Shopping for Democracy

For the last 40 years,  the economic-political decision making in this country has been  top down, leaving working people out of the equation. Supporting local economies is a powerful antidote to the unbridled power of corporations and the political financial elite who dominate our society.

We need to starve the corporate beast of its profits! As we point out in HEIST,  it's time for us to fight back at the local level by targeting how we spend our money.  Buying at the lowest prices and the outsourcing that makes them possible has come at the cost of millions of American jobs. The Heist team is allied with strong advocates for local business ownership, including Local First. 

Local First Arizona founder Kimber Lanning is a powerful voice in the film. As Lanning points out, when we spend money with local businesses, 30% of that money is recirculated back into the community. Perhaps just as important Lanning says if a community does not have localized lending, such as credit unions, consumers are "effectively saying take my deposits and invest them elsewhere, we're not worthy."

We know it is not always possible to spend 100 percent of our money with local businesses but we can reduce our purchases with monopolistic corporations.  Next time you are at Wal-Mart think twice about the "true cost" of that purchase you are about to make.  If you live in Oakland, buy your bread at Neldam's Bakery which we profile in HEIST! Neldam's closed its doors during the economic crisis but employees worked with the owners of the building and the business was re-organized into a co-op where the profits are shared among the worker-owners.

Audience members are leaving HEIST telling us that they are going to take their money out of the big banks and put it into local credit unions.  Imagine if everyone did this?  So remember, WE ARE VOTING WITH OUR DOLLARS EVERY DAY!