Since American capitalism seems to be all about finding new ways to punish the poor for being poor, here’s some shit icing on the garbage cake – Nestle is paying $200 per year to pump enough water to supply 100,000 people into bottles to be sold. All of this is about two hours drive from Flint, MI.
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According to the article, it’s $200 a year, not a month. They’re not paying for the water at all, it’s an administrative cost. The $200 a month was what some Flint residents are paying for water they’re afraid to use.
I think Nestle must be the most evil company in the world (it’s got a lot of competition though). I feel like I’ve been boycotting them my whole life, but they never get any better. Their business practices and greed have no ethics and no boundaries. If killing millions of third world babies is profitable, then that’s what they’ll do. If monopolizing water resources is profitable, then they couldn’t care less if people are dying of thirst. Despite their public reputation being a shambles, I don’t think they’ve ever done a single thing to even try to give the appearance that they’re not evil. Most corporations at least give PR lip service or token good works toward convincing us they’re human. Nestle just spends their energies on thinking up new ways to profit from killing people. I can’t understand why they’re not in the private prisons and military weapons industries. Their corporate philosophy would be a natural fit and the money’s even better.
Corrected – thank you for catching that!
It reminds me of Jeff Bezos asking what charities to give to while squeezing every cent he can out of his workers through bad conditions, low wages, and hostile treatment.
The bottles always cost more than the water, and wind up in a landfill somewhere. Because we humans are smarter than all the other beasts!
It’s almost as though your boycott is entirely ineffectual, pointless, and mainly aimed at affecting the way you feel rather than how they behave.
sonofrojblake
Bless your heart and have a nice day.
@3 – But as far as I can tell, Nestle doesn’t even bother doing that little.
@6 – So you think I should continue to give them my money to expand their reach, regardless of how blood-soaked their products are?
And actually, the worldwide boycott did draw attention to their practices marketing baby formula, and along with other activism, spurred authorities to force them to change. So the boycott over formula was not ineffective.
The problem is that they just detour onto other roads of destruction and human misery, or openly defy regulations (they’ve recently been tagged again for formula marketing violations). I guess you would have us just ignore that since they’re impervious to the damage they do, and won’t change until they’re forced to.
My lament was that I’m tired of having to keep forcing them to grow a conscience over an ever growing list of transgressions. Are we going to have to put their CEOs up against the wall? What do you propose?
ridana #7
It almost always works out better if you use the name of the commenter in addition to the number.
@ridana, #7: On the possibly patronising assumption you meant to address me, rather than chigau :
1. They never get any better/your boycott is effective. Pick one.
2. Prayer cures cancer. My friend got cancer. I prayed. She got better. Therefore prayer, along with, y’know, the massive doses of powerful proven drugs, cures cancer. So the prayer was not ineffective.
3. The cancer’s back.
Nobody appointed you to this role. Nobody is holding you accountable for its effectiveness. You’re tired? Stop. Or maybe do something else – maybe something that works?
Finally – serious question – just how “tiring” is it NOT buying Cheerios?