One month after his telecom piece attacking Bush appeared in Businessweek, Mr. Hindrey goes after Wal-Mart:
When H. Ross Perot ran for President back in 1992, he coined a memorable political phrase. The passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, he said, would create "a giant sucking sound" -- the sound of jobs escaping out of the U.S. and into Mexico.Sigh.Today, if you listen carefully, you can hear a second giant sucking sound: Wal-Mart sopping up the vitality from middle-class American families, local communities, and the national economy.
Who is this guy? A Nascar Democrat (read it to the end) and, after Gephardt, a Kerry supporter! On the face of it, a former telecom executive. Dkosopedia notes an extensive financial involvement with Democratic politics, and Powerline noted that Mr. Hindrey is a big-time Democratic activist/fundraiser, forcing BW to include this information in his bio.
But I don't care about his politics or his finances. I care about his ideas -- their originality and the evidence supporting them. So what about it?
First of all, Mr. Hindrey's not saying anything new. These are all talking points, and I cannot see why BW needed to reprint the same unproven accusations that have been in its pages before.
Second, as far as I can tell, nobody has ever bothered to even list the towns "clobbered" or "destroyed" by Wal-Mart, let alone try to separate the impact of Wal-Mart's arrival from the large stores that came before it, while adjusting for cyclical business conditions and changes in tax policies.
Given that nobody has studied the issues in a detailed, sophisticated, not to say even mildly comprehensive manner, why whould I take seriously Mr. Hindrey's bombast?
The criticism goes on and on and on without people actually figuring out Wal-Mart's impact...
Posted by Kevin on October, 7 2005 at 05:16 PM
fred wrote:It's worse than that. Costco is run by another staunch Democratic tycoon, Jim Sinegal, who is a close friend of Hindery's. They're both Seattle U. grads -- Hindery gave $1 million to the college when his pal was chairman of trustees -- and they were both part of Business Leaders for Bush.
What you have here is BusinessWeek doing a bad-ethics double whammy:
First it turns its pages over to a political partisan masquerading as a columnist -- and he uses that opportunity to beat up on one of his buddy's commercial rivals.
You can't expect much from Hindery, but for Business Week to be a party to this scam is a journalistic disgrace.
If you think it stinks, tell BusinessWeek's editor Stever Adler
Steve_Adler@businessweek.com
-- October 7, 2005 07:10 PM ∞
Harriet Miers wrote:Oh no, Hindery was a KERRY SUPPORTER? I can't believe that BusinessWeek would print a column from a KERRY SUPPORTER. 59 million people voted for Kerry in 2004 and, as far as I'm concerned, none of them should be allowed to write about Wal-Mart. EVER!
-- October 8, 2005 03:27 PM ∞
fred wrote:Harriet, you ignornt slut!
The issue isn't Hindery voted for Kerry. It's the ethics of a magazine giving a guy a column so he can dump all over the commercial rival of a buddy -- and not announcing that interest to readers.
The fact that he was one of 59,000,000 who voted for John "Christmas in Cambodia" Kerry is neither relevant nor a defense -- though his political sympathies do make his habit of deception by ommission less of a surprise.
-- October 8, 2005 05:12 PM ∞
brandon weber wrote:>though his political sympathies do make his habit of deception by ommission less of a surprise.
And we all know that Wal-Mart NEVER commits that offense!
Nor the Republi-fascists...
-- October 8, 2005 11:35 PM ∞
Walton "Philanthropy" wrote:Does the Walton family fund this website? Is this another one of their so-called charities?
-- October 9, 2005 11:12 PM ∞
Kevin Brancato wrote:WP-
Did you even bother to read the disclaimer on the front-page? Ass-hat.
-- October 10, 2005 07:24 AM ∞
A guy wrote:>though his political sympathies do make his habit of deception by ommission less of a surprise.>though his political sympathies do make his habit of deception by ommission less of a surprise.
Haha...coming from someone who obviously supports Bush, bashing on a Kerry supporter for that is hilarious.
-- October 10, 2005 03:06 PM ∞
Idiot Patrol wrote:Let's look at a couple of definitions of fascism, Brandon, since you've made it clear that dictionaries are a foreign concept to you (and we all know about your distaste for foreign things):
1) A philosophy or system of government that is marked by stringent social and economic control, a strong, centralized government... and often a policy of belligerent nationalism.
2) A social and political ideology with the primary guiding principle that the state or nation is the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms.
Hmm... Sounds eerily familiar.
-- October 13, 2005 03:35 AM ∞
Brandon Weber wrote:> Hmm... Sounds eerily familiar.
Indeed it does.
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
In "Fascism Anyone?," Laurence Britt identifies 14 characteristics common to fascist regimes. His comparisons of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet yielded this list of 14 "identifying characteristics of fascism."
A few highlights:
1.) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2.) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
3.) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
4.) Supremacy of the Military
5.) Rampant Sexism
6.) Controlled Mass MediaChrist, we're only in the first 6, and it fits the U.S. to a tee!
Oh, and gain some testicles and post with a non-anonymous ID, wouldya?
-- October 13, 2005 11:26 PM ∞
Brandon Weber wrote:Oh, what the heck, I'll post the other 8 harbingers of fascism:
7.) Obsession with National Security
8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined
9.) Corporate Power is Protected
10.) Labor Power is Suppressed
(note this one...Wal-Mart is quite
in line with that!)
11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment
13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14.) Fraudulent ElectionsHoy! If that isn't modern day United States, I don't know what is!!
Fascism indeed...
-- October 13, 2005 11:32 PM ∞
