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keryxI just signed up for my company's discounted stock purchase plan, then rearranged all my 401(k) contributions because some of my money was invested in Wal-Mart and some was invested too conservatively.
Ironically, I moved my money from Wal-Mart to a combination of small companies, risky companies and overseas investments that probably include sweatshops. There aren't really options for what I'd call "socially responsible" investments. I'd like to, say, invest in businesses owned by round women in their twenties and thirties. But at least it's not being sent to megacorporations that make me feel all ew.
It's the little things.
Not to say that I'm inherently against corporations, even Wal-Mart. I work for one. Nor am I, for that matter, opposed to sweatshops in the here and now. That is - in the longer term, we need a global living wage that means people who make cheap plastic toys can afford to buy them and that the gap is narrowed between the wealthiest and poorest countries, but in the shorter term, my 401(k) is helping a twelve year old support a family of five, and given the other option is frequently near-starvation for them, I'd rather they have the sweatshop-working option than not. Something shitty over something shittier, I guess.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is something I'm more ambivalent about. If the Wal-Marts of the world could exist without crushing local businesses and stepping on their workers, I might be alright with them. They just can't.
Ironically, I moved my money from Wal-Mart to a combination of small companies, risky companies and overseas investments that probably include sweatshops. There aren't really options for what I'd call "socially responsible" investments. I'd like to, say, invest in businesses owned by round women in their twenties and thirties. But at least it's not being sent to megacorporations that make me feel all ew.
It's the little things.
Not to say that I'm inherently against corporations, even Wal-Mart. I work for one. Nor am I, for that matter, opposed to sweatshops in the here and now. That is - in the longer term, we need a global living wage that means people who make cheap plastic toys can afford to buy them and that the gap is narrowed between the wealthiest and poorest countries, but in the shorter term, my 401(k) is helping a twelve year old support a family of five, and given the other option is frequently near-starvation for them, I'd rather they have the sweatshop-working option than not. Something shitty over something shittier, I guess.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is something I'm more ambivalent about. If the Wal-Marts of the world could exist without crushing local businesses and stepping on their workers, I might be alright with them. They just can't.
