March 14, 2005

Blog Roundup (Updated)

Here are a few recent posts from around the blogosphere.

Blog Retrofuturistic supports WM but finds that it can support private vices just as much as the public good


I, on the other hand, love the idea that by shopping at Wal-Mart, I can now afford to buy box cereals again. I pay $2.89 for cereals that would be well over four bucks at the Albertson's. And look at the beef prices! And those little tubs of flavored Philadelphia brand cream cheese! And Breyer's ice cream, which I wish was a little more expensive so I could more easily avoid letting it into my shopping cart.

Say, maybe MoveOn is right. Maybe those Wal-Mart bargains aren't such a good thing after all.


The Box Tank discusses the forces arrayed for and against Wal-Mart in Staten Island

Wal-Mart finds a good chance of finding support in Staten Island as it is the most suburban of New York's five boroughs. The retailer already has the support of the head of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and Borough President James Molinaro, and Councilman Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore),


On Provincial Paradigm, Doris Myers claims to have personally witnessed the destruction of her own community at the hands of WM

The reasons I hate Walmart are many. To begin with... they SUCK the life out of every community they infest. I watched it happen in my own community. They literally destroyed the entire nature of this community. They pay disgustingly low wages.... they even have the nerve to hand out applications for food-stamps and medicaid when you get a job with them. So, not only do they drive small businesses into oblivion... they have the gall to expect our County to subsidize them with money for food and medical care for their employees. I USED to occasionally shop at Walmart.... so I WITNESSED the oppression their employees are forced to toil under. They are treated like second class citizens. I find their policies to be reprehensible. The expectation that this company has, to collect biological material and to treat their employees like criminals from the start, is so distatsteful to me, that myself and my family (I would NEVER allow my kids to submit to such demeaning treatment under ANY circumstances.... let alone for the 'privilege' of working for a dictatorial company that pays SLAVE wages) would live in a tent and STARVE before any of us would work for them. They built their 'empire' on the PROMISE that EVERYTHING in their store is MADE IN AMERICA.... that is the only reason I ever began to shop there.... obviously they have violated that promise and in doing so, they have betrayed every customer that fell for their lies. They build factories in PRISONS and use slave labor in their manufacturing in China.
There's lots more! [Update: Why would I link to this? Because I think it is an almost cogent example of the nonsense that WM must battle. I must say that Doris presents no real evidence or argument at all. WM is evil, and must be stopped. Death is preferable to WM! QED. Please?! She even fails to tell us the town that WM allegedly destroyed.]

Coffee House Studio links to Ruth Coniff of The Progressive who writes about WM, but more importantly thinks that Marshalls and TJ Maxx profit off of putting small businesses out to pasture!

Places like TJ Maxx and Marshall's profit from the liquidation of smaller retailers that pay higher rents and charge higher prices because of their downtown location and small size. It's a perfect business plan: Undercut these little shops, then sell their remaining inventory when they go belly up. More and more of us, even if we like our local mom and pop businesses, drive out to the edge of town, vulture-like, to pick over their remains and snap up the "great deals."
Uh, that's not where those companies get their merchandise...


Get the Word Out seems to have forgotten that Wal-Mart actually managed to open a store in Chicago:

QUEENS, N.Y. (PAI)--First it was Los Angeles, then it was Chicago. And now it's the borough of Queens in New York City.

The nation's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, has been forcibly thrown out of the nation's three largest cities due to its low wages, bad benefits and anti-worker policies.

The Chicagoist noted the groundbreaking in February:
After a ton of debate the City Council approved the building of Chicago's first Wal-Mart on the city's West Side. A huge crowd showed up yesterday for the groundbreaking ceremony which included a high school band and a ribbon cutting. But the protestors also showed up.

Posted by Kevin on March, 14 2005 at 09:52 AM