Exactly my sentiments. If they were forced to change their name to China-Mart, maybe some of the patrons mentioned in the earlier post would catch on.

http://www.dhadm.com/mediaHolder.php?id=1270

So sad to learn that the Borden's milk, Evangeline Maid bread, steaks, Breyer's ice cream, Tylenal cold medicine, Hershy's chocolate bars, Dr. Pepper, and other formerly USA made products I bought last night at Walmart are now being produced by some peasant girl in China under the same brand name. Guess I should start driving the extra 15-20 mile round trip to town and back, hit 3-4 different stores to buy the exact same brand name things I need sold there that's sold at Walmart 8 blocks from my house. I see the error of my ways. Are German, Japanese, Korean, etc. etc. products okay to buy? Actually, Walmart purchases are just a small percentage of my overall purchases. If only the other stores and companies I buy from could build stores inbetween my house and Walmart. I could stop and shop there first instead of having to drive the 5 minutes getting to Walmart... I'd gradually wean myself from Walmart shopping altogether.. it's rough living in a small town where your choices are so limited. my community is 2 miles long, 1/2 mile wide at most, surrounded by swamp and canefields. closest mall is 45 miles away. Time to drain the swamps, flatten the canefields and build some quailty stores around here. who needs wildlife, wetlands and sugar when we could be spending more for the same stuff at better stores without having to be exposed to the low class, ignorant Walmart shoppers buying all those Chinese made things they need and desire so dearly. maybe I should put on my Korean made shoes, turn off my TV made in Taiwan, slip on my pants and shirt sewn by that Chinese peasant girl, finish my coffee made from beans grown in Columbia, crank up my German made car and go demand Walmart only sell American made products. nahhh, it's raining.. and no telling what country that rain cloud blew in from over the Gulf is from. might be foreign water falling on my head. maybe I'm not as smart as most.. I just buy what I need at the closest place I can get to if the prices are right. even if it's Walmart.

Ah yes, convenience and cost, good reasons for selling out your country and fellow countrymen.

OK, that's a bit over-the-top, but is the natural progression of your argument.

Go to your closet, look at ALL the lables on your clothing, towels, shoes, etc. Then come back and see if you can make the same comment with a clear conscience.

I can absolutely make that statement with a clear conscience. The issue is not whether or not everything one owns is made in the USA (many items simply are no longer made here), but whether cheapest price/convenience is the only measure by which one judges a purchase.

Example, I keep services I utilize for my business on shore, when they could easily be farmed off shore for less expense.

As for Wal-Mart, I don't go there unless it is the only place that carries an item (hardly ever happens). Never go to Starbucks, only local coffee shops, etc. (I'd love to buy an american car, maybe even a Z06 :p)

Look at the way the europeans really try to buy from their countrymen/national brands - is that so hard/bad?

Walmart is successful because of one reason, they are good at what they do. Better than all others.
They supply goods that people want for a lower price than their competition. If the consumer didn't like it they wouldn't shop there.

Customers want to buy things but don't want to pay high prices. They go to walmart and pay a fraction of the mark up that a local small shop tries to charge. That is called competition and it is healthy.

There is no anti-trust. If another company wants to try and compete, they can. If target or K-mart were run as well as walmart is they would be doing just as well. Unfortunately for them they are not run as well.

This BS about how it's unfair for a giant company to drive out the mom and pop shops is not new. Well over 100 years ago the same argument was going around, but the target was Sears and Roebuck. Their mail order catalog did more to put the small shops out of business than walmart has. Sears provided goods at a lower cost and the consumers ate it up.
Eventually other companies studied it and got into the same game. Some of them did better and took the market away from sears.

If another company can out-do walmart they will take over. The consumers benefit from that competition. It can also be referred to as progress.

They sell products made overseas because they are cheaper. If the US had people (who are here legally) that were willing to work hard instead of hiding behind a corrupt union that might be different. as long as we have unskilled, uneducated workers who think they should make $30 an hour with full benefits to perform menial manufacturing tasks that will not change.

selling out my country and countrymen for buying at Walmart? I know half the people working there at the local store.. Some wouldn't have jobs if not for Walmart hiring them at their age. I feel I am supporting my community and neighbors for shopping at a local store that helps them make a living. The same as I do when I shop at family owned stores in the area.

Fellas...

Not to beat a dead horse, but ask yourself why so many companies now have their products manufactured overseas....Could it possibly be that places like Wal-Mart have driven such extreme demands that no one here in the US can possibly compete and produce a quality product? Is this good for the country? What if YOUR job suddenly evaporated and was sent overseas? As for the people employed at Wally's....Who would be manning the other stores if WalMart didn't exist? Might some of them still be manufacturing things rather than stocking shelves and taking inventory?

I believe in international trade, but I believe that it requires a level playing field. If some country can indeed produce an outstanding product at a good price, more power to them. But I have found that the small appliance you purchase at Wal-Mart under a brand name has different properties than one bought at a more specialized store. Kitchenaid mixers, for example, may look alike but check out the wattage of the motors and the internal plastic rather than metal gears. Sometimes the lower price is simply an illusion and quality suffers. A long time ago I learned that it is not how much you pay for something, it is how often you wind up paying for it. There is no free lunch.

too late. the economy has shifted, and my guess is we will slowly lose our predominance as an economic power. At some point the cheap money will evaporate and our consumer product purchasing-driven economy will stall. The US is now a service economy, not manufacturing. The only "quality" jobs on the horizon are in areas of technology innovation and those are slowy going away due to lazy students and clueless parents. The Chinese already own much of our debt, and they will clean our clocks in a generation or two. Their kids work hard at school. Their parents value education. Not so in the US.

The game is over guys. Enjoy your cheap Walmart prices while you can. I'll keep learning mandarin and work on education projects over in China. Because they actually want to learn...

I like Bok Choy!

Todd, how do you say - "more beer please" and "where is the bathroom" in Mandarin? Fortunately their menus have pretty pictures so you can just point to order.

Sammy,
I don't feel that WM and Starsucks aren't doing anything against the pure princples of capitalism. They couldn't do it unless people were lazy and long term clueless. Some places SB is actually putting two stores on the same intersection, because people are too lazy to walk across the street.

What most don't seem to realize, is that China is huge, they are just beginning to be truly industrialized, and they own the financing for the debt of the dollar. If (really when) that gets called, your saving of $5 on a China built doll today (vs a US built one) will result in that retirement fund of $1mill being able to buy a nice 2wk vacation, rather than supporting you through the 20yrs of retirement.

There is no doubt that free trade isn't really (eg the suppressed value of the yuan vs dollar), but our politicians haven't figured out how to either truly get free trade or protect the industries in this country effectively (and get out of the so-called free trade groups).

And while I am no friend of unions, they aren't all bad either. How many of us are willing to work for $10/hr?

Todd -all that just because you like Asian chicks(not that there's anything wrong with that).

Our economy is very elastic and will bounce around to a different center. All the govt has to do is put tariffs on imported goods to shift manufacturing back to the US. We get a good nationalist leader to run the country and it will come back.

Wo yao pi jiu. (I want beer)

Ce suo zai na er? (Where is the toilet?)

Ni hen piao liang. (You're very pretty)

Ni shi di yi ci ma? (Is this your first time?)

Wo bu neng mei you ni (I can't live without you)

Wo zhong biao le (I've got a sexual disease).

that should get you started...

That depends on the alternative doesn't it?

China has a $280 Billion trade *surplus* this year.

They are not without their own problems (like figuring out how to education 370M K-12 students), but money talks...

Raise wages. That ought to halt the outsourcing. :rolleyes:

This is certainly a complicated dillemma.

"They sell products made overseas because they are cheaper."

Yes. Products made overseas are cheaper. That's why we prefer to pay less than locally manufactured products. That's the result of globalization and free market policies. However, Walmart doesn't simply purchase goods at a price determined by the vendor. Walmart, like Sears, Home Depot, Costco, etc., uses their purchasing power to set their price. If the vendor wants the business, they accept it. Companies this large do the same thing, but many have policies against knowingly using predatory purchasing practices. At least with Sears, many of the vendors they squeezed were US suppliers - less so today.

However, it has been documented that Walmart pits vendors in various 3rd world countries vying for the low-bid contract. Sears might do this too, but it's not as aggregious. Walmart's business practices affect the most because of their size. Their pricing policies ultimately puts the squeeze on the low-rung work force who must work despite the low pay and working conditions provided. Without oversight, many of these vendors aren't the most benevolent of employers. The term, "sweat shop" is valid.

We progressed and benefited as a society when we outlawed forced child labor earlier in the last century. Do you feel comfortable in your $5 polo shirt knowing 8 year old kids and workers in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India or Thailand made them for a few cents a day while enduring long working hours? If so, that's up to each individual and their conscience to decide, especially if $5 for a shirt isn't their only option. For some, it is and I have no complaint for those in that situation. I doubt it is for most here in this forum.

We're all guilty in one way or another (wide screen TVs, computers, tools, clothing, etc.), but if we're aware of the source and how they're produced some people might think twice.

more on Walmart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart

MHO,
Sherwood

I love the "Why argue with more efficient productivity" when it comes to WalMart. Does anybody in their right mind believe for a second that this was Sam Walton's idea when he started his company? Greed and siblings is a large part of it. Yes there as efficient as hell. They found a way to expose a trade agreement favoring China, skirt employment issues by totally bypassing them and going to China, no longer have to worry about any environmental impact of manufacturing (non-existent in China). Just because it employees a few people and has some great specials is enough to forget about all this for some.

Obviously, one can't live in this country (and for instance, feed 2 kids) on a single minimum wage job. Is it your contention that simply because US workers are trying to maximize their own income (by unionizing) we should tell them to take a hike we'd rather buy from overseas?:rolleyes:

Let me guess, you're all for illegal immigrants too, we need cheap labor to pick the fruit?

And I feel to same way about you......