Class warfare summed up in a simple joke (with an accompanying cartoon)

If nobody is willing to buy things at the price it costs to produce them in America, then you aren't going to see a magic price drop. You are going to get nothing being produced at all.

 

If Wisconsin focused on getting Amazon to collect sales tax on their behalf it would more than offset loss in property tax concessions to Walmart.

Today Amazon is a bigger villain to the middle class way of life than Walmart could ever dream of.

If I were an author I would not allow my books to be sold through Amazon on principle.

 

Herein lies the problem. Too much greed.

If I had money to invest, I'd rather make 2/3 of the profits that I'd receive if I invested in a company and have that company's workers make a decent living than sell my soul for a few extra points in the stock price. But that's just me.

Using the newspaper industry as an example. Right now, the stock price is in the toliet for most companies. A good part of that was inevitable with the rise of the Internet. To use your example, more competition came in to challenge newspapers, both in content and in advertising.

Yet, rather than plow some of their profits into finding online ventures in oh, 2001, or so, they chose to pocket their 27 percent profit margins. And they did so, year after year. Rewarding their investors, who kept demanding more and more. So they kept expanding, buying up other newspapers and chains, which was making the stock price of the company grow. That is, until 2005/2006. Then, it all came down, and now the investors are fleeing because their company's stock, which was once $90 a share, crashed down to $3/share.

Instead of telling investors in 2001, "We're making all this money now! The hell with the future!", they needed to tell them, "You're going to be making some money now, but we need to make this company viable in the long term. So, while your profits may not be as huge right now, you'll be thanking us later when we have a stronger company down the road."

Nope. Didn't happen. And only now, newspaper companies are scrambling, throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks.

And if people are so greedy that they'll cut and run the first sign of trouble, well, that's on them. They're laughing all the way to the bank, which needed a government bailout in order to stay in business.

 

As to the suggestion that people don't have the time to educate themselves about making conscious consumer decisions, I would disagree. People have plenty of time to watch "American Idol," "The Real Housewives of SOMEPLACE," "Teen Mom," and other crap reality TV. They have plenty of time to do lots of things. They choose not to spend that time educating themselves about what is happening in their country.

 

Just to clarify, the sweatshop exploitation of imported workers has been a problem in the CNMI, of which Saipan is part. It is not a problem on Guam.


Hafa

 

It's certainly not a world where capitalism would succeed for long.

Walmart business model has proven to be a successful one that sustains them through good and bad economic climates.
Low margins and high employee expenses would be a recipe for disaster in a poor economy.

As example see the grocer A&P where 95 % of it's work force is unionized. It filed for Chapter 11 in December.

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2010/12/13/the-cost-of-unions-the-great-atlantic-pacific-tea-company-files-for-bankruptcy/

Walmart business model has allowed them to thrive even against new competitors such as Amazon. If you look at revenue per employee as a gauge of productivity Amazon generates a staggering $1 mill per employee while Walmart generates under $200,000 per.

One way to look at Walmart is that while they don't pay high incomes they pay a lot of them. In a day and age where jobs are at a premium that counts for a lot.

 

You're really going to blame escapist television on people's decision not to research many of the companies they purchase from? This comes across as so self-righteous. I'm not saying you are. But that's how this and many of your posts on this thread have read to me.

 

MITN, you have every right to spend every possible minute compiling an increasingly larger list of things that bother you. But there doesn't seem to be much joy in sucking the life out of living.

 

Just a point about your A&P example. Yes, their costs are higher due to a unionized workforce. Which is my point. The workers in other grocery stores ought to unionize, too. But they don't, due to fear of losing their jobs. Hence, those stores can charge less, and they get more money.

Which has been my point on a lot of these threads. Prices would go up. But so would the wages, and the jobs would be in the U.S., rather than overseas.