Boycotttjng US Products and Services

[CovenOfCheeses]

Several of my friends have started a local campaign to boycott all US made goods and services. I have also started to do so because of the attitudes of the President to the rule of law and international co-operation. I have stopped buying from Amazon and have deleted my social media accounts and stopped using US made products. I feel that a country that is so antagonistic toward us should not be supported by our cash.

My eldest daughter is gay and has been saving up with her friend to go to the Dinah Shore weekend in the US. I said I would contribute some cash but now feel reticent to do so. She argues that she is going to support the people who are being attacked by Donald Trump, but I think that we should not give money to a country (even though it was only 50%) who twice voted for a menace to international order and the rule of law. I feel that during apartheid, it was only due to the economic boycotts that the system ended. It hurt the people who were in the country who did not agree to the system, but the economic impact forced the system to change. I think that by making a stand and making the people aware of how their president in impacting the world. Am I being unreasonable in withholding cash for her trip?

You told your daughter you would help fund the trip. If there were caveats to that, you should have made them clear prior to agreeing to give her the money.

I was responding to the pp who said he could donate to schools but doesn't.
I was pointing out that he does.
He gives around $5 billion year.
It may well benefit his business but that doesn't alter the fact he gives a huge amount so it's silly to say he doesn't just because people don't like him

www.alliancemagazine.org/blog/elon-musk-has-given-away-less-than-1-per-cent-of-his-wealth/

In its latest rankings of charitable giving from the super wealthy, Forbes assigned the richest a philanthropy score, ranging from 1 to 5.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and the chief of X, formerly known as Twitter, has given less than one per cent of his wealth.

Musk has previously raised eyebrows when he declared last year that his for-profit ventures (Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink) were “all philanthropy”, claiming his business ventures had a higher social purpose. According to Forbes, Musk is worth $253 billion. However, the billionaire broke the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history in January, losing approximately $182 billion (£150 billion) since November 2021.

Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have meanwhile given away between an estimated 1 per cent of 4.9 per cent of their wealth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/us/politics/musk-foundation-taxes-donations.html#:~:text=Confirmations%20Tracker-,Musk's%20Foundation%20Gave%20Away%20Less%20Money%20Than%20Required%20in%202023,standard%20for%20three%20consecutive%20years.&text=For%20the%20third%20year%20in,away%20enough%20of%20its%20money.

Musk’s Foundation Gave Away Less Money Than Required in 2023

Private foundations must donate 5 percent of their assets every year. Elon Musk’s enormous charity missed that standard for three consecutive years.

It honestly sounds as though his "giving" is very stingy vs what he could actually do.

OP, you might fare better asking this type of question on reddit in the BuyCanada and Canadian subreddits (non Canadians are posting in them too!). With looming tariffs and the non-stop “51st state” comments, Canadians have launched a boycott of American products and travel that I have literally never seen (I’m Canadian, live in the U.K.). For example in ON the LCBO has pulled all of their American alcohol; ON spends something stupid like $1Billion in American alcohol annually. That’s just one province. Boycotts do work, but until the U.K. is threatened with something like Canada and Mexico have been I don’t see it taking hold but good on for you voting with your wallet.

Maybe it is 'stingy' but the pp slated him saying he could use his money to build s new school.
I've pointed put he has used his money to build a new school therefore they wre wrong to say that.

I'm also starting to boycott US products. I think the hardest hit areas last time Trump was in power were things like US whisky.

You don't have to consider yourself to be Rosa Parks to vote with your wallet. Neither does boycotting US goods mean buying from Temu or Shein, its not an either or scenario. There's either a lot of bots about or some people are really really hard of thinking 😂 clearly the collective efforts of many will impact the US economy. You only need to look at the drop in sales in Teslas to see what can be achieved.

The US is no longer our ally, they've lined themselves firmly up on the axis of evil. Trump is a monster, but then most convicted rapists are.

I am due in the states this year to see old friends. However I assume it will be the last time I go as I won't willingly visit America knowing Trump will be in power and I don't expect to see free and fair elections in 4 years time. Every move Trump makes is straight out of Hitler's playback and he intends to keep power.

I would pay for your daughter this time as you said you would but I would let her fund any future trips.

And it ultimately led to Ireland stopping imports of SA products. IIRC.

Boycotts work. Sometimes. And joining Canada and Mexico puts you on the side of good. Along with Dolly Parton, the Parks Service and astronauts. You can judge a person by their friends.

No she's not. She said she's boycotting US goods. Can you not read.

Op, I'm with you but you're going to be inundated with the right wing nutters that are on MN.

Bit mean that you've already promised the money. I understand the sentiment but feel it's fair to give her the money.

I am really proud of my daughter. I got a text from her and she said she can postpone Dinah Shore for 4 years and she is planning on going to Velvet Ibiza instead. I am really glad that she has made the right choice on her own without me even mentioning that I was reticent to fund her trip.

If people did not make a stand, women would not have the vote, slavery would not be abolished, children would still be working and there would still be massive injustices in the world. We still have a long way to go and only by making a stand can we attempt to rectify injustices.

For a man that has a worth of 384 Billion dollars, $140m is chump change. It's nothing to him (and as you point out it gave him tax breaks by doing it too) so it's really not going to impact his bottom line at all.

Thank you for the update OP - glad to hear that she has the same good sense you do!

Bravo to all who are boycotting US corporate services, goods and travel there.

Who are you punishing with this boycott exactly?

The people that voted Trump in, or the people that didn't? How are you specifically targetting each demographic?

It costs close to $70m per launch of the Space X rocket.

Per launch.

How much has he made in charitable donations again in comparison to is own interests?

I really didn't want to derail your thread @CovenOfCheeses and I'm sorry if it has gone off the rails as a result of something I said or posted.

I am all for boycotting US products and I know a few people who are; so you and your friends are not alone.
Contrary to some of the comments, if we all sat on our hands waiting to be led into huge protests, nothing would ever get done.
You do your bit, I do my bit and with enough of us, the impact will be felt. If your/each little bit was not enough, companies would not spend so much time reminding individual customers that they haven't spent with them in the last 'however long'...

Saying that, your daughter is going to support a seemingly important cause and the money was already promised, so I'd say honour that.

No, I am not boycotting the US. It strikes me as pointless virtue signalling.

I also disagree with your statement that: "I feel that during apartheid, it was only due to the economic boycotts that the system ended."

Apartheid ended (IMO) because there was a growing black middle class who acquired economic and finally political power. The antics of the likes of Peter Hain & Co had little to do with it.

Utter bullshit, says my South African friend sitting next to me who lived through it.

It was a grassroots revolution of the people, economic sanctions, international pressure, help from international intelligence services, Mandela, and boycotts and international publicity.

There WAS no black middle class. Every non-white was was equally oppressed and had no economic, political or social clout due to apartheid. They were treated as an inferior group of human beings.

The black middle class only emerged after the end of apartheid when people were actually able to go for any job, career, decide how their life would be, where they would live etc.

Sorry. I have no idea.
A pp stated explicitly that he had never eg. built a school when he has.
I'm not particularly interested on the tax readons/ % of wealth/ cost of his other enterprises so I won't be repeating the school thing for a fourth time but the pp was wrong to specify that example

@SirDanielBrackley gosh heard it all now. The black middle class? 😀

My African Politics professors didn't mention it. They did mention boycotts.

But I'm sure some rando on MN knows more than people who actually knew Joe Slovo. And now work for the UN...

I stand for plenty ta. I believe in democracy and President Trump won easily and gained a mandate from the US electorate to do as he is doing. He is putting America first as he said he would, a refreshing change for a politician to do as he promised, unlike the turgid bunch of lying, self-serving UK hating trash we have in charge.
I find it amusing that you and a few other middle class biddys avoiding Amazon and a few other US companies somehow equates to the campaigns of Martin Luther King and others. Get over yourself.

My goodness, imagine thinking that Trump isn't a self-serving liar of the highest order.

Equal parts comical and tragic.