Big-Box Swindle

Big-Box Swindle PDF Author: Stacy Mitchell
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807035016
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book

Book Description
A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight With a New Afterword 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. Mitchell traces the dramatic growth of mega-retailers—from big boxes like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, and Staples to chains like Starbucks, Olive Garden, Blockbuster, and Old Navy—and the precipitous decline of independent businesses. Drawing on examples from virtually every state in the country, she unearths the extraordinary impact of these companies and the big-box mentality on everything from soaring gasoline consumption to rising poverty rates, failing family farms, and declining voting levels. Along the way, Mitchell exposes the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small, locally owned businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by a few large chains. More than a critique, Big-Box Swindle provides an invigorating account of how some communities have successfully countered the spread of big boxes and rebuilt their local economies. Since 2000, more than two hundred big-box development projects have been halted by groups of ordinary citizens, and scores of towns and cities have adopted laws that favor small-scale, local business development and limit the proliferation of chains. From cutting-edge land-use policies to innovative cooperative small-business initiatives, Mitchell offers communities concrete strategies that can stave off mega-retailers and create a more prosperous and sustainable future.

Big-Box Swindle

Big-Box Swindle PDF Author: Stacy Mitchell
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807035016
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book

Book Description
A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight With a New Afterword 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. Mitchell traces the dramatic growth of mega-retailers—from big boxes like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, and Staples to chains like Starbucks, Olive Garden, Blockbuster, and Old Navy—and the precipitous decline of independent businesses. Drawing on examples from virtually every state in the country, she unearths the extraordinary impact of these companies and the big-box mentality on everything from soaring gasoline consumption to rising poverty rates, failing family farms, and declining voting levels. Along the way, Mitchell exposes the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small, locally owned businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by a few large chains. More than a critique, Big-Box Swindle provides an invigorating account of how some communities have successfully countered the spread of big boxes and rebuilt their local economies. Since 2000, more than two hundred big-box development projects have been halted by groups of ordinary citizens, and scores of towns and cities have adopted laws that favor small-scale, local business development and limit the proliferation of chains. From cutting-edge land-use policies to innovative cooperative small-business initiatives, Mitchell offers communities concrete strategies that can stave off mega-retailers and create a more prosperous and sustainable future.

The Home Town Advantage

The Home Town Advantage PDF Author: Stacy Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Chain stores
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book

Book Description
The trends are dismal. 11,000 local pharmacies have closed their doors since 1990. Independent bookstores now account for less than 20% of book sales. Neighborhood hardware stores are disappearing: two chains have captured more than 25% of the market. But trends are not destiny. Concentration occurs only when we allow it to occur and currently public policy not only allows absentee ownership, it actively encourages it. It is time to change the rules. From local zoning ordinances to federal antitrust policy, The Home Town Advantage provides a comprehensive guide to reviving the homegrown economy.

Pity the Billionaire

Pity the Billionaire PDF Author: Thomas Frank
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250020352
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book

Book Description
A look at why the worst economy since the 1930s has brought about the revival of conservatism.

Swindle (Swindle #1)

Swindle (Swindle #1) PDF Author: Gordon Korman
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545457386
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book

Book Description
Ocean's 11 . . . with 11-year-olds, in a super stand-alone heist caper from Gordon Korman!After a mean collector named Swindle cons him out of his most valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of misfits to break into Swindle's compound and recapture the card. There are many things standing in their way -- a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place, and their inability to drive -- but Griffin and his team are going to get back what's rightfully his . . . even if hijinks ensue. This is Gordon Korman at his crowd-pleasing best, perfect for readers who like to hoot, howl, and heist.

I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine

I Don't Wish Nobody to Have a Life Like Mine PDF Author: David Chura
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807000647
Category : Corrections
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Get Book

Book Description
Since the early 1990s, thanks to inflamed rhetoric in the media about "superpredators" and a wave of get-tough-on-crime laws, the number of juveniles in prison has risen by 35 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, and their placement in adult prison has increased by 208 percent, according to a 2007 survey by the Campaign for Youth. Since 1992, every state except Nebraska has passed laws making it easier to prosecute youth under eighteen as adults, and most states have legalized harsher sentences for juveniles.David Chura taught high school in a New York county penitentiary for ten years and saw these young peopleand the effects of our laws on themup close. Here he introduces us to the real kids behind the hysteria: vibrant, animated kids full of humor and passion; kids who were born into families broken up and beaten down by drugs, gang violence, AIDS, poverty, and abuse. He also introduces us to wardens, correctional officers, family members, and doctors, and shows how everyone in this world is a child of disappointment.We meet Wade, who carries a stack of photos of his HIV-positive mother in his pocket to take out and share with pride. Khalil has spent all fifteen years of his life in foster care, group homes, juvenile detention, and mental hospitals, yet has channeled his inner demons into poetry. There's Anna, a hard-nosed one-time teenage drug baroness who serves as a tutor to students and older women alike; Dominic, a father of two who only reads in jail, and only the Harry Potter books; and Eddyberto, a bright student and self-taught artist whose wildly creative drawings are confiscated and used to accuse him of being a potential terrorist and threat to national security.Then there's O'Shay, a big, burly, snarling Bronx-Irish classroom officer with a surprising protective side for the underdog, and Ms. Wharton, a hallway officer with a spiky demeanor but a soft spot for animals.In language that carries both the grit of the street and the expansiveness of poetry, Chura breaks down the divisions we so easily erect between us and them, the keepers and the keptand shows how, ultimately, we as individuals and as a society have failed these young people.

Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up

Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up PDF Author: Anthony Flaccavento
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813167361
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book

Book Description
The global economy has witnessed important changes in recent years. In the United States, enterprising communities have transitioned from tobacco farming to growing organic produce, from extractive fishing to vertical farming, from nonrenewable energy consumption to the implementation of solar cooperatives—and have transformed from impoverished neighborhoods into green development zones. Yet these promising achievements remain a small part of the total economy and are largely ignored by policy makers, pundits, and economists. In Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up: Harnessing Real World Experience for Transformative Change, Anthony Flaccavento introduces readers to the innovators who are creating thriving, locally based economies and provides a road map for others who are interested in doing the same. He demonstrates that, despite the success of local initiatives like farmers' markets and clean energy cooperatives, true and lasting change of this type stalls without the appropriate discussion and implementation of public policies that define their lasting impact. He shows how active citizens can spur essential changes, generate community capital, increase civic dialogue, and foster sustainability efforts. Flaccavento skillfully combines economic analysis and public policy recommendations with practical solutions. His call to collective action will appeal to scholars, entrepreneurs, policymakers, community activists, environmentalists, and all citizens passionate about the health of their communities.

We Never Went to the Moon

We Never Went to the Moon PDF Author: Bill Kaysing
Publisher: Health Research Books
ISBN: 9780787304874
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Get Book

Book Description


Tricky Vic

Tricky Vic PDF Author: Greg Pizzoli
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0670016527
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 49

Get Book

Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2015 In the early 1900s, Robert Miller, a.k.a. “Count Victor Lustig,” moved to Paris hoping to be an artist. A con artist, that is. He used his ingenious scams on unsuspecting marks all over the world, from the Czech Republic, to Atlantic ocean liners, and across America. Tricky Vic pulled off his most daring con in 1925, when he managed to "sell" the Eiffel Tower to one of the city’s most successful scrap metal dealers! Six weeks later, he tried to sell the Eiffel Tower all over again. Vic was never caught. For that particular scam, anyway. . . . Kids will love to read about Vic's thrilling life, and teachers will love the informational sidebars and back matter. Award-winner Greg Pizzoli’s humorous and vibrant graphic style of illustration mark a bold approach to picture book biography.

The Billion Dollar Monopoly R Swindle

The Billion Dollar Monopoly R Swindle PDF Author: Ralph Anspach
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781450092876
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book

Book Description


The Big Squeeze

The Big Squeeze PDF Author: Steven Greenhouse
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1400096529
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Get Book

Book Description
Why, in the world's most affluent nation, are so many corporations squeezing their employees dry? In this fresh, carefully researched book, New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse explores the economic, political, and social trends that are transforming America's workplaces, including the decline of the social contract that created the world's largest middle class and guaranteed job security and good pensions. We meet all kinds of workers—white-collar and blue-collar, high-tech and low-tech, middle-class and low-income—as we see shocking examples of injustice, including employees who are locked in during a hurricane or fired after suffering debilitating, on-the-job injuries. With pragmatic recommendations on what government, business and labor should do to alleviate the economic crunch, The Big Squeeze is a balanced, consistently revealing look at a major American crisis.