So Starbucks is expanding its empire to place more of its trendy coffee shops in underserved (euphemism for "poor") neighborhoods under the ruse of creating more jobs. They plan to open or remodel 85 stores by 2025 in rural and urban communities, each complete with common event space. Community groups will even get in the game to conduct training programs for employees, too. As the SNL "Church Lady" would say "Now isn't that special"?! The execs may say they're building their temples of overpriced joe for altruistic reasons. But wait. It's as if they're wanting to move one "people" off one addiction and on to another -- crack to caffeine. And how are the folk to get the money to pay for a double mocha frappuccino? Nobody seems to be asking that question plus others like whether poor folks need a $5 cup of coffee to begin with. And what's going to happen to the local bodegas and coffee shops and diners -- traditional neighborhood gathering points being gentrified in the name of profits and masked under the umbrella of "doing good". Don't let them fool you. Green is the color of the day here. Of Starbucks aprons, un-roasted beans, of envy and of course, money! And speaking of green, say you save $20 a day over 40 years at 10% return on the market -- you've now saved $3,758,000. That's a lot of coffee pissed away in unkept Starbucks toilets. Listen to Host Eric Levine opine on this Starbucks travesty plus hair-based discrimination and more. Reach Eric at:
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