Ask Slashdot: Will You Shop Local Like President Obama, Or Online? 430
theodp writes "President Obama and his daughters headed to an indie bookstore last Saturday to promote shopping local. The White House did not disclose which books were bought, but author Lauren Oliver tweeted her delight after a White House photo showed her books Delirium and Pandemonium were among the 15 children's books purchased by the Obama family for Christmas gift-giving. While it made for a nice Small Business Saturday photo op, do you suppose the President paid much more for the books at the small indie bookshop than he might have at an online retailer like Amazon, where the hardcopy edition of Pandemonium is $10.15 (44% off the $17.99 list price) and the hardcopy edition of Delirium can be had for $10.47 (42% off the $17.99 list price)? Kindle Editions of the books are also available for $7.99. And with both titles eligible for free Amazon Prime shipping, the President could've saved on gasoline and Secret Service costs, too! So, will you be following the President's lead and shop local this holiday season, or is the siren song of online shopping convenience and savings too hard to resist?"
Re:Like Obama? (Score:4, Informative)
Stuff like gifts and whatnot, is out of pocket for the President (unless it's for diplomatic purposes). So is food.
While my cousin who is a lawyer gets food delivered at work on the company dime, the Presidential family has to pay for their own.
Your post is a troll and stupid.
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BMO
Re:Like Obama? (Score:4, Informative)
Well, his salary is paid out of your taxes...
Re:Like Obama? (Score:5, Informative)
> I don't take services from the government.
You don't use roads. That's impressive!
Re:Like Obama? (Score:4, Informative)
That's an unimpressive argument. Before the government declared they needed to do it, private people and corporations created all the roads that weren't post roads. Post roads is the one thing the constitution actually empowers the federal government to do and they implemented the entire concept without an income tax by charging a postage fee to deliver mail.
Anyways, we have different levels of government and most people who have issues with taxes don't have as much issue with the local taxes that provide services they actually do use or want to have in reserve in case they need to use. So we aren't even sure how much of his gripe is aimed where.
Re:Like Obama? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Like Obama? (Score:0, Informative)
Cuz state and local services are free and provided by genius angels who don't take salaries and manage to instantly provide perfectly individualized service to everyone. Sort of like Fairies and Brownies, which you have never heard of because you don't use home schooling books that contain Satanic creatures and books are overrated anyway because your Imam, I mean your Pastor will tell you what to think. Enough talking Jedidiah, go pick some .38s in the ammo orchard. Be careful, them .45s you picked last week were green, I nearly blew my dang foot off. And make sure you grub up any 5.56mm seedlings you find. Dadgum furrin calibers!