The popular Starbucks coffee franchise will use its cups to urge politicians in Washington to resolve partisan differences and conclude matters on the 'fiscal cliff' which came to stand-still before Christmas.
The employees of the approximately 150-Washington area Starbucks Coffee shops have been asked to write "Come Together" on the well-known green and white coffee cups. The phrase indicates the company's insistence that lawmakers "come up with a deal to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff" and triggering automatic tax hikes and spending cuts," as reported by Reuters.
Starbucks Coffee Chief Executive Howard Schultz told Reuters, "We're paying attention, we're greatly disappointed in what's going on and we deserve better." Schultz went on to say "We are facing such dysfunction, irresponsibility and lack of leadership.... There is something so wrong that we can be here again and not have the ability to put party aside for the betterment of the country...We have the same language and rhetoric. Unfortunately we aren't learning much," as reported by Reuters.
The company will also take to its social media pages to send the message. Shultz told Reuters that company's "come together" campaign will soon have advertisements on AOL local news websites as well in The Washington Post and New York Times.
Starbucks has also joined the non-partisan advocacy group Fix The Debt, which seeks to urge Washington lawmakers to put aside politics and focus on bringing the nation out of its debt and thus restore the nation's damaged economy. More information on the organization can be found on its website fixthedebt.org
In a blog post on Fix The Debt, Schultz writes, "In the spirit of the Holiday season and the Starbucks tradition of bringing people together, we have a unique opportunity to unite and take action on an incredibly important topic. As many of you know, our elected officials in Washington D.C. have been unable to come together and compromise to solve the tremendously important, time-sensitive issue to fix the national debt."
President Obama has reportedly cut his holiday vacation short and returned back to Washington to work on 'Fiscal Cliff' issue.
