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We are now a consumer based society, where we rely entirely on buying alone, not the trio of production, jobs, and purchasing. The economy now revolves around Starbucks. This has cost us our jobs because the production and the job part have moved overseas, where cheap labors are easily acquired. Drinking Starbucks’ coffee is more than just about the quality and the functionality; it’s about an expression of longing, a source of entertainment, a strategy for mood management, and a form of symbolic communication about class and social standing. This gave rise to the “Starbucks Moment.” Starbucks Moment is when the company popped up everywhere from airports, malls, parking lots, street corners, and social medias, like Facebook to television shows and movies. Since buying Starbucks meant buying social status, many Americans thought that it will make their private and public lives better. This “desire” for better life allowed the corporation to slowly encroach upon our private lives. The company took over the civic institutions, due to the pullback of community, the state, and other binding agents, which allowed brands like Starbucks the chance to sell more of their “luxurious” products, garner allegiance and profits by reaching deeper into our lives. They talked and acted like NGO or a political party and by making claims that they are serving for the greater good, they made it harder for government agencies to reclaim their legitimacy as vital decision makers in domestic and foreign policies. However, in reality, they are working for the shareholders at Wall Street. Therefore, when we consume Starbucks, we are giving away parts of our environment, our culture, and even our politics, as they take over more state functions.

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...d Dub Hay, Starbucks’ head of coffee procurement confirmed it, when Simon met him in his office at the company headquarters. He said, “No, we didn’t pay anymore” (Simon, 216). Turns out, Starbucks purchased most of its Rwandan green beans from large estate holders and from middlemen who bought the coffee from individual small farmers, not as Starbucks publicly claimed that it came directly from Rwandan farmers. I share his ideal because I think Americans need to wake up from their fantasized world of “global peace,” so Starbucks cannot manipulate us. A company exists solely to make money, not for the improvement of the world. If a company does something “selfless,” then it is done for publicity and it is a fake image because of the dirty secrets involved behind the scene. Therefore, don’t let Starbucks take away our environment, our culture, and even our politics!