our colleagues sent me this website:

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/Boycotts/CurrentBoycottsList.aspx 

Based on the information available here, the Target boycott is alive and well (sorry mom), but Best Buy is not on the list anymore.  

I’m getting pounded by the national Democrats for money – don’t forget that the money you give to the nationals can go to anyone with the nerve to call themselves a Democrat, so target your political donating activities to candidates who really support your beliefs. I’m sorry to say there are some folks out there these days who have taken advantage of the Democrat “big tent” philosophy to climb under the awning and call themselves Democrats in spite of exhibiting the political leanings of Attila the Hun.

There’s no such thing as climate change, but Tucson just broke the 4^th longest dry spell since we started keeping track.  And this year’s wildfires are among the biggest and worst on record (the one that nearly ate Los Alamos was the biggest in New Mexico history). And the folks in ND saw the highest flood levels in history. And there seem to be an awful lot of tornados…but no, there’s no climate change - it’s a socialist plot to scare people. It’s caused by the evil Healthcare Bill.

(ok, sorry – I’ll stop ranting now)

Congrats and all the best to Justin and Dana – be happy.

Boycott Kansas 06-23-11

Time to start reading labels really carefully and if Kansas is involved in any way with the growth, manufacture or distribution of the product you are considering, DO NOT BUY. And be sure to contact the company from whom you are not buying and let them know why.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/22/251493/no-abortion-in-kansas/

Voting with your wallet influenced Orbitz 05-25-11

How do you know that voting with your wallet works?  Because last week the Courage Campaign – one of my regular resources – put out the word that Orbitz has been advertising on Fox (which was to be the topic of my next note to you), and in just a few days 40,000 people contacted Orbitz demanding that they stop supporting Fox News. Today I received the following from the CC (Courage Campaign) folks: “On Monday night, Bill O'Reilly devoted his program to attacking all 40,000 of you who called on Orbitz to stop funding anti-gay Fox News, and he defended Orbitz, saying they have "courage."”  The CC folks go on, of course, to ask for donations – they are a gay political org, so they are putting together an ad that specifically targets gay markets to inform the readers that they should not be giving money to Orbitz – but the point is that the impact was so immediate and significant that Mr. O’Hatebluster felt compelled to address it on the air!

My message here is that when you vote with your wallet you double down your effectiveness by letting your targets know what you are doing and why. We are stronger than we know, so stick to your ideological guns and keep up the good work.

Vote with your political donations 05-05-11

Today’s topic: There’s more than one way to vote with your wallet.

Voting with your wallet doesn’t just mean paying attention to who you are buying from, it also means paying attention to who is receiving your donations. As of this year I will no longer give any money to the National Democratic Party, The Democratic House Campaign Committee, or the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Why? Because the money you give to those organizations goes in part to helping reelect such sterling Democrats as:

Senator Ben Nelson – who rather than support his leader and the majority of his party, held the Healthcare Bill hostage until he got a clause inserted that was specific to Nebraska.

The following 15 Democratic congressmen (no women, of course) who just voted for HR3 The No Taxpayer Dollars for Abortion bill  which, among other things, narrows the definition of rape so that statutory rape and rape where the victim is drugged would no longer be defined as rape for the purposes of abortion funding. Here’s a list of those wonderful guys:

Jason Altmire

Dan Boren

Jerry Costello

Mark Critz

Henry Cuellar

Joe Donnelly

Tim Holden

Marcy Kaptur

Dale Kildee

Daniel Lipinski

Jim Matheson

Mike McIntyre

Collin Peterson

Nick Rahall

Mike Ross

Heath Shule

So when the National Dems call for money I tell them very clearly why I will only donate to individual candidates who support my views, and won’t enable them to provide indirect support for people who are disgracing what I believe the party stands for.

And that’s my rant.

Voting with your wallet works 04-09-11

Why is voting with your wallet important? Why should we continue to do this?  Because it works!

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer – Wed Apr 6, 7:13 pm ET

NEW YORK – Glenn Beck later this year will end his Fox News Channel talk show, which has sunk in the ratings and has suffered from an advertiser boycott…

Oh yeah, and –

·         Despite late winter storms and unrelentingly high gasoline prices, the nation's retailers did well in March with same-store sales that rose more than 2 percent. Target, however, was not among those reporting March sales increases….  Star Tribune (Twin Cities) staff writers

Boycott impact? Dunno – just sayin’….

Each of us can and does make a difference when we vote with our wallets.

Avoiding the ubiquitous Koch Brothers 01-22-11

One of the folks on my mailing list reminded me that the Koch brothers founded the Tea Party and are funding many ultra-conservative issues, and suggested that they are prime fodder for boycott initiatives. Needless to say we are not the first folks to think of these sterling individuals – below are a couple of links to information on boycotting Koch Industry products.

The bad news: You may find a bunch of Koch products in your shopping cart. I’ve provided you with an abbreviated list of products you may be using today, and it’s going to be hard to avoid some of them – especially the fiber products. But fight the good fight with your wallet, and keep sending me requests for information you would find useful.

Keep the faith - Hit ‘em in their pockets

Steph

Koch boycott websites:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9013598

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2010/09/boycott-koch-industries-products.html

Koch Industries subsidiaries:

Invista (http://www.invista.com/) fabrics – products/brand names:

·         Stainmaster carpet

·         Lycra fiber

·         Antron carpet fiber 

·         Comforel - used in bedding products such as pillows, comforters and mattress pads

·         Coolmax  (http://www.coolmax.invista.com/) 

·         Cordura (http://cordura.com/en/products/index.html) –is a canvas-like nylon used in luggage and clothing (check before you buy your next backpack). Here’s a partial list of brands that use it: Eastpak, JanSport, Manhattan Portage (uses Cordura Nylon in their bags), European workwear clothing brands, Snickers clothing brand

·         Dacron 

·         Polarguard  

·         SolarMax 

·         Tactel 

·         Thermolite

Georgia Pacific (http://www.gp.com/) products/brand names:

Paper products

·         Angel Soft toilet paper,

·         Brawny paper towels,

·         Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups

·         Demak'Up – dry cotton pads, wipes, eye products (http://www.demakup.ie/?page_id=146)

·         KittenSoft tissues and toilet paper· 

·         Mardi Gras napkins and towels

·         Quilted Northern toilet paper

·         Soft 'n Gentle toilet paper

·         Sparkle napkins

·         Vanity Fair napkins

·         Zee napkins

·          European paper products: Colhogar,  Lotus, Okay, Moltonel, Tenderly, Tutto

Construction products

·         DensArmor Plus – gypsum wallboard 

·         Plytanium plywood

·         ToughRock gypsum board

Petroleum and mineral subsidiaries:

Koch Chemical Technology Group · Flint Hills Resources · Koch Pipeline Company · Koch Minerals · Koch Fertilizer ·

And also:

 Koch Supply & Trading · Matador Cattle Company

Turn Off Fox - 01-15-11

I was both surprised and gratified at how many positive responses I received the e-mail I sent last week suggesting fighting political/social ills by targeting where you spend (or don’t spend) your money. One of the wonderful things about sending such a communication is the discovery that other folks are doing similar things, and that there are lots of resources out there to help. The following was forwarded to me by one of last week’s recipients. It is a link to an organization that has a whole process devoted to reducing advertising and dollars spent on/for Fox News (Fox News…now there’s an oxymoron).

https://secure.colorofchange.org/turnofffox/sticker/

I love the idea of having conversations with your local businesses when you see Fox being broadcast in their operations (one of my friends has been complaining for ages that whenever he goes to the gym Fox is what’s showing for the treadmill gang) in addition to targeting your spending.

I was also reminded that positive reinforcement is as important as negative, so I am currently researching lists/web pages that provide information on companies that are socially and politically responsible. If you know of any that would be appropriate please send along.

The First Communication: 01-11-11

Recent events have made me realize that I have not done enough to actively fight for my beliefs about the changes that need to happen in this country. I intend to change that in any number of ways, and one effective way to make our voices heard is by targeting where we do and don’t spend our money.

Here are links to lists of the companies that sponsor Bill O’reilly and Rush Limbaugh.  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather NOT buy from. Help corporate America learn that it matters where they put their money. There are a couple of products/businesses on this list that I will be very sorry not to use, but I won’t have my money going anywhere near these wingnuts where it will be used to continue the Beck/O’reilly/Limbough constant spewing of hate and intolerance. Please join me, and don’t forget to write each sponsor letting them know what you are doing and why (email addresses are included on the lists).

http://foxnewsboycott.com/fox-news-sponsors/bill-oreilly-sponsors/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/1/15/825644/-Rush-Limbaughs-Sponsor-List

Vote With Your Wallet

I have gotten multiple requests to put my Vote With Your Wallet updates into blog format, so here we go. 
I will go back and post my existing archived emails and I know that there's the capability to e-mail you when I post a new one, so stay tuned and I'll get it figured out.