Thursday, September 15, 2005


a health care crisis, and the coffee crisis

"starbucks will spend more on health insurance for its employees this year than on raw materials needed to brew its coffee, chairman howard schultz said. . ."

howard means his cri de coeur as a policy statement, which it is, but to my mind it's more about the so-called "coffee crisis" than the "health care crisis." after all the american public already expressed their feelings on this issue in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

sorry howard, a lot of people wish it had come out a different way. but it didn't.

it's shocking that beautiful specialty coffee should be in the state it's in. but again, that won't change until we help farmers improve quality, educate coffee lovers about the issue, and oh, by the way, de-commodify coffee.

burn the c! no, i'm kidding. but willem boot has shown the way with his spectacularly successful ethiopian internet auction last july.

of which i've written here, as long-time readers may recall. . .

posted by fortune | 11:51 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 1 comments