samboct
Posts: 1817
Joined: 1/17/2007 Status: offline
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I think Julia's point is well taken- if you don't like Walmart's practices (I don't) don't shop there. Several other posters have pointed out that their "low prices" are mythical and from my limited experience, that's true. Every time I've gone into a Walmart- I find it to be a dispiriting place- trash in the aisles, dirty, and with only zombies working there and their prices are often higher than other stores. I suspect the idea of low prices is their advertising, which is certainly pervasive. I'm always a bit suspicious of "facts" that everybody knows which are heavily advertised. Many of the issues surrounding Walmart aren't new and date back to the turn of the 20th century. Teddy Roosevelt, oft cited darling of the right- was known as the Trust Buster, for his legislative attack on Standard Oil- forcing the breakup of that firm and other near monopolies. Capitalism tilts towards whoever has the most money- want to build a really big fortune? Well, it's easier if you start with a few million in the bank. The game of Monopoly is a wonderful microcosm of capitalism in action. Large amounts of capital often crush innovation and Walmart is no exception. Has anyone cited Thomas Friedman's book- The World is Flat where he covers this issue on Walmart? (I don't agree with a number of Friedman's premises, but he's done his homework.) Manufacturing in China is a complex issue. It's based on an idiotic idea of American businesses- that research and development can be separated from manufacturing. Developing new products requires the input of the people actually doing the manufacturing, because there are problems that crop up that should be solved. Of course, if your shoe design team is in the US and your mfg in China, and the glue in China is reacting with the materials in the other parts of the shoe and dissolving them- but you can't talk the designers in the US- what do you do? Blaming China is silly- the problem is what's looking back at us from the mirror every morning. The US is running on a quarterly basis (I have a sneaking suspicion that this came from our tax system) which doesn't reward long term planning. Manufacturing US designed goods in China is stupid- it's like Ford going to GM and saying- hey, we have a new car design, but since you have a new automated plant (China tends to use poorly paid humans instead of robots- hence lower quality and economic slave prices so the analogy is a bit strained) we'll let you build it for us since it'll be cheaper- we'll just sell it. OK? Does this make sense to anyone? Yet that's what's happening when mfg moves to China- where there is no effective intellectual property. Show a Chinese company how to mfg something- you've just created your own worst nightmare- a competitor who will steal your work with no real means of stopping them. (Much as I hate to admit it, the legal system in our country has not all been negative.) And to the point of Sambam'slilgirl- that in a blighted neighborhood, Walmart can look like salvation. Well, my response is if you want to sup with the devil, you'd better use a long spoon. Walmart doesn't help local businesses, it crushes them too. Hence, any blighted area is going to stay blighted even with a Walmart. I suspect the only place they've ever made things look more prosperous in in their home turf of Bentonville Arkansas. However, this doesn't solve the problem of what to do with a blighted neighborhood. Often what you describe is a result of banking practices- the large conglomerate banks no longer respond to individual localities specific needs. Businesses need capital to get started, and local banks used to be in the business of making local loans-especially with some gov't guarantees. Now they just hand out high interest rate credit cards. While this may be more egalitarian, it's killed the establishment of local businesses- which are often more innovative and able to respond to their customers needs better than large franchises. We've seen a political trend that's started with Reagan and is having lots of terrible consequences. While the idea that a smaller gov't that doesn't interfere with the marketplace can sound utopian in the abstract, in practical terms, unfettered capitalism just leads to monopolies- which stifle innovation. Apparently we as citizens are deficient in our history- and as always, we're being given another chance to learn the lessons that Teddy Roosevelt dealt with a century ago. Sam
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