A new leftist entity calling itself The People's Union USA is calling for Americans to refrain from spending a single dollar anywhere on Friday Feb. 28. Branded as an "Economic Blackout," it's intended to lash back against a bucketful of woes that include economic injustice, low wages, high interest rates, outsourced jobs, and the growing abandonment of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It's the first of several scheduled boycotts, with future ones targeting individual corporations.
Here's how 57-year-old founder and drum teacher John Schwarz describes the undertaking in an Instagram video:
“For our entire lives, they have told us we have no choice … that we have to accept these insane prices, the corporate greed, the billionaire tax breaks, all while we struggle to just to get by.
February 28, the 24-hour economic blackout: no Amazon, no Walmart, no fast food, no gas, not a single unnecessary dollar spent … for one day, we are going to finally turn the tables.”
A grab-bag of dimwitted leftist celebrities have endorsed the Economic Blackout, from Stephen King to Bette Midler. From our own observations, the campaign appears to have gained meaningful traction across social media. Hitting "share" on a boycott post gives leftists a no-effort clicktivism outlet for their rage that's mounting daily as they watch Donald Trump and Elon Musk take a sledgehammer to all that's cherished in their warped ideology.
Of course, the real question is whether it will turn into anything even barely perceptible in a $29 trillion economy. "A lot of people dismiss the idea, arguing that a one-day spending freeze won't move the needle for major corporations or the broader financial system," 9i Capital Group CEO Kevin Thompson told Newsweek. "And I agree — it'll likely have a minimal direct impact."
That's especially true when you consider that a one-day boycott means a great many purchases of earnest participants will merely be accelerated to Thursday or deferred to Saturday. Yawn. Then there's the near-certainty that some right-wingers will intentionally spend money on Friday just for the fun of undermining the stunt.
As with any Marxist campaign, this one's loaded with flawed logic, internal contradictions and questionable tactics. For example:
The Peoples Union USA website itself offers a whole line of merchandise, with revenue pledged to "payroll" and other costs; we're guessing the store will be open on Friday. In another contradiction, Schwarz discourages followers from using credit cards when buying essential items from anyone else -- lest it create profits for banks -- yet his own merchandise store offers credit cards as the first payment option. You can also pay via major corporations Google and Paypal.
The group's positively Antifa-esque, black goods include $29 Economic Blackout commemorative t-shirts and $69 flags. Taking a page from their Marxist playbook, ZeroHedge hereby arbitrarily declares that Peoples Union USA prices are SYSTEMICALLY UNJUST AND EXPLOITATIVE. Also, our store is much cooler.
The group says that, through Feb. 25, it's raised $61,760 in donations accepted via GoFundMe or a PO Box in Ringwood, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Schwarz should spend some of that money to improve his craptastic website, and particularly this barely readable, center-justified clusterf**ck of an FAQ page.
People's Union USA has laid out a schedule of follow-on blackouts, with several that target various companies for an entire week at a time. Here are the dates, the targets and their alleged sins, if specified:
Schwarz has ambitions to "unionize the people" by creating national nonprofit organization, hiring lawyers, lobbying legislators, and develop independent media channels. Here's looking forward to a comically anticlimactic Friday.