Farmers Markets. Friend or Foe.

Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 11 months ago to The Gulch: General
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I have had some interesting conversations with customers recently about our local Farmers Market. I support the concept and believe it is how business was meant to be done. Producers sell their items directly to consumers. I am in the unfortunate position of having to compete with our local Farmers Market which is within walking distance of my retail store. In todays government controlled world it is clear that Farmers Markets are basically Black Markets. They operate on Saturday and Sunday when most government inspectors are off. Our local market is held on church property so they don't pay property tax. It is unlikely that they are complying with many of the costly mandates that I am. I still support the concept and I am surprised when speaking to customers about this that they usually say that they should "have to pay" their fair share. I always say that neither one of us should have to pay most of these fees. Curious if you all had any thoughts about this.

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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yet he signed the bills. He had a choice, which would have required either commitment or moral strength. He didn't have it. Just like Bush I - "read my lips: no new taxes", just before a huge tax hike. Reagan did wonders for foreign policy, but domestically, he was a RINO. Actually, maybe that's an inappropriate term, since practically every Republican is a RINO. Perhaps that is what the Republican Party actually stands for. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Reagan was the best we could hope for then, and probably better than we can hope for now. I can't see anyone worth getting excited about either. Rand Paul or Ted Cruz would be more than acceptable, but neither one is worth getting all that excited about.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The government spending issue with regard to Reagan is a tough one. Yes, he signed off on the budgets, but he never had a conservative House of Representatives. David Stockman and Art Laffer were geniuses to get things as under control as they did.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Agreed but I would settle for a Reagan type now. I see no one in the field that is worth getting excited over.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I'm not even sure it's to fund anything. It just comes down to control and wanting a piece of everything.
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  • Posted by bassboat 11 years, 11 months ago
    The store owner is getting the short end of the deal, plain and simple. Until we as a people demand that cuts in spending actually occur governments will continue to "Find" (Tax) the money for their pet project or for their voting block of city employees. We need a Ronald Reagan to bring the message.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Sorry, not a Ronald Reagan - he increased government spending and created a whole bunch of new programs and agencies that we are still (and will be) paying for. He was good for morale, but not for controlling spending.
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  • Posted by teri-amborn 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    ...Yes, but Jesus also referred to us as "little gods" ...
    ...and the Pharisees were the folks that Jesus was addressing when He said: "Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." ...

    ...and: "I came that you might have and own your own life."

    Granted, "religion" will ruin your life. Altruism is a man-made emotional translation of words that Jesus spoke to the Jewish leaders, but wasn't meant to be translated into a universal principle.
    Machiavellian power lusters have (and will) exist in all times and phases of life and they will create "rules" (religion) that allegedly (if obeyed) will lead to the approval of man (aka: little gods). The Pharisees were no exception. Neither is Washington, DC.

    Remember: "The Kingdom of God is within you."
    This is your life to live and develop to become the best that you can make it. Others are only peripheral to your goals and dreams. You owe no man, but respect.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Depending on the type and size of your store, you can re-decorate it to look like a "farmer's market," only open 7 days a week. A FM does not have to have 20 different vendors; so long that you get your products, or some of them, from the local farms or producers, you can be a farmer's market. The same vendors that sell at the market may want to sell through your store the rest of the week.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Yes, EBT is the new name for food stamps. Instead of paper stamps, these are programmed into a credit-card-like card. Same thing, different name. At farmers' markets, first $10 or $20 (depending on locality) spent during that day is doubled free to the recipient. The selling point in the program is that the parasites that live on food stamps typically kill themselves with junk food, so the idea was to get them outside and buy (receive for free, really) fresh foods. They still prefer potato chips. BTW, regarding the comment that some are strugling, who isn't? I know that is the official government criteria for redistribution, but has it infested this blog as well?
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  • Posted by richrobinson 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This is a small borough with limited resources. I have to think they want their cut but I am not sure how much monitoring they can do.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    More of Objectivism and Christianity are compatible than most people think. Like objectivism, Christianity is supposed to be a philosophy of respect for yourself and others, but the two belief systems are fundamentally different in that a) both self and others are subservient to God, b) the issue of altruism (although not as much as most Objectivists think. For example, Jesus said we would have the poor with us always.), and c) the relative importance of self vs. others.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Not at all. They are not "anti-capitalist" because they don't know the meaning of the word. There are two basic categories of people that love 0bama because: either those that are ready to give your life away for an 0bamaphone, so EBT bonuses are what they come for, or those that have an infantile belief that they are saving the planet, the insects and the frogs and, thus it's all for the common good. They don't have the intellectual capacity to understand any economic system. If you put an "organic" sign in front of any product, they get an instant orgasm. As for running a "Church of RichRobinson" Farmer's Market, it will live long and prosper, as long as it's for the community, the children, or organic.
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  • Posted by strugatsky 11 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Don't understand. Why would the vendor give a customer cash? I also sell at FM's; some have tokens and EBT (food stamp) bonuses. To a vendor, they are like a check - paid by the market (with a delay) and a 1099 at the end of the year. But these bonuses come from my taxes, so I'm subsidizing the parasites with food stamps and then with double food stamps.
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