Stop Starbucks

Good for Starbucks. There will always be those that resent the companies that are successful. There will always be people, despite their best intentions, that fail to understand that prices are communicators and the price of labor is no different.

I have long thought that Starbucks coffee was overrated and overpriced. Now I have one more reason to not buy their coffee.

"(Starbucks) is lobbying hard against the passage of EFCA."
--Good for them!

"Just to put it in perspective, Starbucks insures less than 42 percent of its workers - while Wal-Mart insures 47 percent."
--To put it further into perspective, your average independent coffee house (which I tend to prefer, actually) insures less than 10 percent of its workers.

What is it with these big Seattle companies? Amazon has an atrocious record in caring for the poor; Microsoft takes advantage of its workers and has policies to deny benefits; Boeing actively works to kill people; and now Starbucks, the last of the "good" major Seattle companies! One has to wonder what the wonderful Seattle life is built upon.

If one could create the perfect society, but with the involuntary untold suffering of one lowly individual, would it be worth it?

If you think it's expensive now, wait until the entire company is unionized! Unions make us pay more for the products that would otherwise be less expensive to produce or create. That translates to poor stewardship of resources that could otherwise be used in better places.

What is it with these big Seattle companies?

Seattle is one of the most liberal areas in the nation .

"(Starbucks) is lobbying hard against the passage of EFCA."

There's nothing "pro-choice" about the EFCA. Honestly, it's probably the most damaging piece of legislation that could be passed to hurt our economy. Unions are largely the source of many of the economic problems of GM and Chrysler, and hurt the economy more so than it helps. I have to pay a lot more for an automobile because people in Michigan want to make twice as much as I do. Somehow that doesn't compute. I get along just fine with my income and benefits, yet for some absurd reason the unions want to make the rest of the world pay more for what could be produced for less. That's poor stewardship of scarce resources. Much of those resources could be used for other things that people want and need, and at a cheaper price.

Unions started out with a great purpose: prohibit employers from harming its employees. It's gotten way to greedy and has harmed our economy in the meantime.

agreed. If capitalism is driven by greed, social justice is driven by envy.

Large companies are walking targets. My daughter has worked at Starbucks p/t for 6 years while attending school and has had benefits the entire time. She has stock and health care. They are awesome!

Yikes for serving coffee ? That does sound like a good company . I live in the Seattle area , actually do not like their coffee, and can't afford the coffee experience that so many out here love . People spend about 3 bucks a day on their cup of StarBucks blended coffee, flavors and more .

Your right about any company that is sucessfull being a target . Starbucks actuaklly has hit hard times wuth the recessiion , so has Boeing and Microsoft out here . Interesting the lefty politicians make a big deal out of how they have made it better for them to be in business out here , but the same political slant in regards to politics puts a harsh slant on their operations on blogs such as this .

Agreed!!! Couldn't agree more.

I talked with my grandpa the other day and he was saying that if a unionized worker dropped a piece of paper he couldn't pick it up because it wasn't in his job discription. Think of how this would hurt Starbucks!!!
(Imagine)
"oh I'm sorry I can't make a soy latte, thats Bobs job. And don't even get me started with the whole tea bit!"

Since when did being Christian being pro-union? I never thought that greed was a value Christ emphasized. Hmm.

Once again, xtrafree spouts off against labor unions.

Xfree is using standard anti union talking points,
emanating from the corporate right wing of the Republican Party --
'mindspeak' from a libertarian 'think tank', amplified through the corporate media,
reverberating inside 'dittohead' skulls all across America.

I wonder how xfree earns his living?

Is xfree an entrepreneur,
an investor,
business owner,
corporate manager,
hourly wage earner,
commission salesperson,
government worker,
politician,
soldier,
policeman,
teacher,
attorney,
engineer,
architect,
craftsman,
scientist,
social worker,
a cleric,
or is he retired, posting on God's Politics blog just for the fun of it?

I wish xfree would be more proactive in his search for the truth about social justice.

I live in Michigan... it happens to be the poorest state in the union right now with the highest unemployment rate. The people in Michigan want jobs (period)... and I think it is relatively unfair to generalize all Michigan residents so broadly by labeling them greedy... wanting to "make twice as much" as you do. Not to mention that it is unfair to claim that someone else wants to have something that I'm sure you would not refuse yourself.... i.e. I doubt you would object to a 100% raise if offered.

Your statements sound as "envious" as you stated in an earlier post was the negative position of social justice.

Unions tend to be just as susceptible to the problems of size and money that major corporations face (corruption, mismanagement, focus away from people, etc). I have a feeling that companies like Starbucks start out with the best of intentions toward them employees, but when they become a mega-corporation, they find that they need to standardize practices to maintain their "system," and in doing so they inadvertently create new systems that override their earlier best intentions. Problem is that we don't have systems in place currently to hold these corporations accountable when they start to miss the mark.

Unions might be an imperfect solution, but on the other hand, I don't see better ideas being implemented anywhere with success... WalMarts and Starbuckses are overrunning neighborhoods, and bad practices continue unabated.

Your local coffeehouse may not offer the same corporate benefits, but they are still personal enough to deal with employee issues on a case by case basis. There is no study marking how many coffeehouse owners have paid out of pocket for an employee's medical bills, or given paid time off for an emergency, or offered flexibility in scheduling to accommodate a second job, etc.

Hey extrafree, get your mind out of the right wing noise machine. You and your Karl Rove clones and Limbaugh wanna-bees can't think for themselves. Why don't you go worship Reagan or some hedge fund manager. Turn off Fox News turn on to reality.

You and the stoopid Republicans make me so frustrated I can't even respond to your specific points. I'm just going to rage and imply that you somehow came by your knowledge by reading Heritage Foundation issue briefs. At least when I cut and paste other people's ideas I give them credit!! And what do you do for a living? You must be one of those people who works!

Keith! Keith! I can't take it anymore. argggh! Rage... ..over...taking....me...I...must...get...help... *inserting I-V line direct from KO* aaahhh... peace...

Look who is cheering them on! That's reason enough not to purchase their products.

the prophet Amos was driven by envy?? hmmmmmmmm

Good response.

No, Amos wasn't driven by envy. And today's poor aren't driven by envy. But today's social justice advocates seem to be very envious of the wealth that other people have, and want to and seek to take it from them. If I've got a neighbor across the street who is very poor, and another who is very rich; and all I do is obsess about how horrible the rich neighbor is because my poor neighbor (who is also his poor neighbor) doesn't have much to his name, and I go about scheming how to take from my rich neighbor to help my poor neighbor, I would certainly be "envious" of my rich neighbor's wealth. It's not legal or ethical to take what is not mine and do with it what I wish my neighbor would do with it. If I want my rich neighbor to be concerned with social justice, Jesus is a great example to follow. He said, "Follow me," and he did not add, "and drag others along with you against their will."

"The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation. Employers contribute to the common good by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers-to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to adequate benefits and security in their old age, to the choice of whether to organize and join unions, to the opportunity for legal status for immigrant workers, to private property, and to economic initiative."
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Capitalism is not driven by greed and social justice not by envy. Greed and envy are the motivators driving sinful people to exploit capitalism and manipulate social justice, both for purely self-serving ends.

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