Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark S.
Wal-Mart is evil.
They are the closest thing we have today to the East India Tea Company, and I seem to remember that particular business starting a little thing called the American Revolution.
Wal-mart is Evil.
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What a silly thing to say. The East India tea company had nothing to do with the Boston Tea party. The Boston Tea party was caused by taxes levied on tea by the British government, not because tea was too expensive. It could have just as easily been taxes on almost anything.
Do you know why the British raised taxes on the tea? Because it was heavily in debt from the French Indian war, which was seen by the British to have been an expense to help defend the American colonies from France, and so the American colonies should have to pay for the cost of the war. Doesn't seem like it was too bad right?
Well the Americans felt like they shouldn't have to pay for a war that was fought on their behalf since they didn't actually vote to go to war. Nor did the Americans have any representation in the British parliament. Why should Americans be liable to pay back the cost of the war they didn't even want?(reminds me of how Iraqi's were supposed to pay back the cost of the war they didn't want, through the sale of their oil)
As for Wal-mart. I used to think Wal-mart was evil and economically damaging, but it really isn't. It will distort the value of our currency and wages, but it really has nothing but positive effects on our economy.
You have to look at the actual economic impact of Wal-mart to really understand what I mean.
It is true that Wal-mart tends to push wages down slightly. As it drives out competitors who usually have higher wages and/or benefits. It is also true that Wal-mart has been driving many American manufacturers out of business(especially manufacturers which are union based), as it buys its goods from non-union manufacturers and from low-wage countries.
You have to understand that wages mean nothing, they have to be compared to the cost of living. In many European countries, wages are very high, but the cost of living is ridiculous. By choosing to pay more for the same item, you are only hurting yourself, and you are not truly helping the economy at all. You have to stop looking at dollars, and start looking at what goods and services you can get for your dollars.
Look at it like this, take banana's. America imports almost all of its bananas. These banana's come mostly from Central and South America. So tons of our money is being pumped into all of these "Banana Republics". So is that a good thing or a bad thing? If you think imports from China are bad then you should believe that imports from Ecuador should also be bad.
So, what should we do about it? Well, we could start growing our own bananas. We could build tons of hot boxes all over this country so we can grow all the bananas that we need right here in this country. It would produce jobs and keep our money here. So would that be a good thing or a bad thing? It would cause the price of banana's to go through the roof, so would that make economic sense? No. Because trying to artificially elevate American incomes by being wasteful and inefficient is stupid. If we create a system which increases the cost of bananas to consumers, we all lose. And if we increase the cost of anything else to consumers, it is exactly the same.
The problem with most people is that they think that life is a zero-sum game. They believe if one party benefits then the other must lose. But in capitalism both parties can benefit.
Look at it like this, lets pretend that you have a dollar and I have a hamburger. We make a deal where you will buy my hamburger for $1. Who benefits from that transaction? A lot of people will think that only the person who received the dollar benefited, but the truth is, we both benefited. A lot of people only see dollars, but money means nothing. What matters is goods and services, and how many you can buy with your dollars.
Right now China is actually subsidizing their manufacturing, and they are artificially keeping their currency at a low value to try to promote its manufacturing and exports. I know this sounds bad for us right? We get low-cost goods but lose our high-paying jobs, bad bad bad? Well the truth is, the people of China are actually paying so you can have cheap goods. The people of China are working like slaves in difficult professions, so you can get some easy job that might pay less, but you can buy more stuff with your money. You should be thanking China, not attacking them.
Eventually there will come a time when there must be equilibrium. At some point the Chinese yuan will increase in value, China will stop being a competitive manufacturer, and it will again become economically beneficial for America to produce more of its own goods(America is still the largest manufacturer in the world, and wouldn't fall anymore than to #2 for at least the next 50 years, if ever. India has a really really long ways to go).
The truth is there are only two reasons to truly hate Wal-mart.
1) If you a Wal-mart competitor or work in manufacturing, especially a union job, where you want job security and increased pay at everyone elses expense.
2) You are afraid that red China will become too powerful, and because the United States is so far ahead from China economically. Without trade with the United States, China's buildup into a first-world superpower will take much longer(basically, you want to keep the Chinese people impoverished so you feel better about yourself).
It is not, I repeat, it is not because you actually want to help America.
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