Wal-Mart

[JasonK]

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[AzDesertRat]

I avoid shopping there, except during Nascar races. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I have no problem with them--I just don't buy any electronics, milk or plants from the nursery (not only inexpensive, but really cheap). To think, their motto a long time ago was "made in the usa" and is now replaced with "always low prices, always" which has led to the big trade imbalance with us and China. Funny how profit drives companies more than principal. Also, I would never want to be a vendor for them unless I could dictate terms--I have seen lots of nightmares with companies dealing with them.

[Case Closed]

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A wonderfully efficient "free market" Wehrmacht has devastated entrepreneurial upward mobility in small towns across America. Let's all sing a verse from Markets Uber Alles.

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Dude, Wal-Mart has nothing to do with free markets. Everything about them is entwined with the government run mixed economy we have. Remove their government backing and they wouldn't have a fraction of what they have today.

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I am a little surprised you are on this side of the wal-mart fence. I do agree with you. I am not 100% sure if this is the case for all wal-marts across the nation but I know this is what happens in Macomb Illinois. They come into town demanding that the city does not force them to pay taxes, since they are bringing in so many jobs(yay min wage) into the comunity. Community complies and wal-mart has about 3 years or so(again this could be incorrect) without paying taxes while the local mom and pops have to pay. Then when their preset time is up, they start using their leverage to force the town to let them not pay taxes for longer. Then they donate 500 bucks or something to a local little league team or something and everyone is happy that wal-mart is in town.

Also, they are anti-union. I am very much pro-union.

[JasonK]

Wal-Mart should be entitled to the same tax breaks that cities and counties across the country have been inticing other big businesses with.

[almostbusto]

its seems like most who don't like wal mart don't understand a lot of basic economic principles.

first, walmart is in no way a monopoly, it operates in a very competitive industry in fact. there is really no room for debate on this matter. look up the definition of a monopoly, walmart isn't close.

second, unions are used as a mechanism that pools bargaining power in order to secure economic profits (note economic profit != standard accounting profit). For those that haven't studied economics, basically the goal of unions is to operate as a monopoly or come as close as possible to being a monopoly. so to be pro union and anti monopoly is pretty silly. most people who are part of unions seems to want their union to operate as a monopoly, but they don't want any other monopolies to exist...

third, lower prices for consumers raises real wages all else being equal.

fourth, employment is mutually voluntary. this implies a mutually beneficial relationship between employer and employee. do you see why?


fifth, trade imbalance is not necessarily a bad thing. if we keep shipping dollars (remember they are just pieces of paper) to china in exchange for goods we benefit. of course china isn't going to just sit on a huge pile of paper, they are repatriating those dollars. why the imbalance then? the imbalance exists because those dollars aren't spent on american goods, they are invested in american capital and on financing america's debt.


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some people also get angry at walmart for basically taking advantage of government policies. i would argue that its the government is messed up. walmart's goal is to create profits, you can't blame them for taking advantage of the governments backwards policies.

[AJFenix]

For better or worse, Wal-Mart is the only supermarket in this town-city (40k pop), and I haven't had any quarrel with them. I mean the people that shop here are the denizens of this area and surrounding ones, so if some other market was here in place of it you would have the same base of people shopping, therefor attacking that is fairly silly, and yet I see these kinds of prejudice arguments all the time. I'm not a southerner myself, FWIW.

I mean, this is how it works, Wal-mart was aggressive and smarter than its competitors, and this is why it has come out ahead. Some people don't look kindly upon their tactics, but that is how the game is played. Do you honestly think that some of the other chains didn't do what Wal-Mart did because they were just too nice or wanted to adhere to some people's ridiculous moral values? No, they didn't do it because they didn't think to do it, their CEO's chose a different path, and it led them in a different direction. If, back then, they knew the Wal-Mart-esque path of success and what needed to be done and what was on the other side of that road, of COURSE they would pursue it.

[almostbusto]

AJFenix what state are you from? I am guessing the east coast/some where highly populated. But i can hardly imagine you actually have only 1 grocery store... but i guess i have never lived in the suburbs.


I grew up in a town of 6-8k and we had 3-5 grocery stores there while i lived there, depending on the time and how you count.

I have never lived in the suburbs but i am always fasnicated when i here about people who live in "small towns" of 100K that are so boring.

[AlexM]

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first, walmart is in no way a monopoly, it operates in a very competitive industry in fact. there is really no room for debate on this matter. look up the definition of a monopoly, walmart isn't close.

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I can only assume this is directed at me since I'm the only person to use the word monopoly in here, but when I used the word monopoly I was talking very specifically about 3AM shopping. They most definitley have a monopoly on that market. Context FTW. I also wasn't really complaining about that monopoly either, as it's only a monopoly cause people aren't interested in competing and I'm glad that someone is providing my 3AM shopping needs.

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some people also get angry at walmart for basically taking advantage of government policies. i would argue that its the government is messed up. walmart's goal is to create profits, you can't blame them for taking advantage of the governments backwards policies.

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Yes, you can. If the government makes it legal to murder people does that make it ok to go out and murder people? No, of course not. Furthermore, they actively manipulate government into making these policies. Getting the government to make the policies is a step well beyond simply abusing policies in place.

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pro wal-mart guys,

I understand that these are the tactics they used to become who they are today. I understand that they are legal and other companies would do the same thing if they had the opportunity. I don't like these tactics, I don't want to shop at a place that uses those tactics. I don't think they are evil by any stretch of the imagination. They are much like all other faceless cooperations. As a consumer it is my preference the try and frequent local "mom and pop" establishments as much as I can.

[almostbusto]

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first, walmart is in no way a monopoly, it operates in a very competitive industry in fact. there is really no room for debate on this matter. look up the definition of a monopoly, walmart isn't close.

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I can only assume this is directed at me since I'm the only person to use the word monopoly in here, but when I used the word monopoly I was talking very specifically about 3AM shopping. They most definitley have a monopoly on that market. Context FTW. I also wasn't really complaining about that monopoly either, as it's only a monopoly cause people aren't interested in competing and I'm glad that someone is providing my 3AM shopping needs.


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i wasn't refering to you on the monopoly comment. it comes up a lot in walmart discussions. also you are wrong, even with the context. it is not a monopoly no matter how you slice it. think about it, how much do you think walmart can raise its prices after the other companies close for the night?