Why do liberals have such a hatred for WalMart?

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by skipdup
they're thugs & crooks.

proven fact...again and again and again

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by dhoward
and the problem with that is they end up pushing the higher-end and specialty stores out. Same way with Lowes and Home Depot. You WILL use their product selections or shop forever looking for what you really want. Chinese tools, warped lumber, crap. Try to find anyone who knows anything other than possibly what isle something is in. I can find anything I want on the internet, cheaper too, it just takes a week to get it.
I really miss real hardware stores....

Now this is a surprise! I would think the local hardware store would be a real survivor in the Midwest. I now feel very fortunate to have several in the local area. I can walk 10 minutes in either direction and buy 8.8 metric hardware for my cars, quality lumber, paint, anything including high quality specialy tools you'd never find at Home Despot.

Living in a blue state just gets better and better!

[vash]

me, i could give a crap about walmart. it has nothing to do with me being liberal or whatever. i like the underdog. always, rooting for the little guy. nothing can make me kill time like browsing in a small neighborhood hardware store, book store, or music store. i love how the old school towns had a central downtown area, which encourages public transportation. i love when the owner of a store knows the product, believes in the product and maybe even USED the product. Walmart is just about moving product, and the basic savings of buying in bulk is killing mom and pops. it is ironic, people owning their own business's has got to be better for the economy than a bunch of folks working minimum wage at business juggernauts.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
Pelicans live anywhere. Has any Pelican seen a community (as a whole) be destroyed or decline because of a Walmart? That would be interesting to hear about.

Obviously creates more off-shoot businesses...Come on, you have a car lot of 500+ cars, more traffic in the area, more tax dollars for roads, more service industries that service Walmart, more jobs...It is a simple LIE by the leftists to say otherwise.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
no aways, I am absolutely right...there is no question about it...

you need to work the math out on this one. Saying you are right and proving you are right with an example are 2 different things.

and the reason our cars are crap has little to do with union. Germany is HIGHLY unionized, so your argument falls flat there. U.S. cars are crap because American Bus. Management has no vision, no soul and is more of a slave to his stock quote than his buyer.

That's why U.S. cars are crap.

[IROC]

Originally posted by vash
nothing can make me kill time like browsing in a small neighborhood hardware store, book store, or music store. i love how the old school towns had a central downtown area, which encourages public transportation.

Especially when that friendly local book or music store doesn't censor the books/music like Walmart does...

Mike

[Superman]

No doubt some union representatives do a poor job of representing their membership. No doubt job protections have been abused. I understand hatred of unions, where the hater has access to just certain selected information/innuendo about union misbehavior. In my industry (construction) workers serve at the pleasure of management. They have no job security. Their season is about 8 months long. Their careers are maybe twenty (before their bodies give up). And yeah, there are better workers and there are not-so-good workers. But for the most part, a good construction company will actually WANT to deal with the labor unions. For a variety of reasons. The best contractors on our projects wouldn't dream of operating their businesses without that relationship, and the services provided by union representatives. No to mention the very much higher level of experience and training that union construction workers have compared to their non-union counterparts. I'm frankly proud of our union construction workforce here. And so are the very efficient companies that rely on them to build our buildings and roads. They work their asses off.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by vash
me, i could give a crap about walmart. it has nothing to do with me being liberal or whatever. i like the underdog. always, rooting for the little guy. nothing can make me kill time like browsing in a small neighborhood hardware store, book store, or music store. i love how the old school towns had a central downtown area, which encourages public transportation. i love when the owner of a store knows the product, believes in the product and maybe even USED the product. Walmart is just about moving product, and the basic savings of buying in bulk is killing mom and pops. it is ironic, people owning their own business's has got to be better for the economy than a bunch of folks working minimum wage at business juggernauts.

This is the irony of the neocon platform. They run on a ticket of "small business makes this country strong" and then supports big business which puts small business out of business. IMHO this squashes INNOVATION, which is one reason why this country is less competitive today. Cisco Systems doesn't really invent new tech, they just buy up small companies who have done the R&D, created new stuff. Then they just sit on it until their current inventory is down, then release some small version of the stuff they bought while someone else has already leapfrogged the original and the cycle continues.

I will say, nothing is better than running your own small business. OK, DEs are better, but they don't last as long and the rewards are fleeting.

[Superman]

Wal-Mart takes its profits out of the community. And that's the direction of American commerce. Wealth is being concentrated away from the ordinary citizenry. It's going to be a problem.

[Rodeo]

I'm no fan of unions either. There was a time when they were absolutely essential to America becoming the social and economic powerhouse it is today. If you are middle class, your station in life can probably be traced, directly or indirectly, to a labor union.

Their success made them bloated and corrupt. Maybe irrelevant. But they are not responsible for all the world's ills.

If you drive a Porsche, it was built by union labor.

[BGCarrera32]

Originally posted by Superman
Wealth is being concentrated away from the ordinary citizenry. It's going to be a problem.

Correct. So I decided long ago not be an ordinary citizen.

WalMart doesn't bother me much, but Home Depot drives me nuts. They started replacing the cashiers at the Home Depot near me with talking automated check out machines. The machines are much friendlier. I also can't stand it when I find something I want and its 35' off the floor, and all the hired help acts like its a major endeavor to go get a cherry picker and get it down for you.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by Shaun 84 Targa
Now this is a surprise! I would think the local hardware store would be a real survivor in the Midwest. I now feel very fortunate to have several in the local area. I can walk 10 minutes in either direction and buy 8.8 metric hardware for my cars, quality lumber, paint, anything including high quality specialy tools you'd never find at Home Despot.

Living in a blue state just gets better and better!

You know, in retrospect, I think that part of the problem I experience is due to the fact that I usually do most things myself. It seems to me that we as a society are becoming more and more reliant on other people to do things for us. Especially when it comes to technical or skilled labor type projects. Maybe people are too caught up in taking little Johnny and Jane to 15 activities per week, that they don't have time to do for themselves anymore.
Seems a shame. Everytime I tackle a project that requires a bit of knowlege I don't possess, I feel extra good about being able to learn a new skill.
I also find that many of the Johnnies and Janes become more interested in thoes types of activities, rather than another soccer game where "everyone's a winner". At least until they become older and have leaned codependance...
No political staement here. More societal...

[RallyJon]

Wal-Mart takes its profits out of the community.

The profits from a mom and pop store went to mom (and pop). Not to the employees. Not to the "community". When I was a kid I worked for the local food market. I got paid crap--no profit sharing, no ESOP. The store owner (one reasonably well-off guy) kept all the profit. Every person in the area served by a Wal-mart with $43 to spare can own a piece of WMT.

[RallyJon]

And let's not forget the positives. If you're a retailer that sells some of the 90% of consumer products and services that Wal-mart doesn't sell, you love them. Think about the retail traffic that Wal-mart concentrates. Banks, restaurants, hair salons, repair shops, plus all the retailers that sell complementary or higher-end goods. Case in point: Hibbett Sporting Goods (small footprint branded sports footwear and apparel stores--if you're in the south you know them) loves to locate in Wal-mart centers. Once the kiddies discover how crappy Wal-mart's sporting goods department is, they drag Mom right over to buy their new Nikes.

Sorry about the record/video store. Suck at the teat of fixed markups too long, and it makes you lazy.

[skipdup]

I understand hatred of unions, where the hater has access to just certain selected information/innuendo about union misbehavior.

They're thugs & crooks. And, I do have experience with them.

It's just that some, especially socialists, can't see them for what they are.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally posted by dhoward
You know, in retrospect, I think that part of the problem I experience is due to the fact that I usually do most things myself. It seems to me that we as a society are becoming more and more reliant on other people to do things for us. Especially when it comes to technical or skilled labor type projects. Maybe people are too caught up in taking little Johnny and Jane to 15 activities per week, that they don't have time to do for themselves anymore.
Seems a shame. Everytime I tackle a project that requires a bit of knowlege I don't possess, I feel extra good about being able to learn a new skill.
I also find that many of the Johnnies and Janes become more interested in thoes types of activities, rather than another soccer game where "everyone's a winner". At least until they become older and have leaned codependance...
No political staement here. More societal...

We are a lot more alike that we'd probably care to admit. A dying breed, making stuff, doing it yourself, learning how. You want to hear something scary RE: Johnny and Janie and the future? Many of friends say that their kids who are overly-activitied are also overly organized, that is, EVERYTHING is set up for them to "build their thing" or complete their task.

what do you think happens when the kids are left alone to just play?

THEY CAN'T (sorry for yelling). Yup, I have friends who say their kids can't play independently without being given something to do and direction on how to do it.

I grew up in rural CT in the 70s. other than splitting wood, being given something to do just wasn't an option. Tonka trucks, frogs and toads and turtles outside, Lego's and books inside. I think my strongest point, and many around me, is our innovative thinking, because that's what our brains did during the developmental years.

forget China, our country is doomed because it's being raised by a nation of nannies shuttling kids off to activities where they "learn" steps and processes.

[dhoward]

THANK YOU!!

[skipdup]

Shaun- That's the most interesting post I've seen in a long time. VERY interesting!

[RallyJon]

What percentage of kids have that problem? 1%? 2%? I have no idea, but I suspect it's much more common in certain regions/classes/socioeconomic groups than others.

Probably not a big issue among the kids of Wal-mart employees.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Conservatives and Liberals alike should hate Wal-Mart. Their employees are sucking up entitlement dollars:

In July 2005 the state Department of Economic Security issued data on the largest private employers with workers receiving taxpayer-financed medical insurance through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. At the top of the list was Wal-Mart, with about 2,700 workers--or 9.6 percent of its Arizona workforce--participating in the program. It was followed by Target, Kroger and regional supermarket chain Bashas, each of which had about 5 percent of their workers getting state healthcare coverage.

Sources: Howard Fischer, "Wal-Mart 1st in State Aid Enrollees," Arizona Daily Star, July 30, 2005 and Amanda J. Crawford, "Nearly Half of Poor in AHCCCS Hold Jobs," Arizona Republic, July 30, 2005.