The Power of the Consumer

As an American I am afraid that we have forgotten the fundamental idea behind the capitalistic economy established by our founding fathers. I am afraid that we have forgotten the power we hold as consumers.

 

Wait a minute! Stop the press! I thought this was a duck hunting and outdoors blog? What’s this nut doing raving on about consumers? Well, I guess I am a social studies teacher first. I have a Bachelor of Arts from Francis Marion University with a major in history and a minor in economics. I also have a Masters in Sports Management from the United States Sports Academy in which part of my course of study was Marketing. I love to hunt ducks. I am a consumer. I understand that the increase on the price of crude oil is going to bring about an increase in the price of all products I consume from gasoline to shot gun shells. Duck hunters should be concerned about the rising costs of crude oil. All Americans should be concerned.

Some people feel helpless in the current economy. They feel at the mercy of the market, but as a consumer you have a voice. By making choices about how and where to spend your income you use that voice. If American consumers were to decide to speak in unison it could be a powerful tool to reshape our economy, bringing the price of energy down to a reasonable level. It could even reduce our national debt.

I feel that there are two things that are absolutely crucial to the continued economic success of the United States at this time:

1. We must buy as many American made products as possible.

2. We have to reduce our dependency on foreign fossil fuels.

There is way too much information in these two topics for me to cover in one blog. So I am going to use the next couple blogs to lay out my ideas on how we, the consumers, can make things better. If you have any thoughts on this please add them to the comments. We all need to be together on this. Individually the impact we make may be very small, but together we could make a large impact. We need to fix the economy as soon as possible. Hunting ducks will be a lot less fun when you can’t afford shells, or gas for your truck and boat.

Buckman