Offtopic: @btiffin, you're making the mistake of thinking trickle-down economics actually works. There are many arguments to each side about the walmart phenomenon. One side insists because we pay less, there is less overall benefit, and that walmart ruins jobs, etc. The other side insists that because people pay less at walmart, the lower and lower-middle classes are affected more strongly than by any trickle-down effect. By saving more money, those people can spend that extra money where they need to elsewhere after buying the essentials(that's presuming they are smart with their money). The problem is: both sides are right.
Walmart can and does eliminate small businesses; but the catch is that the small businesses that die could not compete and would usually have closed down anyways. These are usually mom and pop stores that hire maybe 1, 2, 3 employees or their family, and have pretty high prices. I have no statistics on the number of small stores that close down, but its easy to see that Walmart likely creates more jobs than were lost.
Walmart can and does inflict pressure on companies; this is solely to improve Walmart's bottom line, because if their suppliers run things more efficiently and cheaper, the savings can be passed on to the consumer. Dealing with Walmart forces a company to modernize and grow up. In this day and age, expecting a company to have effective shipping and logistics should be the norm, not the exception. Some companies cannot handle this, so they die. Other companies deal with walmart via products, and find that they need walmart, but they can't say No to walmart. They either lose money with walmart or lose money without walmart. Again, this is not a bad thing. While sad, while seemingly cruel, it is just business. It is capitalism, and if you can't keep up, so long and thanks for all the fish.
Walmart pays competitive wages and benefits; instead of trying to gouge their employee's pay for as much as they can, Walmart pays just above the average wage for the local area. For example, here in Kelowna, Walmart pays about $12/hour starting wage. They don't have to, but they do anyways.
The problem is that people don't see capitalism for what it is, and instead apply their PC, soft little bunny ideals to it. Competition is good. Failed competition, while sad, indicates they could not keep up. Capitalism is tough. Many companies do it wrong today, but Walmart does it right. They know where they should spend their money, and where they should make things more cost-effective. They run with lower energy costs overall than any other big box store. They used their position to create market pressure FOR environmentally healthy packaging and products, like fluorescent lights.
Overall, Walmart does more good than bad, because they know that it creates a more profitable environment. But, Walmart is neither good nor bad. They can't be judged that way. |
