What are the three biggest problems with Montana??? (Missoula, Great Falls: appointed, transplants)

[mtboy]

Originally Posted by Jbechtel

Haven't you learned by now we live in a global economy. Where is the president today?

Economy what is that? But seriously... I know we have to do some foreign relations. Just makes me mad we care more about other people/countries than our own sometimes.

[mtcwgirl]

I have to say that I find all the bashing in this blog slightly amusing. So much for respecting others, and personally i found mattman3seven's comment funny. Its a sad day when we can't even laugh at a joke - even when its at our own expence. Know for the three things i don't like about Montana - and no they were not hard to come up with, I'm Dutch (and to top it off, female)!

1.) I hate that God cannot make up his mind and decide if he wants it to rain, snow, be cold and icie or if its going to be spring (perferably warm enough to take out the water tank heaters). For that matter, what about having the same weather in an area rather then every 10 feet being different?

2.)Why do Montana's have to be so cheap? I mean, rather then wait untill your horse so lame that it can't walk and has a temp of 105, why not bring it in before a mass infection breaks out? Then have the ordasity to whine to the Vet about either how much its going to cost (if brought in right away it would have cost 1/2) or when the Doc can't save it, they whine that they have to tell the kids the their pony is dead, then refuse to pay the vet bill.

3.)I hate going into Wal-mart, I get so sick of people being rude - or worse pretending I'm furniture. Would it kill them to be nice, maybe even offer an 'afternoon' once and a while? Although what should i expect? Ya'll don't even wave when i pass you on the road.
Okay, i'm done b****'in, although i have to say it was kinda nice to get the Wal-mart thing off my chest.

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by mtcwgirl

1.) I hate that God cannot make up his mind and decide if he wants it to rain, snow, be cold and icie or if its going to be spring (perferably warm enough to take out the water tank heaters). For that matter, what about having the same weather in an area rather then every 10 feet being different?

I hear the weather is pretty good in California. They also have Wal-marts on every corner.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by mtcwgirl

3.)I hate going into Wal-mart, I get so sick of people being rude - or worse pretending I'm furniture. Would it kill them to be nice, maybe even offer an 'afternoon' once and a while? Although what should i expect? Ya'll don't even wave when i pass you on the road.
Okay, i'm done b****'in, although i have to say it was kinda nice to get the Wal-mart thing off my chest.

I'm with you on this one!

[AQHA]

Wal-mart is an interesting concept. They have mastered what they do to the point that they can monopolize about any local they develop. A lot of folks are upset with their tactics because they drive smaller places out of business... yet we keep shopping there. I know I do. Its a great store. It will be interesting to see if other businesses will be able to follow this model and have the same success. It truly has been a revolutionary plan they have followed to the top, a plan that other have tried but not been able to accomplish.

Wal-marts have changes the face of America, particularly in the more rural parts of our nation. I think its difficult to completely understand the impact they have made on small towns across America.

[Reziac]

Walmart was different when Sam Walton was still alive. For one thing, everything in the store was made in America, period, by his personal policy. That went out the window the moment he was gone and the heirs couldn't see anything but how much more money they could make on cheap Chinese junk, newly available thanks to all this "free trade" our gov't had lately inflicted on us.

Walmart also used to try to fit stores into a neighbourhood better. Our original Lancaster store was the first one in California (also the highest-grossing Walmart in the entire country) and it was like an old-fashioned department store. The same people worked there for their entire careers, and tho it was a cramped, beat-up store, it was homey like an old-time J.C. Penney's, before they all moved to the malls. Everyone around here was mad when they replaced it with a Super Walmart -- we all liked the old store and didn't want a new one! But shiny new stores attract more customers, especially in poor areas (Lancaster is pretty poor as CA goes), and Super Walmarts also eliminated the need to have warehouses to store goods in transit, which saved the company a LOT of money.

Walmart and Home Depot and the like come in with their everything-to-all-customers stores, and pretty soon even the established midsized chains like Albertson's and True Value Hardware start to feel pinched, because they can't compete with Walmart's buying clout. And the mom-and-pop stores, already struggling against the midsized chains, get squeezed out entirely. And Walmart can undersell everyone, because they force suppliers to meet the price Walmart wants to pay rather than what the supplier needs to stay in business. And Walmart is such a big buyer that no one can say NO. That's why Levi jeans went to being made overseas and weren't real Levis anymore -- they were one of the companies that couldn't make it on Walmart's terms, unless they closed down their American factory and moved everything to China.

Mom-and-pop stores in isolated locations didn't help themselves any by figuring they were the only game in town and gouging customers, as so many did (and still do) -- people looked at the price difference and did without until they could take a trip to the nearest True Value, or now Walmart.

I could rant about how the stock market and the old bottom line have exacerbated this by putting shareholders above customers, but that's for another forum

Anyway, yeah, I think the big stores driving out smaller chains and mom-and-pops has negatively impacted the character of states like Montana, partly by disconnecting us from one another and from our communities. I remember when K-Mart came to Bozeman and killed a bunch of small local shops almost overnight. Did we save money in the long run? Probably not, because to make stuff cheaper also means usually made not as good, and you wind up buying three gizmos at $5 each instead of one gizmo at $9. It's short-term thinking, and I'd like to believe Montanans are better at long-term thinking than that.

[AQHA]

It use to be that we would drive into a town and see places that were exclusive to that area. Each store carried its own flavor of items. Now every town has the same group of stores that carry the same goods and look almost exactly the same. I guess in some ways its a good thing, but in some ways its a little boring. As consumers we have more options than ever before.

[Joyce Mitchell]

I think the three biggest problems in Montana are low employment opportunities, too many gravel roads, and overcast skies throughout the winter.

Originally Posted by AQHA

Three bad things about Montana..... Hmmm. Okay, here's my three:

1. I don't like the liberals in more populated states thinking they know what's best for us.

2. I don't like all the wind. Some places are worse than others.

3. I don't like that the logging companies have to go through so much BS to get in there and thin out the old growth timbers. Our forests are not healthy.



We're only suppose to do 3 but I have one more--



4. I don't like it when cars don't slow down, or at least give me a little space, when I am on the side of the road on my young horses.

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by Joyce Mitchell

I think the three biggest problems in Montana are low employment opportunities, too many gravel roads, and overcast skies throughout the winter.

Winter inversion-- yuck.

[mtboy]

Originally Posted by Joyce Mitchell

I think the three biggest problems in Montana are low employment opportunities, too many gravel roads, and overcast skies throughout the winter.

I would beg to differ that too many gravel roads are a bad thing. I wish there were more. Keeps the pace slow and the drive interesting. I am just one that likes the roads less traveled. Gravel roads are where I grew up and learned to drive when I was 10.