It is rare to obtain this much evidence, of corruption this deep. Best snippets here, but read the full — utterly damning — piece from David Barstow: he former executive described how Wal-Mart de Mexico had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance. In its rush to build stores, he said, the company … Read more
I’ve been besieged with emails about the NYT’s cover piece yesterday on food deserts, so here are a couple quick thoughts: (1) Food deserts have always been a crude measure Keep in mind that this is a fairly new area of public policy. I’ve long though that food deserts are a crude measure at best; … Read more
In the hubbub of book publication and tour, I nearly missed this survey of Detroit corner stores holding both liquor licenses and SNAP certification. Done by the Restaurant Opportinities Center Detroit (full disclosure: They are sponsoring a book event with me on Thursday) in conjunction with Doing Development Differently in Detroit (D4) and Metropolitan Organizing … Read more
One benefit of the AWEsome Book Tour: Catching up with old sources. I had the opportunity to catch up with Brahm Ahmadi, a food justice entrepreneur in Oakland, CA this week. It wasn’t a long meeting, but I did get a really good “perspective check” on discussions of food. Brahm’s smart thought for the day? … Read more
New brief published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that: Low-socioeconomic status supermarket shoppers purchase calories in inexpensive forms that are higher in fat and less nutrient-rich. Not much of a surprise, but still useful to see social science drawing these links.
I would like to know the true cost of water, roads and electricity. I would like to know whether what we pay for those things is anywhere near the actual cost. I suspect it is not, but if anyone has seen research on this, I am all ears.
This Lempert Report snippet indicates that: Supermarkets that don’t yet focus on dollar stores and the trip threats they pose, better wake up. They’ve proliferated in the down economy. The top four dollar chains in the United States (Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree and 99¢ Only) have 21,500 stores – already more stores than … Read more
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