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America's #1 PopulistJim Hightower The Dimming Star of Starbucks About a year ago, a stinging message was delivered to the corporate honchos of Starbucks, the mega-chain of costly coffees. The writer decried the "commoditization of the Starbucks experience," bemoaning the fact that the stores "no longer have the soul of the past and (instead) reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store." He's right, of course. You go into a Starbucks these days, and the talented barista who used to make your cup has been replaced by automatic, push-button coffee machines. Instead of a friendly "Thank you," you hear, "Next." The interesting thing about the guy who wrote to the honchos is that he is none other than Howard Schultz, the founder and former CEO of Starbucks! Shortly after delivering his pointed critique, Schultz returned to the helm of the sprawling chain, promising to restore the "customer experience." It's not going very well. He has gotten rid of the warmed-up egg sandwiches, whose gross smell overpowered even the heady aroma of coffee, which is what entices customers to come inside. But he has stuck with those push-button espresso machines and the inadequately trained staff. In the year since Schultz's return, Starbucks' stock price fell 40 percent, and its stores are losing customers to genuine, locally owned coffeehouses. As much as Schultz will tinker with image, the fact is that Starbucks is now just another huge chain, with 15,000 stores. They are so ubiquitous that have lost all mystique. One near my home, for example, shares space with Jiffy Lube -- now there's an image for you! What irony that Starbucks yearns for the image of the cool, independent coffee hangouts that Schultz spent the last 20 years trying to drive out of business. Those places survived and now thrive, while his corporate chain has to compete with McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. How cool is that? The Homes of Henry Kravis Let's take another peek into the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Cranky." The old rich pride themselves in ... well, in having some pride. For example, they tend to set their venerable mansions behind tall walls and shrubs that discreetly obscure their wealth. It's a matter of class. On the other hand, the new rich are more inclined to crassly flaunt their abundance, building garish houses that amount to neon signs screaming, "Look how rich I am, sucker!" How surprising, then, that one of the showiest of these look-at-me celebrities of wealth has gotten pouty about being featured in a movie that, after all, is about him. He's Henry Kravis of Manhattan, South Hampton and ... well, so many places. In Henry's life, everything is about him. He heads an eponymous Wall Street equity firm that essentially borrows money to take over corporations that other people built. To pay off his lenders, Kravis sells off whole chunks of the captured corporation. Then he fires thousands of workers, slashes the wages and benefits of those who remain, and pockets the savings for himself. In days of yore, such predators were called pirates. But pirates could not have imagined the level of gold plundered by the likes of Kravis. How rich is he? In 2006, he made $51,369. Not for the year, of course. Nor for a month, a week or even a day. Kravis hauled in $51,369 per hour, every hour of every day. That's what $450 million a year comes to. He grabbed more in 30 minutes than many of his downsized workers make in a whole year. Far from being discreet, Henry flaunts his piracy with luxurious homes and a lavish lifestyle. Indeed, that's what the movie is about. It's titled: "The War on Greed, Starring Henry Kravis and his Homes." Henry hates the movie. But I'll bet you'll like it. Check it out at www.warongreed.org. Copyright 2007 by Jim Hightower & Associates.
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