Wednesday, November 27, 2002


even the capitalist tools lay it out for ya

you often hear me discuss the coffee crisis, the falling quality and rising debris in most supermarket brand coffees (how many twigs and rotten, insect-laden beans do you want to drink every morning?), how these coffee-brand owning multi-nationals are ripping off consumers with overly high prices for such low-quality product, the fate of the impoverished coffee farmers and workers. . .all that liberal blah-blah-blah. which's why i get the stray email from various types suggesting i check out fidel's cuba, etc.

but, oh conservative readers, you might want to think again; even the engines of darwinian capitalism are now with me on this one:

"the switch to cheaper beans in the past five years has provided a windfall for the big four [sara lee, kraft, p&g, nestle, who own the major supermarket coffee brands]. though none of the companies releases financial results for its coffee divisions, all acknowledge they have enjoyed record coffee profits."

and where does this little bit of dangerous sentiment originate? at my favorite magazine, fortune. can our favorite self-proclaimed capitalist tool be far behind? after all, we saw an article on the subject last summer by the wsj.

but don't despair, loyal readers! you can avoid this situation and alleviate human misery. you can buy fresh-roasted, high-quality coffee from your local coffeehouse. you can donate this holiday season to coffee kids. your vote may not seem to count much, but your dollar still does. . .

posted by fortune | 2:09 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments