We're on the soapbox this morning - a bit delayed but that's because of the hangover. We were not thrilled with the InBev purchase of Anheuser-Busch but we played the stiff upper lip. It's still brewed in America, still headquartered in St. Louis, and there is still something American cool about going into a bar and ordering a Bud. Besides, it's the way of the world for the big brewers (ahem, MolsonCoors). And when big fish eat even bigger fish do beer lovers hear it?We knew the winds of change were blowing but less than a month into this new venture comes the announcement that A-B will be cutting 1,400 jobs - 75 percent of which are located at the St. Louis headquarters. This does not include the 415 contractor jobs that are also being cut. This will save the company $1.5 billion and that's a lot of money. Part of this is our own fault. In the Wal-Mart world we live in everybody races to the lowest price quality be damned. We're over-simplifying two very complicated issues (1-InBev's job cutting and 2-the entire economy).
We had thoughts on calling for some sort of boycott but we're taking a different strategy. Don't boycott anything - buy. Buy American. Buy local. Everywhere you can purchase a product made in America - preferably if it's an American-owned company (thereby keeping profits in America). Keep the jobs here, the middle-class labor and manufacturing and engineering jobs. This doesn't mean you can't enjoy a Molson or Blue every now and again but think about what your buying before you buy - whether it's a beer, #2 pencil, or shovel from Home Depot.
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