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Nothing wrong with rich people. But, money earned based on crony capitalism is a travesty. And a lot of this so-called wealth is the end result of crony capitalism.
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This is true. YOu should tell your buddy Obama about crony capitalism. He is the poster child for crony capitalism.
Absolutely. Walmart has saved millions of people billions of dollars and improved their standard of living.
Really? That's amazing, the only thing I can find is some old studies that Walmart used to commission, but it doesn't look like they have published one for several years (maybe they were too embarrassed after the studies were so quickly and thoroughly debunked) They went something like this: Walmart proudly proclaimed they were saving the average family $3100 a year, But..there were a few itsy bitsy problems with that.
Quote:
The study group Global Insight talks about measuring the “cumulative price impact†of Wal-Mart since 1985. If the average American family has saved $3,100 over that time, that’s about $129 a year, not $3,100. Big difference.
Wal-Mart seems to be saying that the average family spends about $86,100 per year (which itself seems dubious to me) and that were it not for the cumulative effect of Wal-Mart’s low prices over the past 24 years, those expenditures would in fact be $3,100 higher, at $89,200. Or something along those lines. But does that mean an annual savings of $3,100 a year? Not really. According to the report, Wal-Mart reduces consumer price inflation by about 0.15% annually. So if the average family spends $86,100 this year, then next year its expenditure will be about $129 lower thanks to Wal-Mart. That’s what I consider to be an annual savings. Not $3,100. Wal-Mart does not save families $3,100 a year
But if you have some more recent or more accurate data about the billions that Walmart is saving us, please do share it.
But I think the question is based on macro economics and not individual anecdotes.
As the world population balloons and wealth funds itself more concentrated in the hands of the few you gotta wonder what the implications may lead to. Social unrest will become a bigger issue.
Only for the lazy, envious and ignorant. Wealth isn't static.
The wealth gap is bad because a large percentage of the wealth is sitting in investment accounts instead of being spent.
Just sitting there, huh? Not providing the capital for research and development, corporate expansions, or municipal capital improvement projects, etc., all of which provide more jobs and improves many people's lives?
Just sitting there, huh? Not providing the capital for research and development, corporate expansions, or municipal capital improvement projects, etc., all of which provide more jobs and improves many people's lives?
Just sitting there... /SMH
I don't suggest it's black and white or that the money is sitting there Scrooge McDuck style. We're having a fairly shallow discussion on a very heavy topic here, all nuances can't be addressed in one post. Someone wanting that level of explanation should read the works of the Austrian school and Wealth of Nations.
The things you list are investments meant to increase profits (not a bad thing) but that money, or at least some of it, used to be used for labor and is taken out of middle class salaries - which don't provide a return to management in the short term. This is reflected by the shift to a two working person family. Unheard of 70 years ago and now the norm. Did we become less productive during that time and does this lack of productivity explain the change? Or is management maximizing return for shareholders?
It's managements duty to do that, and they should, but there used to be the check and balance of unions (and regulations) to make sure that it didn't get out of balance. Now that unions have effectively been done away with over broad swaths of the economy we see management taking advantage of that. Not surprising or necessarily wrong on their part, but not good for the economy.
But if you have some more recent or more accurate data about the billions that Walmart is saving us, please do share it.
I don't need a study to tell me what's obvious. Lower prices save people money.
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