Text 22683, 74 rader
Skriven 2006-09-25 06:30:26 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 22680 av MIMI GALLANDT (1:275/311)
Ärende: Pat Buchanan
====================
MIMI GALLANDT -> ED HULETT wrote:
 MG> Ed Hulett wrote:

 EH>> On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 08:36:00 -0400
 EH>> "VERN HUMPHREY -> ED HULETT" <1:123/140> wrote:

 VH>>>>> That's their stock in trade.  I had a discussion with a woman
 VH>>>>> who says people "waste their money at Wal Mart."  She got
 VH>>>>> really huffy when I asked, "What makes YOU so much smarter
 VH>>>>> than everyone else?"

 EH>>>> Heh heh... a friend of mine is a very vocal opponent to
 EH>>>> Wal-Mart but still shops there because he wants to save money.

 EH>>>> I asked him, after one of his rants about Wal-Mart, why I
 EH>>>> should listen to his rant if he still shops there. He didn't
 EH>>>> have an answer.

 VH>>> Right.  I had one tell me "Wal Mart engages in price fixing."
 VH>>> When I said, "With whom?" he had no answer at all. :-)

 EH>> The above friend has made the claim that Wal Mart put Rubbermaid out
 EH>> of business. I asked him why I see Rubbermaid products still for sale
 EH>> at Wal Mart and he had no answer.

 EH>> His claim was that Wal Mart went with some Taiwan company instead for
 EH>> their plastic storage devices. I did a little Google search and among
 EH>> the vicious anti-Wal Mart rhetoric I found the truth. Wal Mart went
 EH>> with a Boston based company called Sani-Seal or some such. No Taiwan
 EH>> based company.

 MG> I've never quite understood the animosity against Wal Mart, yes I've
 MG> heard "they put mom & pop stores out of business" line, but I doubt they
 MG> did that more than Sears and Penneys did. Here in San Diego there used
 MG> to be two big local department stores. One was gone before I was born
 MG> called Marstons, George Marston, the founder of Marstons, was a big
 MG> philanthropist here, the other, Walker Scott's, had several stores
 MG> around the county. If I'm remembering correctly that Tim lives in SD
 MG> county he may remember Walker Scott's. Marston's closed before WWII (it
 MG> could possibly be argued that WS's ran them out of business), but WS
 MG> hung on until the last one closed in the 80s or 90s. It wasn't WalMart
 MG> that did them in, more likely it was Sears and Penneys. Most people
 MG> (except teen age girls) prefer to do their shopping in one place. Malls,
 MG> Wal Mart, Target and KMart do that for their customers. We've had KMart
 MG> in SD county since the 50s, Target since the 70s or 80s and Wal Mart
 MG> since the 90s. There were very, very few mom & pop stores by the 90s.
 MG> Another thing I like about Wal Mart is that they hire the handicapped.

I remember Walker Scott.  There was one in North Park about a block east of
30th & University if I remember correctly.  That was back in the early 70's.


Don't believe any of the crap you hear about Wal-Mart.  There is tons of
documented evidence that shows that the economy improves in nearly every area
they open a store in.  Chicago recently tried to slap a tax on them to prevent
them from building inside the Chicago city limits.  Wal-Mart built several
stores - a block outside the city limits in the burbs. At one of them, they
were getting well over 200,000 shoppers a week, mostly minority black and
hispanic, who crossed the city limits from Chicago to shop at Wal-Mart.  Not
only is Wal-Mart making money, but all those suburban towns get the tax revenue
and the boost to their economy, and Chicago gets squat.

I've talked to the manager of our Wal-Mart (we're getting a new super Wal-Mart
next year), and he told me that each customer represents about $250,000 in
revenue to his bottom line, and that even the current small store provides over
200 jobs that pay above the average wage for our area.  The new store will add
at least another 150 jobs.  In addition, a couple of new stores have announced
they will be building right next to the new Wal-Mart to take advantage of the
traffic it generates, which means even more jobs and revenue for the city. 
They are going to make a big difference in this area, giving us an economic
boost that is long overdue.

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