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64 comments:
I don't know why Walmart hasn't built on a bunch of those little cages like people in Japan live in. Just build them right on to the building, charge a small rent, and then people could live in them, work at the Walmart, shop at the Walmart, get their meds and food at the Walmart, maybe even die at the Walmart.
The only thing is, people who work at Walmart probably can't afford all that. There would have to be a Dollar Tree next door.
Keefer,
Here is the absolute truth!
You can attempt to twist it, ignore it or Eurotardize it.
I am an American
I support my American family
It would be un-American to sabotage by families finances by paying more for the same product to an inefficient run so called ‘Local business man’
It is pure bullsh1t that one supports a local economy by spending their families’ funds in a small FBers business for obvious reasons.
If you can do a better job then Wal-Mart there is nothing holding you back,
Stop the whining and start competing.
The only issue is from a food quality/ health prospective that corn syrup products dominate the shelves in ALL food businesses due to innovation in producing cheap corn based products.
Aside from this.
It is UN-AMERICAN TO THROW YOUR MONEY IN THE TOILET TO SOME SCMUCK WHO THINKS HAVING A JOB = BEING A SLAVE, SO HE OPENS A “LOCAL BUSINESS” WITH NO PLAN, OVERPAYS IN RENT AND THINKS PEOPLE WANT TO BUY THE SAME THINGS HE BUYS.
DO NOT SUPPORT THE “LOCAL DOPES”
SUPPORT YOUR FAMILY
This is the American way.
PS. Very many ‘local business’ owners are foreigners only hire their immediate family, ship the money out of the country, cheat on everything from Health Dept. rules and Taxes in an attempt to survive. F@ck’em
How come you're singeling out Wallmart over all other companies?
What makes them unique?
their perceived success?
Your idol APPL doesn't manufacture everything in China?
Do they squeeze their employees any less so that you can have a paper profit from buying their shares?
You think BP, Exxon etc. are spending on 'green' commercials cause they love our planet?
Are you saying that companies who pay a share of their employees medical insurance care more for their workers health then Wall mart does or that they wouldn't cut health benefits in the blink of an eye if they think they can attract the skills needed to make them profitable?
Gee Keifer, the print is really small. What are the evil blue dots supposed to be?
Kenduffelnsiffenspotzen
In as few words as I can:
A monopoly destroyed middle class small businesses by becoming the distribution network of a communist currency manipulator. The suburban blight that resulted stole the character of American towns, and the cheap consumerism run amok stole the soul of America.
Enjoy your cheap prices, in your cheap country, working for your now-cheap wages (those of you that can find work).
You did it to yourselves.
Lol, Chinamart and Sams Club have destroyed the country? What about the evil 16th amendment and creation of the Criminal Reserve in 1913?
Chinamart is a monopoly? Really? Why are there so many grocery stores besides walmart? Ever hear of Kroger? What about the Home Despot and bLowe's? Staples, Orificemax, or Orifice Despot? Chinamart hardly does any e-commerce because their website is a freaking joke. Ever heard of Amazon? Newegg? Dell? Buy.com? Apple.com? iTunes.com? I bet iTunes.com pulls in much more revenue than walmart.com.
A monopoly destroyed middle class small businesses by becoming the distribution network of a communist currency manipulator. The suburban blight that resulted stole the character of American towns, and the cheap consumerism run amok stole the soul of America.
You know me as a staunch anti-consumerist but this passage contains enough of that ideological spin to evoke memories of Soviet propaganda. A Luddite hate of modern logistics and economies of scale is no different than fighting mass production or opposing the erection of apartment buildings. Throw in the usual claim that all these things have no "human soul" in them, and score 10/10 on the agitprop excellence scale.
My view is that those obnoxious retailers actually help the progress toward post-consumerist world by allowing one to spend less of one's income, in real terms. More importantly, they are dull enough to eradicate the "rite" of shopping - which the "customer-conscious" corner stores may be actually fostering.
On the walmart subject, this website is hilariouis and SOOOO true.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
I would suggest it's not just about the middle class in-your-own-community jobs that have been destroyed. It's not just about enabling the corrupt communist regime in China. It's not just about crass consumerism run amok.
No, it's about quality of life in America.
Is there a quality of life going to Walmart, buying a bunch of cheap un-american shit from a rich family, having your money leave your community, in a truly miserable experience?
Here's a standard shopping trip over here:
Walk to the market, buy locally grown veggies and fruits from the stand owners who know me and appreciate my business. Walk around the corner to my butcher, who feeds is family based on his shop, to pick up some fresh cut meats. Stop by the local florist. Pop over to the locally owned wine shop. Then to the little grocer for supplies. Last stop the local baker. All in just a few minutes, all from middle class business owners, who know you, thank you, and appreciate your business, people who then put that money right back into their local communities. Not china. Not a rich family who doesn't donate to charity.
Now compare that to Walmart.
Do you see?
Seriously, do you see?
It's sad what happened to America, via Walmart. Because I don't think America can ever get it back. And I think Americans have traded low prices for their very souls.
Over 90% small businesses opened fail within the first year
*
*
*
The above statement was true over 100 years before Sam Walons grandfather was born ans is still true today.
Keefer said,
‘A monopoly destroyed middle class small businesses by becoming the distribution network of a communist currency manipulator. The suburban blight that resulted stole the character of American towns, and the cheap consumerism run amok stole the soul of America.’
It’s the blaming of some ‘monopoly / conspiracy’ that has always been the distinctive characteristic between themselves and the ones who take personal responsibility.
1 succeeds
1 dies poor
“The suburban blight that resulted stole the character of American towns”
This wonderful place you are referring to only existed in the movies and in your made up childhood memories.
Unless of coarse you are referring to the good ‘Ol days when the local Trading Post owner happened to have been the brother in-law of the towns Sheriff who also happened to have been a white Christian male and was never charged for the death of the father who tried selling his fresh picked beans for less across the dusty road.
Ahh the sweet ‘ol small town character.
There are many ways we could have helped out the ‘poor starving peasants’ in China
The European way = free bags of rice with a printed logo courtesy of the oh so caring charitable white man. (see how this is working out in Africa)
The American way = Share our knowledge and experience; beginning the process of elevating them to our level, it will ultimately raise us all higher. (really scary concept for the small minded who are scared shitless of losing their comfort of the ‘known’ character of the American town)
Is China playing fair, No
Will the few commie rulers ever be able to control and oppress their populations like have been, Never
Is a Dollar a day working in a sweat shop for long hours better then starving with no future, You bet
Weren’t our working conditions here similar 100 years ago?
Thank you Wall Mart for contributing in cutting my budget, for providing so many jobs to poor people in this country and across the globe, for being efficient and cutting waste.
.
destruction of America?
Shouldn't this be about Obama and the Muslims?
.
Amen Keith:
These dolts on here who are only concerned about getting the LOWEST price possible! Hello?? There is more to life than going into cavernous crap wage places of slavery/commerce and buying Chinese made garbage to help prop up China, Taiwan etc.
Keith said it all. When I lived in Europe, it was a pleasure going to the different locally owned businesses which were unique - and where you knew the owner, his wife, their family.
America needs to get back to local Ma and Pa stores again - which would revitalize the disintegrating downtowns of most American cities. In Europe, the center of towns are still VIBRANT!! What a concept! We need to downsize and start buying local, etc. to regenerate our economy.
Just saying...
I don't care if you get rid of the blue ones, as long as you keep the green ones (Sam's Club).
There are still some wonderful towns in America that haven't been destroyed by Walmart. I love them but I fear for them. Off the top of my head:
boulder
seattle
portland
jerome
boise
iowa city
san fran
ann arbor
old town scottsdale
madison
eugene
I'm a west fan, but figure there's still some nice eastern towns that haven't been destroyed too, if anyone wants to add to the list.
The key is keeping Walmart out. Once they're in, the town has AIDS. It's over.
We don't have souls.
We are Evil.
Walmart employs 1.5 million evil people who wouldn't have a job otherwise.
Evil Sam Walton took all the evil unemployed goofballs that no one else would hire, threw a blue apron on them and gave them simple tasks to perform.
Even worse are the Billions of evil consumers who sell their souls for convenience and low prices.
But worst of all are those evil Chinese people, trading the only thing they had, labor for dollars.
The world would be a lot better place if none of us existed.
I do not buy anything from WalMart. Their stores are filthy, cheap and I have no use for anything they sell.
I can find the same prices at similar stores where I won't have to deal with toothless and tattooed freaks.
But Keith,
It is ok, be cause "he saved it" so that this type of activity can continue. Bow down and thank your appointed one for the growth of Walmart.
When you said, "communist currency manipulator." Were you referring to the USD?
China is not only selling us their cheaply made crap, but they are emptying their toxic waste dumps into this crap and thereby smuggling it out of their country hidden in the merchandise. It's true.
Queef,
You live in your own universe of delusions, perseverating on things that don't matter.
Get over Walmart, already. They're here to stay because they've been smart businessmen. Many other stores distribute crap made in China as well.
Silliness.
Amen Keith!
I live a 40 minute drive from Boulder in a town with a population of 60,000. We have 2 WalMarts, 1 Sams Club AND the regional distribution center for said stores. They were invited in by city and county gov's with the carrot of NO TAXES for 10 years. The next town up the road, same count. Then go east to Greeley...blah blah blah same shit. I refuse to shop there. If I need cheap prices it's off to the Goodwill and yardsales.
Walmart is a computer-controlled distribution system that can deliver and sell goods to customers 2-3 months before the bills from Walmart's vendors come due. Bitch and whine all you like, but it's pure genius -- a legal way to print money. Amazon does the same thing, online.
Have to agree with Humble Trader. You really do live in your own fantasy Euro-snob world. Well, la-de-da. I need some organic groceries and Fair Trade overpriced coffee.
And your list of desirable American towns is just a list of liberal, gay meccas. SANFRAN??? What fantasy world do you inhabit? Straight in the toilet.
And a trip to Walmart is not going to give you AIDS. But a visit to some of the towns on your list might.
Yeah, Keith, you're right.
Chinese people have no right to work hard and live.
They're not real people.
What's a hardworking Asian compared to a smug worldtraveling overgrown adolescent blogging while sipping a $7 frapppucino in boulder?
Screw 'em. Priorities are priorities.
When I go shopping it is for the purpose getting what i need, and not to have a relationship with the person i'm buying from or their family, unless of course the daughter is a hotty.
Keef, in your fantasy land of the perfect neighborhood are streets lined with money trees?
You see cause the local farmers tractor costs more then 5 years of the income produced by his 10 acre parcel, let alone insurance health care etc. but, he's most likely an FBer with a big John Deer and brand spanking new Ford king cab dully, and must smile and pretend to be your friend when you overpay for his carrots, so he can pay the interest to his local bankster who smiles at him and pretends to be his friend when he makes the monthly payments, so then he pay for his imported shiny car.
There is no real virtue in spending at the local shop for a smooth polished purple mediation rock and a hand made (by a lazy ass) bamboo wind chime with a warm personal smile
Keith, wtf are you talking about?
Ann Arbor can come right off that fucking list now.
It has Jewel-Osco, Applebees, Panera, Outback, Every Hotel chain, 3 strip clubs....OH and about a 10 block downtown area that wishes it was something better than it is with dirty liberal arts students walking around drinking PBR (blue ribbon) thinking they are king shit.
Don't even get me started on the poker rooms, "massage" parlors, and every other big box store within a mile of downtown.
You've got to be fucking kidding me dude. The only reason A2 looks so great is because it is next to detroit and jackson.
The infection you talk about has already taken over the host. What are you going to do about it now that it's a done deal? Live in a fantasy world ?
Queef,
Not sure that you're on to something here, but just so you dont have a bad weekend i will begin shopping at Target
LMMFAO!!!!!
This blog is pure comedic gold!
Wal-mart and realtors took down this country. It had nothing to do with the bought and paid for, shabbas goyim fed gov, or kosher fed reserve... Nope, nothing at all!
Keep em coming Keith, I love it!
Proud frugle shopper said...
........Very many ‘local business’ owners are foreigners only hire their immediate family, ship the money out of the country, cheat on everything from Health Dept. rules and Taxes....
===================================
Even here in "no-wheres-ville" southern PA, I am seeing a lot of this. More and more local businesses bought up and owned by foreigners. Oh, they may hire the next door neighbor's daughter as a cashier, and the guy down the street as a cook, but ALL management is foreign or their foreign friends. And they ALL look down upon U.S. customers as dirt.
And don't even get me started on the tax breaks and perks that come with NOT being a U.S. citizen, while starting/owning a business.
"Evil" Wal-Mart isn't the only one making money here, but shipping it there!
Looking at that video, all I could think of was the growth pattern of malignant cancer cells.
A lot of posts just proving my point.
Americans got the America they wanted, and the America they deserved.
Too bad. Used to be a nice country. Before you ruined it.
keith said...
In as few words as I can:
A monopoly destroyed middle class small businesses by becoming the distribution network of a communist currency manipulator. The suburban blight that resulted stole the character of American towns, and the cheap consumerism run amok stole the soul of America.
===================================
This brings to mind a post where I mentioned (a couple years back on HP I think) that my aunt in Texas related how Wal-Mart dropped a supercenter in the middle of a triangle formed by three small neighboring towns. Devestated the three town's main streets, everything closed up. Then a couple years later, when WM corporate desided they wern't making enough bucks, THEY CLOSED THE WAL-MART!
She said that the area never recovered. Dead main streets, everything gone, and nothing came back.
The last attempt to put a Wal-Mart in southern York county was viciously opposed by the business community and just about every civic group there was. Seeing how main streets around the various small towns here are drying up anyway, I can understand their determination AND deparation.
(Personally, I think that WM will get their store in eventually)
On a serious note, it's amazing how many Duhmericans cannot conceive of living differently, in a society that is not dominated by monstrosities like Mal-Wart.
Buying necessities in Australia was much as you describe the UK, Keith. At first I was surprised at how all the "suburbs" (as they call different neighbourhoods in the city) had all these one-off, non-chain stores selling clothes or food or housewares. Each suburb had its own shopping streets, too, instead of being like American suburban sprawl with hectares of houses and a distant shopping mall surrounded by parking lots.
"How does anyone know what's in those individualistic stores? What if I can't find the brand I'm looking for? The layout of what's on the shelves is different in every place! Suppose I have to talk to a clerk instead of just pushing my shopping trolley through a checkout line silently?"
Ya see, I think predictability and anonymity is what drives the Mal-Wart phenomenon as much as low, low prices. (Although maybe I only have the luxury of saying that because I'm a BoomerYup who doesn't have to watch every penny.)
IMO, there's a huge number of Americans who are so uncomfortable with anything different that they'll choose familiar crapola instead of having to think a little bit. It's easier to order the same McPig'sass than read a menu and maybe get something unexpected. So many Americans are so mentally dull that they'd have nothing to say if a clerk talked to them, and they'd freak if they had to deal in any depth with someone who was a different race than them, or -- God forbid! -- a different religion.
The Canookian shopping scene is halfway between that of Oz and USAnistan. Lots of neighbourhood shopping centres and individualized stores, but BigBoxes on the fringes. At least Canadians aren't as afraid of strangers as so many idiotAmericanos seem to be.
But the Canadians I work with are enthralled with the American way of buying. We're close enough to the border that a shopping trip to Washington State is a big thrill for them. "Better selection and lower prices" they tell me when I ask why they'd want to go through the border security hassle of trying to drive into the U.S. So America might drag Canada down to its level.
One more bit of scorn for Proud "frugle" shopper (shop for a dictionary, dumbshit!) -- that mentality is why Duhmerica is doomed. Here's a horse's ass who says "I'm American! I support my American family. But I don't want to buy stuff from American storekeepers. I want to give my money to a corporation that will send that money to communist Chinese dictators!"
Such contradictory stupidity, within the space of a few sentences, is staggering. I'd say the numbnut was spoofing a conservretard, but I know there are many people who actually think that way.
Good luck, dumb fuck! You're going to get EXACTLY the country that you deserve. Too bad about the rest of the decent people your type will drag down with you...
Bukko - here's an example. depending on what country I'm in, sometimes I have one choice in toilet paper.
I compare that to when I'm in the US - a whole aisle of toilet paper, for those delicate american asses. All kinds of different textures, papers, lotions, colors, sizes, pricing categories.
Yes, America offers consumers what they want, instant gratification. It can't be denied. How else can a country with a small percentage of the world population consume 30% of the world's resources?
I'm not sure what to make of the toilet paper example. Maybe it comes down to - the whole world has to wipe.
google "the family cloth"
Ahh, Jerome! How I love the place! Probably one of my favorite places in Arizona. What a town, on a recent trip I bought my girlfriend some earrings from aurum, bought myself a bottle of wine from the Jerome winery and I checked out where that dude from the band tool lives. You can't get that at the wailing wal-mart. I agree with bukko, Americans can't imagine living, consuming, thinking in a different way, that is why we flock to places like the wailing WAL-mart, it is easier to load up the car with garbage and convince yourself that you are saving money, rather than actually consider the implications of feeding the wailing beast. Next time you are in Jerome grab a burger at the haunted hamburger or try some wonderful home made Italian at Belgian jennies, then go sample some wine at the caduceus wine tasting roomm, and if you are into music and water sports check out the puscifer store, you won't be disappointed. Way more fulfilling and enlightening than WM. Tootles from the land of AZ.
Walmart not only killed the small grandpa business, it is killing one of the most adorable social feats in America: Yard Sales!
Americans are known for their consumerism. They buy more than any other human beings on earth and cram their homes with clutter and pure sh*t they seldom use. The genius of Walmart is that they figured what most Americans want and they offered them plenty of it--pure sh*t!
Keith said:
"Americans got the America they wanted, and the America they deserved.
Too bad. Used to be a nice country. Before you ruined it."
I agree and don't think it's China or some other country's fault. It boils down to America, especially those corrupt "elected" assholes. They diluted the most beautiful, generous, genial and MoFo powerful people on earth with their snot, ugliness, and all the scum which usually comes with greed, obnoxiousness and ignorance.
And it's not only Walmart! When I now look around me, all I see is stretches and stretches of repulsive chain stores, dilapidated office buildings, frightening strip malls, ugly homes, crumbling roads and bridges, and a lot of clinically insane people roaming about like robots. The scary part of all this is that it's probably too late for anybody to stop this insanity.
Its been well documented on CNBC "the age of Walmart" and thier distribution ways. If an american has a product that is cool or unique then wants to try to get into the walmart stores so they can be a millionaire instantly then they have to sell thier soul to walmart. If you have a product and want to sell it a certian price and go to walmart to get sold nationally, Walmart says to the owner/inventor of the product you cannot sell it at that price at walmart. The owner/inventor then is forced to sell much cheaper to walmart and sometimes it below the cost to make the product but they want to be millionaires still. The only way to sell the product for less is to make for less and that product goes over to china to be made so the inventor and walmart can have a relationship. Walmart strong arms innovative americans to get thier product to be made in china over PRICE!!!!
America loves to shop for the lowest price and walmart is the store. Hardly anybody cares about quality anymore! Price Rules american minds not quality! Quality is for rich people only. THis is why there is no middle class anymore. Poor people shop for price and are small minded looking for instant gratification and rich people have to shop only 1 time for quality in comparision the walmart shopper has to buy the cheap product over and over again. The haitians, spanish and everyone who is not a real american doesn't give 2 shits about america or anything america has stood for at all. They do what they (the selfishness) want and don't give a fuck about community like your experience in the UK. I wish things were like your experience over there. It brings out the niceness in people and has a sense of community! Keith your are 100% right we are doomed b/c it will never go back to the way it was here again! I can write about this topic 4ever it seems but I will stop here!
rich in FL
One more thing!!!
Sam Walton was a good american and his intentions were to have only american goods at walmart. Then he died and the evilness took over!
rich in fl
Keefer said;
"Too bad. Used to be a nice country. Before you ruined it."
Can you remind us what year that was?
Bukko, breathing all that sterile air all day may be getting to your head.
The point I’m making is that if I want to support an American family I would begin by supporting my own family.
That is how you support American families.
Paying more in the name of protectionism goes against the grain of supporting ‘our’ American families.
It is financially impossible for a mom and pop shop to deliver a product in an efficient manner, if they insist on making a living by placing themselves in situation where they must charge more for product to pay their bills, I refuse to support them and hurt my American family.
The mom and pop shop owners may be nothing more then guilt throwers while sucking money from small town American families.
And what is it with you and Keefer romanticizing a simple shopping experience, have you guys have no life at all, that shopping is the only way for you all get stimulation these days?
Get a life spend less time spending your families money on ‘different and unique’ pricey items..
Talk about consumer addicts, a plain old go and get what you need for a price that enables one to live within your means not good enough anymore.
And how is it supporting the people of North America any greater then supporting the people of Asia?
Are you snobs superior?
A great deal of buying at Walmart = fillin' up landfills. Same thing.
In the US, I'm afraid that we will never see a return to a more human friendly lifestyle for the average person.
The demise of small towns might have happened anyway, but the tax breaks given to Walmart really hastened it I think. And yes some people got jobs. Many part time, not enough to live on.
I have been in many small towns that are now boarded up and half deserted, except for a few young druggies and a few more scared and dissappointed seniors. The town is now unwalkable cause there's nowhere to go. The Walmarts are never in town, so you have to drive or taxi. (One town that I am thinking of has outreageous homeowner property taxes now - I wonder if there is a connection?)
If there's an Indian reservation nearby there is usually a casino. That's just about my idea of Hell.
I agree that the anonymity factor is big. Small towns can be quite vicious and unfair. Well, maybe there will be some "new way" that emerges that is safe, friendly, localized, and affordable. I just don't see it at the moment.
Bukko said:
‘One more bit of scorn for Proud "frugle" shopper (shop for a dictionary, dumbshit!)’
Well Mr. Runaway to greener pastures, I write my own dictionary.
Welcome to the world of free thinkers where there is no limit on ideas.
The thing you are running from is in the mirror and the treasure you’re chasing has actually always been within reach.
When you figure it all out it may be too late.
Go on and shop and shop and shop in all kinds of specialty boutiques if it helps you take your mind off of yourself even for just a moment and convince yourself that the shop owner that laughed at you for over paying on an item with a 75% mark up was smiling at you and is your friend.
Not sure why that is but when I pay more for a burger I think it tastes better, same with everything else I over pay for, I wonder if it is psychological, perhaps it is a natural defense mechanism so I don’t beat myself up for being a fool.
You see, me, I am a smart fellow, I don’t shop for things in ugly rectangular or square shaped structures, especially if there is more then one of the same store. I go to places where I must pay some guy with a vacant lot a few bucks for letting me park my car there for an hour or two, then walk to an irregular shaped building, it must be old with thick layered painted door and rustic looking lantern hanging at the entrance, it must also have a local family type name like ‘Captain McGillicutty’s’ or something, the place must be decorated with lots of marine type décor, like an anchor a net and crab trap, must have the stench of beer, burgers must have names like ‘original atomic uncle johns’ cost a minimum $18 or more and must be served on a kaiser roll with super greasy fries, when all said and done the check is $50 and of course I’m a big tipper by the time I walk out I’m about $70 in the hole.
Now, the pain in the stomach starts within hours, and begin to realize this was a mom and pop restaurant, the owners had to re-refrigirate the meat for 3 days cause it was slow during the week, washing the hands after wiping the bottoms only happens when someone looks, and now know why the kaiser bun was toasted and tasty it was 2 days old.
But the real heartburn begins 2 weeks later when the credit card bill arrives.
But you see I like to eat in places that are out of the way and experience more then just the food, kinda like the enlightened community ambiance of the Eurotards.
No because there's no such thing as a business cycle.
Yes, I enjoy the experience of slow shopping when it's available - walking to the market and shops, knowing who I'm buying from. It seems almost old fashioned. Real. Human.
I like buying everything I eat fresh and locally grown, if I can. I like buying from local merchants, local shop owners, knowing they appreciate their customers. And trust me, they do.
Yes, (in America) this is more expensive than buying from a cut-throat monopoly. So you know what, buy less. Or buy nothing you don't need at all. Now there's a concept.
I think one small thing towns and cities (and even those fake new lifestyle centers) can do is have a big weekly or even daily farmers market. Take food direct to the people, hopefully for even less than walmart is charging.
And when it comes to the mountain of chinese crap, hopefully Americans come to realize that all that crap accumulation isn't making them any happier, and they cut it out. Or that "Buy American" is somehow revived, and the false patriots watching Fox News and the rest of the consumption-addicted country come to understand the error of their ways. Less is more.
And without jobs, without production, without savings, without cores, without caring about your neighbor, what is America? Just becoming one big L.A. I guess.
Some folks here have associated Wall Mart with excessiveness
It is in fact precisely the opposite folks shop at wall mart for basic essentials.
It is the folks, who shop in the local specialty shops that consume useless nick knacks,
Hence the tag ‘specialty’, boutique, etc.
Most grew on heavy diets of advertisements (TV commercials) and almost naturally associate a “brand” with quality.
In here lies the distortion.
You have been duped by a marketing ploy to pay more for a name.
You are not really buying higher quality when you pay more.
Al-Queeferonio,
Just cause you’re a weirdo whose big thrill in life is to go shopping in quaint little places, and think that the shop owner makes all his own stuff. (in fact he buys it from a distributor who gets it from the same place the big guys get their stuff from.. shush don’t mean to break your heart).
Doesn’t mean that a successful efficient high volume store is evil.
Just different
All supermarkets also purchase fresh form local farmers when in season.
And just like you think the local farmer toils and sweats in the dirt with joy, so does the China-man.
Am not sure you mean the ultimate good when you run around calling the working China-man a ‘hard working slave’.
Both your local farmer and the Chinese factory worker put in similar hours and similar effort, neither is being forced on choice of career and both do it for a similar purpose of providing for their family, and neither will likely have enough at the end of each week to save for retirement.
Do you not understand anything about economics? The fact that those items are produced at lower prices means that more of us can afford them, therefore we are all wealthier. Look at all the stuff we have today that we couldn't afford 30 years ago.
Keefer said:
‘And without jobs, without production, without savings, without cores, without caring about your neighbor, what is America?’
Very true!
But you see big stores actually create more jobs that a one man farm and stand.
Its not only the cashiers and baggers that you point to, its all the back end from the construction projects, the supply chain management, from the warehouse to the truckers,
from ships to rail roads, packaging and marketing, innovative designs textures and taste, vibrant human interaction on every level of the process, and if it makes you happy bring your own hand made hemp-fiber shopping bag.
The same love and care for your neighbor as when shopping in a dusty dim shop, we all know the brutality in History that took place before the big shopping center concept was born.
And am glad you threw in FOX in the mix, cause CNN and MSNBC viewers are known to only shop outdoors or maximum store size of 1 aisle.
Only allow 1 child born per 10 people the next 80 years and most ALL problems related to pollution, destruction, warming, vanishing species, etc......go away by themselves.
It really is that simple.
Another example of Americano snappingturtle cultural ignorance -- all these comments referring to any store that's not a BigBox as a "trendy boutique" where Yuppies with more money than sense bring their designer hemp bags to buy overpriced things that they don't really need.
People who write that are so far removed from what's reality in 90% of the world that they cannot conceive of anything except what's presented to them by the pre-packaged corporate world. Get a clue, commenters! All over the planet, including many places in America (just not in your rural backwaters or suburban plasticland) there are small stores that sell ONLY fruit and vegetables. Or meat. Or baked goods. Not OilfiltresBarbiedollsUnderwearPrescriptiondrugs in addition to groceries.
These places are run by families. The same employees are there every day. You say "Hi" to them, ask about their kids, have them tell you what's fresh that day, get 'em to slice that piece of meat the way your recipe calls for. You get the human touch, not the corporate cold shoulder.
The prices aren't higher, and the goods are fresher. You can touch what you're thinking about buying instead of picking up a wasteful Styrofoam tray encased in terrorist-supporting plastic wrap made from Arabian oil. And you help provide a job to some local family who you might see at the local sporting ground when your kid is there for a game the next month. Unless you're some sour, self-isolated bastard who never gets outside and has his only social interaction with invisible people on the other side of a computer screen.
I love mixing it up with other people; the stranger, the better. You see so much more of the world if you break outside the BigBox. I like riding my bike to weird parts of town where there's all sorts of cheap basic food like 10-kilo sacks of beans that I've never seen before. (Not that I bought any those sacks, but I did get 4 litres of lassi -- great stuff to drink on a bike trek!)
Anyway, I pity those of you who are so in thrall to your corporate masters that you cannot think of any alternative to what they feed you. How do you deal with the fact that you're nothing but corporate drones, who leap to the defense of your owners? Didn't the American revolution start on the principle of rebelling against the tea monopoly of the British East India Company? Are you sure you're not even more British than Keith?
Bukko, I'm in an undisclosed eastern country now, but I can tell you, the lady at my veggie stand, my butcher, and the local baker would laugh if they knew some idiots were referring to businesses like them as 'trendy boutiques'.
Just folks trying to make an honest living for their families. You know, like it used to be in America.
And I also am amazed at the lack of understanding on how small businesses like a local grocer work. No, they're not ripping the customer off. Their cost of goods is simply higher than a monopoly like walmart. The selling margins are nearly the same.
I'm not sure why I blog. Seems from posts like this that America is beyond hope, beyond help. Ignorance is now firmly entrenched. Nothing was learned during the crash. America loves its monopolies. America loves unemployment. America loves cheapness, crassness and mindless consumerism.
Too bad. Used to be a nice place.
Keith, I have been reading you for ~4 years now and I can honestly say that I have never seen comments so one-sided against you!
Don't blame Wally, blame our gov't for not enforcing Anti-Trust laws. Wally just wants to make money, it’s the only thing Wally knows. Competition will always create more losers than winners. Anti-Trust laws are on the books because we have been here before (many, many times!) Obama, Ron Paul, Palin, or whoever needs to grow a pair and make Wally behave.
I get my produce through a CSA affiliated with a small grocery store down the street. High quality fresh fruits and veggies show up every week in a reuseable box with my name on it. My farmer's name is Paul, the shop owner's name is Sheila; occasionally I work on small projects for the store, Sheila usually plays with my kid while I shop --things corporate policy would no doubt frown upon. There is a mutual respect for each other and a shared commitment to making our little corner of the city a better place. Her success is my success.
Re: How much our towns suck.
Some Eastern cities sans WM:
NYC
Portland, ME
Burlington, VT
Blacksburg, VA
Fewer and fewer Americans have experienced an authentic community, and our towns physically reflect it. Mrs. Republicrat and I always laugh at how small towns in America put their Historic Downtown (with the three-story brick mixed-use buildings) on the cover of the travel guide, yet the 100 years of development beyond those few blocks consists of nothing but surface parking and set back, single story, prefabbed retail buildings. We obviously value community enough to express it in the cover photo, but no longer feel able to express that value in our policies.
As we have isolated ourselves (be it in suburbia, watching TV, on the I-phone, in a cubicle, or at WalMart) our culture has broken down. “Getting mine” is about a product and only the product, each transaction occurs in a vacuum --never mind where the product is from and where the money goes.
As my moniker suggests, we have become nothing but a corporate colony. And it is sad. Profoundly sad.
Like Oscar Wilde said: "...the price of everything and the value of nothing."
Bukko, Keef,
You may be right about many of things you are saying, but it does not make the big box stores evil.
There is a place for both big and small
Well said Keith...
It IS beyond hope, beyond help.
The goyim have grown so damn dumb on so many levels. I'm certain that at least 50% of America is lost.
The only thing that gives me any hope, is the small but growing percentage of folks that have awakened to kosher criminals that perpetrated (and are still perpetrating) this giant fucking swindle.
There's no doubt about it. More and more folks are starting to see clearly, and they're getting mad as fuck about what they are seeing....
This is a VERY good thing.
My biggest beef against Walmart is that it's a monopoly. It's too big, and needs to be broken up, a-la ma bell. And it never should have been allowed to grow to the size it has.
http://www.stores.org/2009/Top-100-Retailers
And it's only going to get worse. Maybe one day not too far away there'll be just one grocer. Once you get to monopoly status, the world really is your oyster. Until the world says enough is enough and breaks you up.
Just a thought comes to mind about the 'monopoly' part. When Wal-Mart came to town in York, among the retailers it totally wiped out was the independent fabric stores, and even the small to large chains(So-Fro, The Rag Shop, House of Fabric, The Piece Goods Shop, even JoAnn's disappeared for a while!)
Wal-Mart had a HUGE fabric & crafts section, great service, prices couldn't be beat. Now, through nationwide store "restructuring," Wal-Mart is ELIMINATING ALL OF THEIR FABRIC SECTIONS, after having eliminating all of the competition. Customers are upset because now they have NOWHERE to get fabric and sewing notions.
A conspiracy buff could argue that with fabric and notions hard or impossible to get, people will be forced to buy their clothes ready-made from China, with supply totally controlled through Wal-Mart.
Either that, or its an opportune time to open a little independent fabric store across the street from a Wal-Mart.
Again, just a thought.
Keith,
with all the raw nerves you've apparently stepped on, I think you're on target.
Did many of the rich from the East Coast fill for personal bankruptcies to forestall their foreclosures, if so when will these foreclosures hit the market.
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