Topics > Consumer Issues
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: V. Keeping Money Local
Stacy Mitchell | August 24, 2010
Third and last, we need new mechanisms for channeling our investment capital in directions that nurture community and rebuild local economies. 

The financial crisis has provided us all with a crash course on how much of our economy is based not on the creation of real value, but on speculation. Over the last year, we have learned that the speculative economy — the one that trades in exotic derivatives like credit default swaps and makes short-term, bubble-inducing bets on assets like real estate and tech stocks — is vast and highly rewarded.
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: IV. The Value of Community
Stacy Mitchell | August 11, 2010
My second proposal is that we need to adopt planning policies that support local economies. 

I live in a 19th century neighborhood in a small New England city. My mother-in-law, who grew up in this same neighborhood, often talks about what it was like during her childhood in the 1940s. What I find most striking about her description is how many businesses our little section of town once had. There was a grocery store, hardware store, two drugstores, a tailor, and more.


Short
Pool Together Reimagines a Big Box for Small Businesses
Scott Ballum | August 10, 2010
When a big box store in Mesa, AZ, shuttered its doors for the last time, it was not celebrated in the way some communities rally for the closing of a Walmart Superstore. In fact, in its last days, families came to Mervyn’s to reminisce about buying their kid’s first shoes and prom dresses. In a neighborhood where the streets are wide and summers hit 112°F, the 40 year old department store was a community institution. But economics being what they are, it closed nonetheless in 2008, leaving a 41,000 sq ft shell.
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: III. Bigger Is Not Better
Stacy Mitchell | August 2, 2010
About ten years ago, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance launched the New Rules Project to develop and advocate for policies that would democratize ownership, refashion the economy for long-term sustainability, and nurture strong self-conscious and self-governing communities. Today I would like to highlight three areas of policy reform that I think are especially critical. 

The first is that we must resurrect and embrace a vigorous anti-monopoly policy.
Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: II. The Birth of Corporations
Stacy Mitchell | July 26, 2010

While signs abound that people are rediscovering the benefits of an economy rooted in community and small-scale enterprise, all of this activity, though widespread, is still quite modest. It exists largely on the margins and is unlikely to coalesce into a wholesale reorganization of our economy unless we change the rules. 


Feature
A New Deal for Local Economies: I. The Good News
Stacy Mitchell | July 19, 2010
Let me begin by sharing some good news. Scattered here and there, in my country and in yours, the seeds of a new, more local and durable economy are taking root. 

Locally grown food has soared in popularity. There are now 5,274 active farmers markets in the United States. Remarkably, almost one of every two of these markets was started within the last decade.(1)  Food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are likewise on the rise. 


Short
Eco Citizen Reveals the Allure of Organic Fashion
Contributing Writer | July 12, 2010
Story contributed by Polina Selyutin.“It’s about finding your truth” says Joslin Van Arsdale, owner of Eco Citizen, a green apparel boutique in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood. Joslin’s path to Eco Citizen passed through London for fashion design, NYC as a stylist/designer, researching textile trends in Paris, London for grad school at Goldsmiths College, and Santa Fe, New Mexico working as a gallery director before landing in San Francisco to launch Eco Citizen 3 1/2 years ago.
Resource
Big Box Swindle - The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
| June 16, 2010
In less than two decades, large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising pollution and diminished civic engagement—and she shows how a growing number of communities and independent businesses are effectively fighting back.
Video
Google and Sheepless.org Seek Out Community Makers
Scott Ballum | June 14, 2010
Sheepless.org champions the small businesses that make our communities more sustainable, accessible, creative, and fun.
Video
Greenlight Bookstore Tells a Different Story
Scott Ballum | May 12, 2010
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo and her partner Rebecca Fitting opened Greenlight Bookstore in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. We talked to her about the place for independent bookstores in today's world, their inspiring funding model, and about creating a community space that people want to spend time in.Video not loading correctly? Watch it here on the Sheepless.org Vimeo Channel.