If prices go down 10%, but your wages go down 20%, are you better off? [/quote]
Where did you get the 10% and 20% number from? Did you just make that up? What if prices went down 10% but your wages stay the same? Are you better off?
[quote=CA renter]What about all the manufacturing jobs Wal-Mart decimated when they started purchasing from overseas markets (slave labor)?
Are the retail jobs they provide better than the manufacturing jobs they displaced? What about the small retail shops that were shut down after Wal-Mart moved in? Did the sole proprietors make less or more before Wal-Mart came to town?[/quote]
Same can be said about almost anything you buy these days, including, Macy’s, Sears, Banana Republic, Gap, etc. They are all manufactured outside of America.
[quote=CA renter]Which would you rather have:
– good-paying jobs with benefits, while paying slightly higher costs for higher-quality goods?
OR
– low-wage jobs with no benefits and slightly lower costs for lower-quality goods.
[/quote]
For one, those are not the only two option. But seeing how people respond with their wallet, they rather have the 2nd option.
[quote=CA renter]BTW, the corporate “benefits” burden is shifted onto the taxpayers in emergency medicine, food stamps, and “free” meals at school for the kids, since their parents can’t afford food. Poor people — who are treated like commodities — tend to commit more crimes, so we likely have higher law enforcement costs, too. Can’t wait to see the plush retirement portfolios of all those wealthy W-M workers when they retire. For sure, taxpayers won’t have to pick up any of Wal-Mart’s slack there, no sireee.[/quote]
Do you have any proof in this? Not all low paying jobs are at Walmart. What do those minimum wage worker at other places supposed to do with their low wage?
[quote=CA renter]I’d rather focus on the demand side than the supply side. If the demand (J6, the customer) is healthy, the rest will take care of itself.
Wal-Mart has HUGE margins, because they beat-up their suppliers and still keep prices high on the retail side, relatively speaking. With the exception of offering convenience (and they do this well), they are NOT doing us any favors.[/quote]
What is consider healthy demand? Low or high? The only way you can control demand is through price. So when you jack up the price to limit demand, who’s reaping the benefit? I highly doubt it’s the J6p with their minimum wage. I love it when people cheer for high price to limit demand. I guess you should cheer for high housing price as well, because it definitely limit demand.
