Shop locally this holiday

As you shop for Christmas this year, consider that $45 of every $100 spent at a locally owned business remains in the community, while only $14 of $100 remains after spending at a “big-box” mart or chain store.

Supporting locally owned businesses can make the difference between economic growth in our own towns or continued fueling of corporate greed and seeing our dollars utilized out of town. Many smaller retailers have already been pushed out of business because of our hunger to shop for stuff made in China.

Many U.S. workers are out of a job because of this same shortsighted, self-destructive spending habit.

I recently read about an idea that seems so timely. It’s called the 3/50 Project, and it asks shoppers who are planning on spending $150 or more this holiday season to pick three locally owned businesses and spend $50 or more at the three.

Let’s work year-round to build a healthy local economy again, support each other here at home, and think hard about the benefits of “Made in the U.S.” before we spend. Sweatshops, child labor, unregulated quality control and contaminated goods are just some of the unintended byproducts of careless, self-serving spending habits.

Thomas Keenan

Coeur d’Alene