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They also sell Rubber Made, Michelin, Black and Decker, Coleman, Lodge, General Electric, General Foods etc -
So?
I buy tires every few years (Michelin) -not from WM- don't buy Rubbermaid, have the same Coleman coolers we've owned for 10 years +, Lodge (?), my appliances are not GE. I don't buy any of that stuff, and I suggest that American reconsider their conspicuous consumption habits if they ever want to achieve and accumulate wealth, or at least get out of the crushing levels of personal debt. To the OP....if the documentary made such an impression, I suggest you educate yourself even more, figure out why people should stay out of WM and then talk to your friends and neighbors.
So?
I buy tires every few years (Michelin) -not from WM- don't buy Rubbermaid, have the same Coleman coolers we've owned for 10 years +, Lodge (?), my appliances are not GE. I don't buy any of that stuff, and I suggest that American reconsider their conspicuous consumption habits if they ever want to achieve and accumulate wealth, or at least get out of the crushing levels of personal debt.
My point was, and remains, WalMart sells quality products - while you try to suggest they do not.
I shop at WalMart (and other stores) for the items I need - and want.
I keep asking this and no one ever answers... intelligibly anyway. The question(s) is (are): Why is it usually left-leaning folks that show more concern for their downtown communities? Whenever such things are brought up to a right-leaning person they tend to act offended at the idea that their buying choices affect more than their own wallet, that each purchase represents a moral choice. What exactly does the Conserv(e) part of Conservatism mean?
used to be and still am conservative, but have since changed to an independent.
but your right, although, I don't think it's all one sided, I know plenty of convervatives who lean towards the betterment of the community....but you get both working on the same committee and it never works....liberal ideas, really sometimes offend conservatives, and they would really rather just back off, because they can't deal with senselessness.....but your right in your statement to a degree...I just don't think it's all liberals and all democrates....some are very diverse from both parties...now if your referring to the complete lefts and complete rights, those who are not diverse....well, then you have made a great big point....in my mind...and some of my friends....those who are so completely to the left or right are very dangerous people, and will absolutely defend a policy even though it doesn't work.
So?
I buy tires every few years (Michelin) -not from WM- don't buy Rubbermaid, have the same Coleman coolers we've owned for 10 years +, Lodge (?), my appliances are not GE. I don't buy any of that stuff, and I suggest that American reconsider their conspicuous consumption habits if they ever want to achieve and accumulate wealth, or at least get out of the crushing levels of personal debt. To the OP....if the documentary made such an impression, I suggest you educate yourself even more, figure out why people should stay out of WM and then talk to your friends and neighbors.
Educate yourself more? By going to Wal-Mart Watch or one of the other sights that are paid for with union money, union money that should be going into developing and promoting business interests for the benefit of union members, instead of into a campaign of negativism against the world's largest retailer. Retail employees have historically gotten paid less than manufacturing employees. The entire retail structure lends itself to part-timers and quick turnover. If you have a company that has 15 million employees (and I believe Wal-Mart has more than that), and just 1% of them are unhappy(and any retailer, including Wal-Mart, would be thrilled if only 1% of their employees were unhappy), that's thousands and thousands of employees. Just like the news, the public only hears the bad things, not the good things. Good stories are boring, horrible nightmares sell newspapers, and the unions have found out that bad press on Wal-Mart can make a lingering impression that affects how people perceive Wal-Mart, no matter how much good Wal-Mart has done.
But why are unions spending money to harm a business, instead of spending that money to help its members? Why do Americans embrace campaigns of negativity instead of using our resources in positive ways?
Some Third World countries are dependent on First World countries for economic survivial. If those workers didn't have their low-paying job through Wal-Mart, they probably wouldn't have a job at all. Which scenario do you think most of those employees would prefer?
yeah well, still doesn't make it right...to treat people so cruely all for the sake of being rich...you have the rich taking advantage of the poor...and having them beat because they don't lie to the inspectors?
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It's all part of how the world economy works, and it's all relative. Yeah, they may make 18 cents an hour in their country, but 18 cents goes a hell of a lot further in their country than it would in the US. It's not like living in Detroit or Los Angeles and making 18 cents an hour. It's very different. 18 cents an hour in many countries is similar to a Wal-Mart employee making $5.50 an hour in Some City, USA. They don't have $1800/mo mortgage payments or $400/mo car payments. I remember when I was in Prague a few years back, I had a beer in a pub that cost the equivalent of about a nickel. When I lived in Los Angeles, the same beer would've cost $6 in a bar. And the Czech Republic isn't even Third World...it's Second World. Just remember, it's all relative.
I know that...but they are still having a rough time making ends meet....just because you gift a poor hungry man a crumb, dosn't mean your doing him a favor...all your doing is making him eat off the floor
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And yeah, the OP can keep citing the alleged "beatings" and "lying" and whatnot from the video she saw as a reason to boycott Wal-Mart, but it's kind of a silly argument. Just because a documentary says something, certainly does not make it true.
BUT WHAT IF IT IS....????? Geeze Louise....What if it is...does it then make your statement human? Maybe they are lying, but what if they aren't. !!!!!!! Just because you say so, doesn't mean they are?
right backatcha buddy!
Doesn't it make you want to know more for God's sake? I mean, we can also sit in denial over here in the U.S. and continue to buy from Wal Mart, and say to ourselves, "Well, their Lying" it isn't true...so that gives you a clear consciense to say, it's ok, go buy from Wal Mart. We humans have a tendency to ignore the truth if it becomes an inconvenience to us, so we wallow in denial...and that's acceptable? I think not!
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Personally, I like to pay a few bucks less at Wal-Mart than I would at Target. If others would rather pay more somewhere else because they don't understand Economics 101, that's fine with me, because I know that there'll always be enough people who'd rather pay less, which'll keep Wal-Mart in business. And so it goes...
yeah, but it's not about you...it's about the probablity of the people who are making these products for these companies being treated so poorly...think of that the next time you walk into Wal-Mart or any store for that matter.....me personally, am so tired of this global market stuff...all it really means is, farm out our jobs to 3rd world countries....so that they can make a few dollars a week, so what if they can't eat and feed their families, at least their working. IN the meantime...here in America...we are loosing the ability to process the fact, that we are becoming a very weak nation because of it. yeah, it's cheaper....but whenever you make decissions that effect human life, for the sake of money, and lining your pockets...in the long run, its not going to work.
Outsourcing jobs gives the CEO's much more money in their pockets...but as a community, we American's are loosing jobs, education, the ability to problem solve, and will eventually end up with empty hands. WE loose all the way around, b/c the leaders of our corporations are greedy, while we become poorer, in heart, spirit and mind...
Yeah, I liked the cheaper prices at Wal-Mart over Target, but that was before I watched this show....is it true? I dunno, but you bet I'm going to keep my eyes open more.
Sounds like a classic Standard Oil type monopoly. The business tactic is to set up a store in a new market area and undercut all the existing business with at cost or below cost pricing until they close. Then the company can raise prices and use the profit to expand into more markets. Wal-mart, with the addition of being able to control the prices it pays for products because of its huge size, has used this tactic to destroy much of small town business. Now it is running into competition from other large retailers that have tried the same tactic but are supporting their competition with Wal-mart with profits from areas they dominate.
The losers in this game are the manufactures, including both owners, financiers and employees that have to compete with other, usually offshore, businesses that do not have to pay fair labor prices or have any environmental constraints. The smaller stores that used to supply small town America with good and services have been nearly put out of existence along with their middle class owners and workers. Wal-mart has only been good for Wal-mart, not for the rest of us.
I agree, totally, and saw it happen in our town....plus, like I said before, I've head so many complaints from not only Wal Mart workers but also, from Home Depot workers.
yeah well, still doesn't make it right...to treat people so cruely all for the sake of being rich...you have the rich taking advantage of the poor...and having them beat because they don't lie to the inspectors?
I know that...but they are still having a rough time making ends meet....just because you gift a poor hungry man a crumb, dosn't mean your doing him a favor...all your doing is making him eat off the floor
BUT WHAT IF IT IS....????? Geeze Louise....What if it is...does it then make your statement human? Maybe they are lying, but what if they aren't. !!!!!!! Just because you say so, doesn't mean they are?
right backatcha buddy!
Doesn't it make you want to know more for God's sake? I mean, we can also sit in denial over here in the U.S. and continue to buy from Wal Mart, and say to ourselves, "Well, their Lying" it isn't true...so that gives you a clear consciense to say, it's ok, go buy from Wal Mart. We humans have a tendency to ignore the truth if it becomes an inconvenience to us, so we wallow in denial...and that's acceptable? I think not!
yeah, but it's not about you...it's about the probablity of the people who are making these products for these companies being treated so poorly...think of that the next time you walk into Wal-Mart or any store for that matter.....me personally, am so tired of this global market stuff...all it really means is, farm out our jobs to 3rd world countries....so that they can make a few dollars a week, so what if they can't eat and feed their families, at least their working. IN the meantime...here in America...we are loosing the ability to process the fact, that we are becoming a very weak nation because of it. yeah, it's cheaper....but whenever you make decissions that effect human life, for the sake of money, and lining your pockets...in the long run, its not going to work.
Outsourcing jobs gives the CEO's much more money in their pockets...but as a community, we American's are loosing jobs, education, the ability to problem solve, and will eventually end up with empty hands. WE loose all the way around, b/c the leaders of our corporations are greedy, while we become poorer, in heart, spirit and mind...
Yeah, I liked the cheaper prices at Wal-Mart over Target, but that was before I watched this show....is it true? I dunno, but you bet I'm going to keep my eyes open more.
I think no one is going to support the beatings/physical abuse of employees, so let's agree that that is to be condemned. I doubt that Wal-Mart suppliers have cornered the market on this, so let's set that aside.
The argument I find least convincing both in this "documentary" and from activist groups (anti-Nike and "sweatshop" University activists, for example) is about wage concerns. I have family who live in one of the "ermerging" countries in Southeast Asia, and the (often union-pushed) points really raise both eyebrows of curiosity and suspicion of motive.
The point about 18 cents per day is perfectly valid. In Indonesia or Vietnam or even China, what constitutes a "living" wage would shock most people in the US. What it costs to feed, house, and clothe people is much less than in the West. And beyond that, the desire for consumer junk of the sort that mesmerises Americans (rubbish "new" products like different coloured iPods) does not dictate the economies.
That said, when I hear about what wages "ought" to be in such countries, I am immediately suspicious as to what really motivates the asked. Is it to protect the poor, desperate "yellow" or "brown" man overseas, or to enrich American union bosses? What is ignored in this discussion is that the main competitive advantage that Indonesia (or any of the other third world nations) offers is low wages. Period. The workers are not more skilled. The external costs (transport of materials and finished goods, remote management) plainly are higher. If wages there were brought in line (or even close) with what is offered in the US, the jobs would not be there. So, the alternative here is that thousands and thousands of people would simply not have the job.
As has been pointed out, this is not a good alternative for a large number of people overseas. Poverty and unemployment of the sort unimaginable to most Westerners is rampant, and yes, working for 18 cents is preferable. So the "offering a poor man crumbs" analogy falls on its face. First, because to the young man or woman in Vietnam, they are not "crumbs," and the alternative - offering them nothing at all, is far worse.
In short, these sort of "message" documentaries (frequently backed by Unions with an axe to grind) push bogus statistics, flaccid arguments, and pretty naked propaganda to Westerners who otherwise have no real idea what is going on.
Nomander makes great sense. Creme, you really need to chill, take a deep breath and look at the whole picture. There are always movie producers trying to make a name for themselves and they pick on Wal Mart b/c they are huge. It is not Wal Mart's fault that the American factories sold out to China so they could make money and now they have to go that route to get the merchandise. Why are you not outraged at the owner's of the plant that sold out and shut down. If a Wal-Mart is 24 hours, they have security and are well lit. You have to be careful everywhere. My niece's boyfriend had his car broken into at Olive Garden. Am I supposed to boycott them b/c they have crime in their parking lot? As for how they treat their employees, if you haven't worked there, how do you really know? I was an Asst. Manager for them right out of college. I enjoyed working for the company. Most of the people who worked for me liked it and believe it or not, A LOT of them are still there 15 years later! I didn't like retail hours so I got out. You really need to take things with a grain of salt. The same stuff Wal Mart sells is sold at Target, K Mart, etc. Why should I go there and pay more? Just saying don't take these documentaries as the be all end all in facts.
Lodge is a manufacturer of excellent cast iron products. I have a cabinet full.
Oh, wait, might they be made in the USA? And sold at walmart? WHAT?!
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Maybe they are lying, but what if they aren't. !!!!!!! Just because you say so, doesn't mean they are? 
