Ha, and we all think we live in democracies.....Small businesses can't compete with these monstrosities, because Kraft/Miller products are much cheaper (due in part to the sweat of third world workers and the nasty refined and cheap ingredients that are present in EVERY SINGLE ONE of these food items) THe corporate agenda is not one that is positive to the populace and yet we still buy into the system. The main reason I moved away from my hometown (a suburb of Portland) is that increasingly the personality of the place had been sucked away and replaced with McDonald's and BLockbuster Video and 7-11's and Starbucks and other lifeless generic places and my local coffee shop was driven away and the local restaurants were empty......because everyone started going to the new TGI fridays, etc. IMHO, the suburbs in the U.S. are a dead place because of the corporate BRAND NAME.

*end rant*

I am not a radical hippie or anything, but I really dislike the way my neck of the woods (the US) is changing in terms of corporate mergers, etc. Hell, I'm an idealist, but is it really too much to ask to NOT see two starbucks on the same block??

THanks for listening
Grace