Gone are the days when people actually mattered. Now we're a bunch of numbers computated by bean counters for capitalistic businesses to make more money. Yes I know nothing in life is free, but it's become increasingly obvious with the growing muscle of such companies as Target, BestBuy and now Apple that we are given fewer choices while being lead to believe that we still have some semblance of freedom to chose what is not available. I remember when I used to shop between CompUSA, CircuitCity, BestBuy and other local small business stores. Now the only place to get electronics locally is BestBuy, or on the rare occasion a small computer supply business.
Choice is an illusion. An illusion big businesses need to perpetuate in order to squelch any competition in order to monopolize a segment. Yes, it's capitalism, but does capitalism actually WORK? When small businesses are folding more and more as the can not compete against the wealth of multi billion dollar enterprises and the middle class is shrinking, I can't help but feel like a Serf in the grips of big businesses and politicians. What does this rant have to do with the thread? If this is true, it's another example of corporations working to take away our freedom of choice in order for them to dominate a market and thus the consumers. Without alternative choices there is little to no competition to keep checks and balances, and with Apple and itunes there is little choice for consumers to utilize itunes with other devices and their digital music. I hope this does come to the US, we need to have more choices to keep large corporations in check, otherwise we're all canon fodder and slaves to the machine.
