I Hate Conglomerates

Conglomerates? I Hates 'em

I hope nobody (in the words of our dear ex-pres Bush would say) 'misinterpretises' me when I say I hate conglomerates. Meaning, I don't like them.

What is wrong with conglomerates?

Nothing, if you like big porkfat pigs. And even saying that is an insult to pigs. Because pigs are cute and sweet and smart. And congloms are just greedy and nasty.

I resent the conglomerate that bought out Green Giant- specifically the vegan sausages they used to make. And because the conglom already owned Morningstar Farms, we were presented with Morningstar's sausages. Except that they aren't vegan, and they taste like shit. So I don't buy them and I don't eat them.

I hate that the locally owned 'Olive Tower' coffee house was pushed out by gay-haters and replaced by a dinky Starbucks. As if Starbucks isn't 'teh gay'. Or that the local video rental place, 'At The Movies' was pushed out by Blockbuster. Blockbuster doesn't have the specialty Indie and Foreign movies that I like, and they don't stock many subtitled movies.

Christiansens and Drug Fair both shafted their union workers, while attempting conglom buyouts and were paid back by going belly-up. Drug Fair is now a Mexican pastry shop.

The College Pharmacy, where I was employed as office manager and bookkeeper for 6 years while pregnant with both my boys (bless them, they were very flexible towards a pregnant Fibromyalgia/Epstein Barr person) was bought out by Rite-Aid. I wasn't actually pregnant for 6 years! Not bought out in the sense that there is now a Rite-Aid instead of the pharmacy that had been in business in the same family/location since the 20's. No- bought out in the sense that they were paid to close down to avoid competition with Rite-Aid. Now there is a thrift store where the pharmacy used to be.
And the Rite-Aid that bought them out has since gone into bankruptcy. So the Tower District, which used to have 2 pharmacies- Drug Fair and College Pharmacy now has none. And no grocery stores.

Recently, our local Gottschalks has gone under the knife. I worked there as a teen as a seasonal gift-wrapper and later as a model for their print, fashion show and TV commercials. They were huge in local charity promotion. Their stores are now being bought up by bigwig sharks.

Now, Long's is being taken over by CVS pharmacy. Is it my imagination, or is there a huge sudden surge of takeovers of small family-owned businesses by big congloms?

When ConAgra took over LightLife foods, all of the sudden their vegan products were reformulated to include eggs. Why? Because ConAgra is huge on beef and also owns egg industries. It's incestual cross-producting. But they lost a customer, because I do not buy products with eggs in them. When big congloms buy out organic and 'health' businesses, the first thing they do is start pumping genetically modified ingredients into them- which is then no longer healthy. Google Monsanto, because eventually Monsanto will have every business in their back pocket. And you'll be eating soylent green 24/7.

What's my point? Look at your labels. See who owns the companies you've been loyal to. You'll be surprised at the garbage that gets pumped into them once a conglom owns them.

Support your locally owned business owners. Support your local organic farmers. Join a CSA. Pretty much do everything BUT support conglomerates. I am proud to say I have NEVER shopped at our local WalMarts who have put so many local businesses out of business. Shop at your local Farmer's Markets.

In other words, give the big conglomerates a massive middle finger.