How do you feel about Wal-Mart?
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| Wed, 11-26-2008 - 6:23pm |
I read this op/ed (it's tied in with the automotive industry issues) http://www.indystar.com/article/20081119/OPINION12/811190304/1301/ARCHIVE the other day and it got me thinking. I've always heard about the lousy way they treat their employees but...it's their prices that keep me going back. Since I've moved to the South it's been even worse. They have Super Wal-Marts here where there is a grocery store in the Wal-Mart.
Now, there was an article the other day in my local newspaper with the mayor asking people to do their Christmas shopping downtown and buy local to support our mom & pop stores. Now, I'd love to do that but I have three kids and you know where I'm going.
Part of me really doesn't like what Wal-Mart stands for but the other part of me feels like "why should I pay more when I know I can get it cheaper there?"
Any thoughts?

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"That seems like an aspect of the manufacturing process that is easily remedied by oversight from the mother company. Obviously the Asians are capable of making high-quality, long lasting products...their own history bears this out. If pennsylvania house furniture turns out an inferior product, it's because they chose to do so."
You're absolutely right. But that doesn't make me wrong for choosing to find North American manufacturers of quality products and rewarding them with my business.
Perhaps if Americans made more of an effort to buy locally, the US's GDP wouldn't be 80% debt, and the economy wouldn't be in the shape it's in now. The Holy Grail of the lowest price actually comes with a high price tag.
"You know where the good meals are? Bill's cafe, George's BBQ, the Stoplight, and other restaurants owned by local restauranteurs who buy from local suppliers, hire other local businesses to provide services, and channel their profits into the local tax base."
Bill's cafe, is going to import most of the stuff you consume from outside your town, as will any other establishment.
Do you really think everything you eat at Bill's cafe is grown locally? That all the materials to build Bill's cafe were made locally? That all heating, electricity, copper, silverware, plates and everything else that makes Bill's cafe were somehow produced in your town?
This is an interesting site showing products made in the US, by whom, et cetera.
http://www.madebyyankees.net/product_database_search.php?
Do you really think everything you eat at Bill's cafe is grown locally?
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martinisnsushi - the two most important food groups!
I can understand your situation & I hold nothing against those who shop at Wal-Mart (or Mal-Wart, as I prefer to call it).
You think it was the "free market" that pushed lenders to give loans to "poor folks?" LOL! It was the "dopes" (Democrat officials and politicians everywhere) that created the regulations to stop the banks from "red lining" and give loans to those poor people who couldn't otherwise afford to buy homes.
That's just ridiculous.
>>> That's just ridiculous. The banks did it to themselves through their greed.
"Banks"...as in plural? Do you honestly believe that all of the banks got together one day and suddenly said to themselves..."Hey, I know...let's start making loans to people who can't afford to pay them...that'll generate us some bucks!"? Now THAT would be ridiculous.
>>> Based on personal experience, some of these lenders aggressively tried to get people to take out ARMs, even when a person could actually afford a 30 year fixed mortgage. This happened to me on two mortgages and a refi. I refused, but I'm sure a lot of other people who didn't understand mortgages and rates believed the garbage the lenders were trying to sell them. After all, they are the experts.
There's a difference between trying to sell you a type of mortgage that is more beneficial to the bank and selling you a mortgage you can't afford. BTW, ARMs aren't a bad thing...it depends on your personal circumstances.
>>> Do I think that the people who fell for it should have done their homework? Yes, I do. However, I will not lay all of the blame on them.
No? It seems to me that it's the buyer who's responsible for BUYING, not the seller.
>>> In my eyes, the lenders are more to blame. The government didn't make them give everyone a crazy loan. They actively pushed these and they didn't care who they gave them to. I'm no financial expert, but I saw this coming back in 2003. I don't know why some people are so surprised.
Actually, the government DID push banks to give crazy loans, and Fannie and Freddie guaranteed them...which is why the banks continued the practice. And then faced with these liabilities, they bundled them together to mitigate the risk and sold them, further exacerbating the potential problem. You're right, this was a house of cards and they should have seen it coming. Both Bush and McCain did and tried to impose regulation, but it was defeated by the Democrats who were protecting their "baby."
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