In recent years, a local Starbucks has become my coffee shop of choice. Regardless of its many flaws, I enjoy their coffee and…  aw who am I kidding, I know some Barista’s and rarely have to pay for my drinks becuse of it. Anyway, something that has recently bothered me about the way they operate deals with the ridiculous amount of food that is wasted there. For quality assurance purposes, every food item has a throw away date. This date, similar to an expiry date on all your groceries, has more to do with sustaining a high quality product more so than any health risks associated with aging food.

This sort of thing happens at nearly every establishment that deals in food. I am aware that some doughnut shops give away their day olds before closing. I know that arrangements are sometimes made with Churches or shelters so that the food that would otherwise go to waste, is claimed and redistributed. My concern is that this sort of thing should be happening all over, always.

(continued on pg. E2…)

Since the late 1970s, China has been allowing an increasing number of market reforms within their communist style of governing. These include an increasing amount of privatization (nearly 70% of their economy in last the last 30 years), the allowance of large scale foreign investment, and subsequently unheard of monetary gains in exported goods. As a country with both the world’s fastest growing economy and the largest population, these reforms have raised the standard of living for a growing percentage of its population.

Raising the standard of living of its population should be the goal for any government, so these reforms are merely a way of achieving this, regardless of if they differ from the traditional communist ideals. Deng Xiaoping, the leader of the Communist Party of China during the period of initial reform, often said, “It doesn’t matter if the cat is white or black, so long as it catches mice.” By this, he hoped to suggest that as long as the job gets done, and China becomes prosperous, it matters little by which ideology it was achieved with. (continued on pg. E1…)