LOL!
PBS and Frontline are not good references on any subject as far as I'm concerned. They have a very strong bias and it shows. Given the titles on your links I don't think they will be unbiased as well.
The fact is that we are in a global economy. Jobs are going to go to cheap labor. That is not Walmarts fault. Walmart for years at least tried to buy products made in this country.
Forcing suppliers to sell cheaper has been going on forever. The big auto companies do it. My company holds down labor rates, meaning what they pay me as well as my benefits. My benefits have been cut every year since I joined the company. I don't like it but our Customers are not clammering at the door demanding to pay MORE for products. They want it cheaper. They want more for what they pay. One way to make it cheaper is to pay people less, i.e., lower expenses.
Kinda sounds like everyone else.
Beating up Walmart is a political tirade now a days for some reason. Sears sells Chinese stuff. Do we beat up Sears? Do you own a computer? What country produced the parts? I doubt many parts have made in the USA stamped on it. How about TVs, DVDs, MP3 players, iPods, cell phones, phones, ect.
Do we dump on Circuit City because they buy their products overseas? Hmmmm. No. How many mom and pop TV stores are out there? Why?
Last year I needed a new jacket. My old one from LL Bean was getting to rag state, it was a good 15 years old. It cost about $200. I looked and looked and looked but could not find what I wanted but I did notice that jacket prices had really dropped. If I could find what I wanted it was not going to cost more than $100-150. Eventually I found what I wanted in a real honest to goodness gun store. For $75. Made in China of course.
My wife lost her job in the tech business years ago when her position went to India. She is now a real estate broker. I see systems getting transfered to India. I have people from India having skill transfers on systems right behind me. If *** I *** don't stay competitive my job will go overseas. It might anyway.
The global economy has been here for years. Its not going away. But something must be working since I see more new buildings. Dozens and dozens of new developments full of HUGE houses going up that I don't think I could afford. There are large number of people in my area making lots of money doing something. And its not work in 'bacco or textiles.
NC used to be a big textile state with mills and the company towns all over the place. People complain about Walmart. If you want to see people treated poorly go study up on what it was like to be live in a Company Town. Given that I see much better houses in the old mill towns compared to what the workers used to live in me thinks the workers are better off. The river I cross twice a day used to be one of the most polluted in NC due to the mills. Its not any more since the mills have all but shut down. The mills are being bought up and used as apartments, offices and stores. I buy groceries at a store in an old mill. The city of Durham had a huge base of jobs, income, and taxes in the tobacco business. That has moved off shore has well. But the areas that had the wharehouses and factories are booming as the have been converted over to very nice malls, resturants, condos, and apartments. A large section of town that was seedy at best is now very high end and providing far more tax money to the city.
To get back to the subject of this thread, in my town for years there where two hardware stores. Then for some reason a third opened. Given the areas growth and the road building it was pretty obvious and, after a while, well known that a Lowes was going to build. Those hardware stores where going to get hit. The store I went to saw the writing on the wall. The store was small to begin with and really did not have many products. There major business was fuel supply but the Fire Marshal was going to require upgrades they could not or would not make so they had to shut down the operation. The wife opened a flower shop else where in town and is doing very well. I drove by the hardware store this week and its gone. We knew they where up to something since the husband has been in the real estate office. Their land and building are worth alot of money. They just have to figure out what the husband will now do.
Its unfortunate but Lowes certainly provides a HUGE selection compared to what the local stores have in stock. No comparison. The reason Lowes/HD/Walmart/Target/etc exist is that smaller stores don't have the selection and usually the lower prices a large store/company can provide. If it was otherwise Lowes/HD/Walmart/Target/etc would not be here. My wife's family used to be part owners in one of the largest department stores in eastern NC. That store no longer exists. Other stores came into the area and drove them out of business. It was likely a Mall and/or a KMart.
Later,
Dan
box stores, even smaller places like Ace Hardware carry the same electrical supplies.
