Today we celebrate the fourth day of Kwanzaa as
Ujamaa. That means cooperative economics.
The headlines are flooded with "fiscal cliff" conversations.
This term is dubbed from a speech Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered before
Congress earlier this year. Simply put the 2% tax break that we all felt in our
pay checks will disappear. The government will cut spending on key programs
that affect the elderly and working poor.
With this in mind, we can make great use of the money we do have access
to. I see many advertisements on
television that suggest we don't get rich off saving money. But it sure does
help to have a few dollars for any unforeseen expenses. I am not the best at
saving myself. What I will do is if I have additional money from my check, I
will put 20 more dollars on a small bill to get a tiny step ahead.
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| (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images) |
Another thought is, support black businesses when
we see them. I often get items from other ethnic groups such as beauty supplies
and household cleaning items. However, if I see a black store, I will make my
purchase from them. The main reason their prices are higher is because new
black owned stores don't have “the connects” that the experienced merchants
have. It amazes me how we stand in line for sneakers that are marked up 400
percent, and we know were created with child labor in harsh conditions. Yet, we
complain about giving a black store owner 3 more dollars for a tab. Our priorities
need to be re-evaluated.
Sadly people of color in America (specifically 'blacks') fought so long and hard (Civik Rights Era) for the opportunity to integrate and use the same facilities as whites that we didnt realize once we won that fight, it would end the cooporative economics in our own communities. Whites weren't patronizing black business nor were they fighting to do so. As soon as we got the chance, we were all a-go to spend with them but then what happened to us and our businesses? They shut down. And then the system became designed in a way that made it hard for us to open our own businesses again or cause us to charge higher prices because of our lack of 'connectiveness' in the business world...terrible
ReplyDeleteSorry so late. I had to take a step back and decide how I wanted to write my blog? What did I want to say? Back to your comment,something interesting happened to me the other day that fits in to this subject. I went to purchase an oil called pussy for days that cedric wears. Well the guy at the store on 9th said that he sells his oils to dudes and they "cut" the oil and sell it as something else. Me myself I didnt even think it was that serious until he said that it causes the customer to come back to the second person and not him. Needless to say he didn't have pussy for days and i selected another fragrance but at the end of the day that is tearing his tiny clientelle down.
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