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Wal Mart CEO: "Shoppers Are Running Out Of Money"; There Is "No Sign Of A Recovery"
When a month ago the CEO of Wal Mart Americas told the world to "prepare for serious inflation", the Chairman laughed in his face, saying it was nothing a 15 minutes Treasury Call sell order can't fix (granted net of a few billions in commissions for JPM). 4 weeks later the Chairman is no longer laughing, having been forced to hike up his inflation expectations while trimming (not for the last time) his economic outlook. "U.S. consumers face "serious" inflation in the months ahead for
clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S.
operations warned Wednesday talking to USA Today.
And if Wal-Mart which is at the very bottom of commoditized consumer
retail, and at the very peak of avoiding reexporting of US inflation by
way of China is concerned, it may be time to panic, or at least cancel
those plane tickets to Zimbabwe, which is soon coming to us." In light of that perhaps today's words of caution from Wal Mart CEO Mike Duke will be taken a tad more seriously (yes, even with the $50 billion in "squatters rent" that the deadbeats spend on iPads instead of paying their mortgage: that money is rapidly ending). Warning is as follows: "Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a
year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried. "We're seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure," Duke said at an event in New York. "There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact." Tell that to Printocchio please.
From Money:
Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.
Lately, they're "running out of money" at a faster clip, he said.
"Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year," Duke said. "This end-of-month [purchases] cycle is growing to be a concern.
Also remember that long-running joke from the NBER short bus that the recession ended in late 2009? Turns out they were just kidding, as well as blatantly lying.
Wal-Mart which averages 140 million shoppers weekly to its stores in the United States, is considered a barometer of the health of the consumer and the economy.
To that end, Duke said he's not seeing signs of a recovery yet.
With food prices rising, Duke said Wal-Mart is charging customers more for some fresh groceries while reducing prices on other merchandise such as electronics.
Wal-Mart has struggled with seven straight quarters of sales declines in its stores.
Here's an idea: how about we let someone with actual business experience, who runs the one company employing more people than even the Federal Reserve, Mike Duke, control US monetary policy for a few months and see what happens? Surely it can't get worse than what that other insane sociopath is doing, as with each passing day we are now moving closer and closer to a hyperstaglfationary conclusion, and even the collective cheerleading crew of Cottonelle bearing monkeys, half of whom were reading "Monetary Policy for TV Reporters" (just two steps down below idiots), from yesterday's FOMC conference are finally starting to realize this.
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Human Freedom Rests on Gold Redeemable Money, By HON. HOWARD BUFFETT, U. S. Congressman from Nebraska
http://www.fame.org/pdf/buffet3.pdf
Such a great quote TPOG, thanks. Linky too.
Thank you for the breath of fresh air. Also export of wheat which Russia could not do and the lack of direct investment in equity warned about does not help. And yes we understand wealth effect. Both sides cannot solve any problems until they understand the natural economy. When the final spasm hits they still will say we never seen it, you must save us! Sickness it truly is. I work Corporate, fear and praise is all they know. You have no Government. Just handlers.
But but but,
04-28 11:04: White House economist Goolsbee says GDP data "encouraging" but faster growth is needed to spur job gains Looooool!Great post - is there any additional evidence required to support the fact that Washington DC is CLUELESS!
Who needs evidence? Ben doesn't need evidence so why should you?
Get an editor to read your stuff in the future.
clueless? hmm...no, they're lying
but the lie has become so inculcated that they believe it. Everyone has drunk the koolaid.
on Thu, 04/28/2011 - 11:16
#1216007
But but but,
04-28 11:04: White House economist Goolsbee says GDP data "encouraging" but faster growth is needed to spur job gainsLooooool!
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http://ransquawk.com/headlines/135586 News Headline Summary Market talk that Soros funds liquidating long commodity positions MARKET COMMENTARYUnconfirmed.
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I would find a new source for any and all news during the day, just some food for thought.
Too bad Baghdad Bob isn't around, he'd make a great WH spokeshole with the BS propaganda they put out.
This is just resource re-alignment. What's bad for Wal-Mart is good for all the hungry unemployed folks selling their valuables from blankets on their lawns.
They've got blankets??
Oh yeah, it's summer... they won't need those things until after they are foreclosed on...
They can be used to create shade in the hot summer sun, after the HVAC goes on the fritz or the Electric Co. unplugs for non payment.
BLS take note!!!!
Houston area power plants failing due to dry weather, not Stuxnet or an energy crisis.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7540575.html
Can someone please tell him to speak to the Genocial maniac who is causing all this and get him to stop his disgusting habits
There is no genocidal maniac at the root of all this.
The root of all this is deep underground, in the depleting Ghawar field.
Just to clarify...
The human collective is acting as a suicidal maniac...
Don't worry oil will be "cheap" soon, right after a deflationary collapse of epic proportions... Once the world no longer accepts Ben's monetization there will be crack-up boom and crash.. Plan accordingly
Deflation in prices of everything except energy and food when priced in gold.
Inflation of everything priced in dollars.
TPOG
I am slowly becoming more confident in this line of thinking.
Except HDTVs, but they might be subsidised ;)
nein, flak. We already hit the deflationary collapse in 2008...as a result of the oil supply inflection.
We are going to face continuation of what we have now.
Oil will become very EXPENSIVE in terms of what we are accustomed to paying for it, that being trash paper and debtmoney.
Imagine if the US could not print petrodollars to get oil; you honestly believe we could run these gigantic trade imbalances? Imagine a future where the US has to buy oil like every other country has to, with real production.
That is the "real" price of oil and it is going to rise.
Debt is being discounted to reflect a future of contraction; our money is debt...this is an easy syllogism.
We'll quibble a bit over this..
I saw 2008 as the first break, it was a deflationary collapse but Ben "saved" the world with his printing press. We are now basically on the same flight path, this iteration is more of a rhyme than a repetition. The rising price of oil will again tip us over into deflation, as rising energy prices are ultimately very deflationary. The next time Ben (or his replacement) tries to save the world from deflation, the markets may very well say "Mo mas" to the flood of dollars that will be required. It depends on whether the US military is able to maintain the pricing of oil in dollars.
What will happen is a price discovery process for things of real value; people are arguing over what the metric will be.
So is oil cheap or expensive when measured in Gold?
you can do an $gold:$wtic on stockcharts
It's been dead flat since QE.
Yes... I am aware, but on a true value measure which is underpriced? The ratio is now roughly 13.5 bbl per oz, but in 2008-09 it varied between 7 and 24.
It is a rhetorical question of sorts. I don't know the answer. In 2020, will one be better off with 1 oz of Au or 13.5 bbls of oil? My gut feeling is that oil will trade relatively higher.
it depends upon the steepness of the depletion curve of oil, which is consumed while gold isn't.
In an n->infinity limit, the ratio goes to 0 as there is no oil left while gold is immutable
Without enough oil to comfortably run an industrial society, oil is just toxic waste. Either you have enough oil flowing to meet your needs or oil has no value.
I beg to differ.... For example, ever not have a chain saw when you needed one? For that matter, any small gasoline powered device is worth its weight in gold (provided you have gas) in an non-idustrial society. Based on an hourly wage $0.25, a barrel of oil is worth about $500. This takes into account the work one human can sustainably perform....
Your comment is what I think is missing in most discussions on the price (value) of oil. I was having a discussion about the price of oil with a neighbour during winter. He said something about how high gas prices were, I replied at how ridiculously cheap they were, depending on how you look at it...
He looked at me like I was silly..
Then I asked him if next time it snowed there was only 1 gallon of gas available for snowblower usage for our entire road, that was to be sold via an auction process, how much did he think it would sell for?
Exactly... I have a friend who bitches about his Con-Ed bill, when asked how much, he told me $200 a month, to which I replied so its about $7 a day. I then asked him in case of a power outage how much would he be willing to pay to get the lights back....
I believe a rhetorical question is one where the answer is already known.
Otherwise, carry on. Nice to see you, Trav. Can't win 'em all.
I'd say it's one where an answer isn't expected... The answer may or may not be known.
Who is John Galt?
Just who the hell do these idiots think they are?
Stop it you are scaring me again, Mr. Buzzkill
Hey Duke, didn't you get the talking-points?
Clearly a Huckabee man...
Say it ain't so Ben Shalom!
fuck Walmart
clearest case of fascist profiteering I know
they almost singlehandedly ruined American manufacturing & employment & their US workers are a tax drain
slap a tariff on made in China goods & see how your margins look then ChinaMart
Your blame is misplaced, and your solution is flawed. Wal-mart has succeeded in the environment it was presented with, but that environment is not of its making, and to pin the destruction of US manufacturing on them completely misses the point. Further, arbitrary tariffs are not going to make our lives better.
Who shops at Wal-mart? Well lots of people do obviously, but most notably people who can't afford to shop other places. Who works at Wal-mart? People who can't get a job other places (or find it a step up from a fast food gig). You need to think about these things before you set out on some social crusade to destroy their business model.
If it wasn't for Wal-Mart, millions of poor would be suffering far worse, and for far longer than they are now.
The blame, as always, is runaway credit that has been monetized as debt. Where is the source of all of this pyramid of credit? Why The Bernank and his magic checkbook, of course, along with his partner Turbo Timmah who will happily borrow on our behalf to spend it, in order to fund needed social goods such as wars and the police state.
Good thing we've got them, because we obviously couldn't do this heavly lifting all by ourselves!
The Bernank, for all his satanic flaws, does not make people buy shit they don't need on 8 credit cards at 30% interest paid off with a 2nd mortgage for a soon foreclosed home.
The Bernank didn't start the culture of the populace being in debt and making it okay. The Bernank didn't make the 70% consumer driven economy.
That is a sad joke that somehow Walmart is the savior of people.
Pick up your pants, your Stockholm Syndrome is showing.
what he said.
You're right, it was Madison ave that started it.
The Bernank may not have started those things, but central bankers certainly did, and Bernank continued the policy. In case you hadn't noticed our entire monetary system and tax code is built to reward debt and punish savings.
Actually it was Alexander Hamilton who started it.
You know we agree on things RP. Just pointing out that I am not defending Ben "The Sikorsky" rather I am pointing out that there is responsibility to be shared by all.
And yes it is the system but still people make the last call. You didn't do what they do, I don't do what they do. We are ahead of the PM curve and the masses still are waiting on baited breath for some wedding of elites that would rather not spend any more time with the serfs than they have to as their armoured getaway car waits running at a predetermined exit/escape route.
Let them eat cake. Or something like that.
People spend more when they believe that times are good. Why did people incorrectly believe the false signals? The Greenspin/Bernank wealth effect. When people can do stupid things like flipping houses and earning more than from their productive job, they do it.
Who are/were these people? At first, the upper middle-class who wanted to live large. By the end of course, the securitization (thanks Fannie & Freddie & Countrywide!) allowed all sorts of people who shouldn't have had a mortgage to get one. Why did they? Once again, due to false signals it appeared to be a no-risk event, because you could always resell if debt service became an issue (ARMs). At the time, it was all rational, functional behavior (assuming you believed the hype). You can call it greed, but when the money flow is systemic, you either participate as well, or fall behind.
Enough of that though, as these are not the people I referenced with my Wal-Mart comment. The majority of the truly poor never had a chance at living la vida loca. Instead, they have a hand-to-mouth existence, focused on surviving until the next check. It is these people that have benefitted greatly from the efficiency that Wal-Mart famously (and infamously) pushes.
You may not realize it, but there is a substantial segment of the population that has absolutely no access to credit other than the payday loan shops, and rent-to-own stores. (do you think they are predatory as well?)
I'd close this post with some snarky, pithy comment, but I don't really think I need one to buttress my point.
Agreed. Big American Business has sold out America! They did it in the name of profit, and they used crony capitalist techiques to convince politicians and the public that America would be better off with American manufacturing located overseas. It wouldn't surprise me if they were granted tax credits for every foreign job they created. The unprecedented transfer of wealth that has taken place as a result has gutted the American middle-class and is about to implode the American financial system. America would have been far better off paying for higher-priced American made items that they could not afford, as opposed to paying for Chinese made items that they could not afford. This has led China to be the largest beneficiary of the catastrophic credit expansion of the past few decades.....they loaned us money so we could continue to buy their junk! All of this taking place with the full support of governemnt and the TBTF banks on Wall Street, who acted as the profiteering middle-men in the credit expansion ponzi. Greed and corruption at every transaction level has destroyed America!
T.E.I.N. everyone!
Thank a Clinton for selling you out.
Most favored nation (MFN) status given to a totalitarian China in the middle 90's. He gave it (and your future) to the corporate dogs humping China's leg.
Remember that, it's where it started and why wages are going straight to hell without a prayer.
Clintons from Arkansas.
Walmart based in Arkansas.
Right to work State: Arkansas.
Things that make you go.... Hmmm.
Widowmaker
+1
collusion
Oh no! big bad China has done us in. I'm so sick of this tired BS. It's like listening to all the lottery winning morons who are back to poverty. That mean old lottery. By giving you a million dollars it has harmed you. It has made you dependent on free money. Bollocks! The reason the lottery winning hick is back to poverty is because he's a stupid moron. Period. Giving him money doesn't change that fact.
Just like mean old China selling us under priced goods should have caused to INVEST ALL OF THOSE SAVINGS SOMEWHERE ELSE. We're the morons who ate our own seed corn. And now we are the ones who are about to starve through the winter.
Silver For The People:
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrotherJohnF?feature=mhum
Excellent post, Profit Prophet. According to a recent Gordon T. Long diamond-rated article on Market Oracle, RIP Shadow Banking System, Long Live QEx, China has been the “recipient of many of the 46,000 factories that left America.” And that doesn’t count the given and stolen U.S. patents and the military and industrial technology she's freely acquired. We gave the Chinese these factories, patents and technologies in exchange for the enrichment of our internal enemies, who now control our government.
Correct, It was Greenspan, by holding interest rates way too low. If yields on 10Yr Treasures were held at 6.25% to 6.50% easy money would not have happened and people would have not been able to get themselves in trouble. Do you recall when Greenspan said back in May of 2004 for Americans go out out and spend and take out ARMs. How about when Greenspan called bank of america to demand that they lower interest rates on mortgages when he dropped rates and the banks refused to lower rates?
While it stupid people loading up on debt and living beyond their means, it was gov't holding their hands along the way.
Wal-Mart can suck shit and die.
Have you seen what they do to a small town? They move onto some cheap land on the perimeter of the town and suck employees and business away from the stores on Main Street with higher wages/benefits and lower prices. Then once the local businesses close up they start cutting wages/benefits and raising prices.
I've seen vibrant small farming communities hollowed out by the Wal-Mart that moved in. They are a scourge on America.
TPOG
Don't forget to highlight what they sell.
Objects with engineered life cycles that do not exceed 3 weeks.
Throw it out and go get a new one.
So its Wal-Mart's fault for running a successful business? It's not the local government that approved the zoning and construction of the store, or the voters who back them? It's not the people that choose to shop there instead of in the Main Street dimestore? It's not the workers who choose to work there instead of at a local shop? Creating boogeymen may make you feel better, but that doesn't make it reality.
Wal-Mart is the corporate equivalent of a business partner you invite to share your home only to wake up one morning a few years later to find that they have stolen your gold, killed your family, raped your dog, and set the kitchen on fire. Fortunately they have left you all their cheap furniture and bric-a-brac.
Yes, you should have been a better judge of character and you should have kept them out of your home. No, you are not to blame for their behavior.
Wal-Mart is happy to take advantage of the sheeple who have little ability for long-term thinking. When it comes right down to it, this makes them evil. But I do acknowledge that the modern multinational is a complex entity, and this means that there are factions within that think they are trying to do the right thing.
TPOG
I do not agree with your bigotry of low expectations. I do not believe that people have little ability for long-term thinking. I do not agree that this makes people "helpless victims" before Wal-Mart. Sorry but that's bullshit. People have gotten soft and irresponsible in our modern society because our government treats them like children, so they act like children. People can and would think long-term and in their best interest if there wasn't this pre-supposition that the nanny state will look out for them and fix everything.
You are right; our problems are much more basic than just Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart is an embodiment of the worst of them. Wal-Mart (and the rest of us) are now seeing the crops of the seeds we have sown and they are bitter, expensive, and of low nutritional value.
TPOG
Some folks call that Capitalism. They must be mistaken?
If I sell something you want (or think you want) at a lower price than my competitor....
I think Wal-mart is bad for a local economy in the long run. (and near by ones since people will travel to the next town to get to Wal-mart) I can match and even beat their prices, but people will still go there because they like to look at all the stuff in the huge store, and they can pick up all of their needs so they save gas. Wal-mart is a small business killer. As a small business owner, I am grateful to my city council for rejecting the Wal-mart that wanted to come in. It would've seemed good at first, but eventually almost every small business in town would have been boarded up. Big bank takes little bank.
Utilizing the Nafta sellout of the American worker, WalMart comes in and undercuts the competion until there is a lot less aggregate competition and then surreptitiously raises the prices and reduces the packaging so the average consumer doesn't understand how they are getting screwed. That tmosley defends these deplorable practices under the banner of "fascist capitalism" is surprising.
Some folks call that Capitalism.
Some people call the economy a free market. They lack the requisite insight for cogent commentary as well.
thanks for the opening
lower priced due to currency manipulation, cheap Chinese labor & lack of environmental standards for manufacturers among other things
meaning .gov & corporation have colluded in price fixing to the detriment of small business & main street usa
this is NOT capitalism, hasn't been for a very long time
you defenders of liberty & all that is holy in your religion of conservatism best wake up & smell the coffee
by RockyRacoonon Thu, 04/28/2011 - 13:33
#1216810
Some folks call that Capitalism. They must be mistaken?
If I sell something you want (or think you want) at a lower price than my competitor....
I see you have a sense for irony. We are on the same page.
How has Walmart stolen, raped or murdered anyone? They just sold you goods at low prices. What, you want high prices? Is THAT what you are trying to tell me?
Mom and Pop were the ones raping the people with high prices. America is better off now that they have gone to put their productive power elsewhere.
You think Walmart can arbitrarily raise prices--it can't. The second it does, some other store will step in and steal their market share. This is how capitalism works. The only monopolies are the ones that provide services that are so good for such a low price that no-one can compete. If they let up, then someone CAN compete.
Of course, we don't have capitalism, but Walmart has done a damn fine job of maintaining the competitiveness of capitalism in a fascist environment.
"So its Wal-Mart's fault for running a successful business?"
Were you a successful zyclon B salesman in another life. You know, just trying to make an honest living? Walmart was the forefront of Chinese mercantilism.
Were you a successful zyclon B salesman in another life.
lol!
"So its Wal-Mart's fault for running a successful business?"
Were you a successful zyclon B salesman in another life. You know, just trying to make an honest living? Walmart was the forefront of Chinese mercantilism.
people shouldn't shop there!
I don't. How the fuck can I be the only one who is capable of resisting their smiley faced prices? Is it because my smiley has a middle finger?
What does the Walmart want with an electonic medical record..?
Yes, it was all caused by the Wall Mart, and NOTHING ELSE.
There were absolutely no other processes going on at the same time. Because the Wall Mart is somehow able to destroy an underlying economy by its mere presence.
FYI, a Walmart moved into my hometown about ten years before I moved out. The population of said town has increased ~7% since then. Lots of new stores have opened. There are a few shops downtown that never reopened, but so what? Things change. Walmart did the job of delivering goods to the population better than Mom and Pop could, so Mom and Pop were freed up to do something more productive, whether than means working at the lumbermill (as managers, due to their experience running a business), or opening up some other business.
When they opened a super Walmart, they put one of the grocery stores in town out of business, but that place was a rat hole. One time I was in there, and I literally saw a rat crawling behind one of the metal stands. Walmart delivered cheap food that was *GASP* clean, in a clean store. How is this BAD?
RP that is disingenuous. The executives know they are pummeling the competition with anti-competitive pricing by strong arming manufacturers and also churning employees and spitting them out when thoroughly chewed and without health care because they were always just under the time allowed for full time.
That corporation would be nowhere without free trade which was the great sucking sound that nobody but Ross Perto heard until now..30 years out.
They are in bed with the politicians when they want to convince municipalities that they should have a store then they wring the population dry and drive down the local real estate market.
The only thing good about Walmart is that the zombies will have a place to go for free Chinese garbage when the riots start.
I'm sorry, were you under the impression that Wal-Mart was a charity organization? Corporations have one responsibility: make money. That's why they exist, and it's important they do everything they legally can to expand their profits, because that is what makes a free economy efficient and PREDICTABLE. Predictability drives efficiency as much as technology or productivity does.
That does not mean some companies can not do things that you find socially amicable in their quest for profit, but if you think any of them are doing it for any other reason than their bottom line, you are fooling yourself. That doesn't mean I like Wal-Mart, that doesn't mean I shop there, or would consider working there. If you don't like the way they do business, don't shop there. If you don't like their benefit package, don't work there. If enough people agree with you and do the same, Wal-Mart will change or go out of business.
But they didn't make our free trade policy, and they sure as hell didn't invent our monetary ponzi scheme. If we had sound money, Chinese currency pegs would be meaningless. They didn't write our labor laws or our ridiculous tax code either. The death of manufacturing in the United States is a 6 decade story of failed economic policy with many factors that have nothing to do with Chinese workers.
I don't disagree with you but my point is whether or not they act in anyone's but their own interest they know what they are doing.
I believe in capitalism but they are monopolists and they'd rather be the sole merchant killing any competition.
Also their false morals, they won't sell certain things because it's "offensive" or whatever, are a joke in the face of their greed.
Again I don't disagree with what you said but you are happy to recognize the flawed system and call it for what it is yet you are defending a huge part of what is one of the worst offenders of that system.
To me it's the same as saying Bernank is okay, as far as Bernanks go, because he's just doing what Bernanks do.
I'm defending them as I would defend the right of a KKK lunatic to march in the street. I don't need to like Wal-Mart's products or employee benefits package to recognize that having a free market means you aren't always going to like the way someone runs their business.
Additionally, the demonization of an individual corporation as a cause for so many problems is naive and immature. Wal-Mart does not exist in a vacuum. They aren't joined at the hip with our federal government like TBTF banks.
Your comparison to central banking is flawed. Corporations are designed to generate profit, which depending on your philosophy, is not inherently immoral. In fact I see it as the most important thing anyone can do from an economic standpoint. Central banking was created to manipulate money, or in other words, covertly steal from some and arbitrarily reward others based upon centralized authoritarian economic planning. To me that is an inherently immoral purpose. Therefore, if a moral construct is performing its moral function, even if it does so in a manner you find distasteful, it is very different than an immoral construct performing its immoral function.
I didn't say Walmart doesn't have the right to exist and I believe they are good at what they do but there is competition and there is unfair competition.
How am I demonizing them for "so many problems?" I am blaming them directly for their own actions.
I would say the same about Microsoft or Apple.
I don't use Google for that matter either.
Corporations are not just there to generate profits they can also be part of , if not generate, a culture when they get big enough. They can influence public opinion and economic activity. The Supreme Court has decided that they can also push their own politics.
I am surprised that you have such a narrow view of the impact that a corporation can have.
And you present the argument from the stance that it is already a moral construct and the function is moral. But I think it's an amoral construct with some immoral functions. Walmart just happens to be the subject topic but worse can be said for the oil conglomerates that find deposits, convice the indigenous people that they will be rich, build up the infrastructure and put the country in massive debt, suck the land dry and leave a toxic waste pool and starving, poor population behind. In that case is the profit motive as moral as you propose?
How do they convince the locals they'll be rich, and put the country in massive debt? I'm not sure how that works unilaterally.
They promise to give the people proceeds from the extracted resourses and then saddle them with the debt for the building of the infrastructure to extract it but only the top politicians don't reinvest the proceeds and instead get wealthy while monetizing the debt onto the unwitting citizenry. Here is something to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Fzm1hEiDQ
Corporations have one responsibility: make money.
complete and utter bullshit
corps have a responsibility to the community in which they operate to exist in a synergistic relationship not a parasitic one
Henry Ford understood that, Rush Limbaughites not so much
ChinaMart takes from America & China both to enrich a few at the top- SAME AS IT EVER WAS
this "conservative" bullshit platform of "if I make money it's good, otherwise it's bad" is responsible for quite a few of the worlds ills
fuck your corps and fuck your stockholders
and fuck cheap Chinese made crap that falls apart and isn't worth 1/3 of what we're forced to pay since there is no alternative due to .gov/corpse confluence of power = FASCISM
Shove your leftist utopia shit up your ass. Corporations don't have a responsibility to "the community," they have a responsibility to their shareholders. They are a business, not the YMCA. Grow up. Usually it is good business to be popular in your community, it's certainly the way I like to do business. But it's still a function of the bottom line, and if you think otherwise you're fooling yourself.
If you don't like Wal-Mart's products, don't buy them. I don't.
And please don't start blabbing about fucking Rush Limbaugh just because someone disagrees with you.
Creed forgot to say that its only a theory, that corporations owe society. Integrated Social Contract Theory. Only a theory, not a fact. Fact, business is only concerned with bottom line. The rest of that shit is fluff, like a pillow.-
So Henry Ford was a leftist utopian? right...
You Rush Limbaugh fanatics just don't want to fess up- your beloved money making corporations in conjunction with bought & paid for .gov have ruined the economy of the USA. The corps write the laws now, guess how that turns out for the corps?
The relationship is not corp/shareholder, the relationship is corp/customer.
The customer is getting the shaft while the corp is rolling in dough. Pretty soon the customer won't be able to afford the corp products. Oh, wait- that IS what this article is about, isn't it?
But it's all good as long as YOU maintain personal wealth, isn't it? Suuuure it is.
PS- The use of Rush Limbaugh signifies a type. Hard core conservative that believes business is always right & all that's holding business back from a nirvana like existence is .gov regulations.:)
Exactly what items are you forced to buy at Wal-Mart? May I recommend that you get rid of your tv?
HOLY FUCK ON A STICK.
Corporations have a no responsibility to the "community." This is leftist BS and it's been taught in our "hallowed halls of higher education" for far too long. Wake the fuck up.
If I buy NOTHING from a corporation, they owe me NOTHING. It's that simple. To say otherwise is to condone slavery. I don't see where you get off telling others what they MUST do for you, absent some consideration on their behalf.
It's the same story with "universal health care." You can't just claim that all the doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals owe you their service simply because you exist and that your very existence means you have their right to care (their labor).
FUCK
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU AND PEOPLE THAT THINK LIKE YOU? YOU JUST WANT AND WANT AND WANT. AND YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM STANDING BEHIND THOSE THAT PASS "LAWS" INTENDED TO ENABLE YOU TO TAKE AND TAKE AND TAKE. GROW THE FUCK UP YOU ARROGANT ASSHOLE.
Nobel Prize winning economist Paul (dickless) Krugman seems to think so in a recent NYT socialist rant:
ditto.
It is the right and obligation of the corporation to make money in a legal manner.
It is also the right and obligation of the consumer to not sponser a corporation that is in sharp conflict with his principles.
Sadly, few consumers give a shit.
Fuck Walmart.
Well said, Temporalist. The strong arming of manufacturers goes well beyond good faith negotiation. It works more like extortion.
It's worth mentioning that almost everywhere there's a WalMart, you'll find a boarded up town. No more toy stores, bike shops, shoe stores, nurseries, clothing stores, hardware stores, candy shops....all the local endeavors that were locally owned and run are gone. The money which is spent in a WalMart leaves town. Tragic.
And if the town produced goods that satisfied human needs at a market price, then money from the whole world over would fill its coffers.
The idea that any one area should be totally self-sustainable is not realistic, nor desirable, unless you want to return to a much lower standard of living, such as if everyone had to raise their own food.
My point is that the division of labor adds value for all of us, as those of us who can do something better than the rest (or have better location/raw materials/etc...) should focus on doing what we do best, and let someone else provide the other goods and services we have not to time to do themselves. If I cannot compete as efficiently as another, then I'm 're better off finding a different method for providing value to others, as my efforts are wasting scarce resources better deployed by the more efficient. This is obviously easier said than done, but the ability to provide value, however we can, is what really needs to be sustainable.
Now this isn't to say that localized production isn't desirable, as it provides a safety net in opposition to the JIT economy that has scaled to such heights, but is subject to risks from weather/wars/transportation costs/etc... But the idea that every community should be self-sustainable just isn't rational in a modern world. Taken to its limit (reductio ad absurdum) would dictate that every single person be their own manufacturer of everything they need, eliminating trade and mass production.
Instead, I would advocate a balance between the two, dictated by each of us as we spend our dollars knowingly for goods and services that best meet our needs.
As always, free trade, free markets, free people.
All this talk about WalMart and the problem of corporations offshoring their manufacturing is only talking about the symptoms of the dollar being used as the world's reserve currency.
The only way to push dollars out into the greater global economy was to buy things like oil, and later, goods from places like China. Keeping the dollar strong and wages propped up while interest rates were depressed made it easy to buy foreign goods. WalMart and many corporations saw what was happening and took advantage of the new environment.
Once the gold standard was abandoned and the USD became the reserve currency of the world, the outcome was inescapable.
WMT must have magic powers that forces shoppers to come....must be the smileys.
Otherwise, it is the leechfuck low class people who shop there instead of supporting local businesses who are to blame.
My fuckin dad shops at WMT and I insult him and not in a teasing manner for it; I'm serious. I have gotten dragged into a WMT once or twice by him because he wants to buy something there and I insult the shoppers as I walk down the aisles..."YOU are outsourcing America."
Nobody can see beyond the end of the ME ME ME nose anymore. I had this argument with some asshole coworkers in the past about WMT. I said the same thing to them, you are outsourcing America, it is YOUR fault. They asked me oh yeah well I'm sure you're wearing chinese stuff too. Nope. Then they STFU. But it didn't change them.
Because in their mind they are entitled to cheap shit and they wouldn't pay extra to keep their own moms in business.
I buy hardware and such from a locally owned small chain. No stores outside the county. I'd rather walk into their 6,000 sq ft store, park at the front door, and be called by name by the same clerk I've seen there since the 1980s. Yeah, they don't always have what I need but they can order anything and have it in a few days. They'll call and tell me my item is in -- no emails. I can take a lawnmower or other yard equipment in and they'll tune it up, sharpen blades and have it ready the next day, much cheaper than the "power equipment" repair places that charge me $40 to tell me I was right (it's broke) in the first place. Price is a few cents higher than the "big box" stores, but the money stays here with a couple of brothers who took over the stores from their dad who stared the company back in the 1920s. Screw Home Depot and the rest of 'em.
Ever wanted to take a visit the slums of Nigeria? No time to hop on a plane and fly across the atlantic?
Go to ANY Walmart in an urban area and it's the same experience for the cost of a car ride.
Sadly true.
It seems that to 'Pay Extra' means one will 'Get More'.
When the prevailing rules of societal operations are
Me first, where's mine, up yours - paying extra for an intangible
that isn't pre-wrapped in a branded mystique just is not understood.
iPads? - sure!
A nickel more for my socks? - not a chance in hell!
And so it goes...
+1 Right on redpill.
Synergy.
Walmart doesn't spend any money on lobbying? Walmart doesn't donate to political campaigns? Walmart doesn't negotiate all kinds of 'perks' in some regions for bring their 'job creation super centers' to a particular place?
Bullshit they don't.
Union shill is obvious.
WAVE THAT FUCKIN' FLAG!
I just throw this out there as a for example... but do you think walmart might be able to sell other goods if the conditions require doing so? Or can only chinese goods fit in the stores?
PS, the academically assumed derivative of competition in every market is a normalization of profits... not sure what you're getting at.
Counter Example: "Competition in every market..."
US Crony Capitalist model is a pure Corporatist model of eliminating competition and centralizing power by every means available, political, economic, captured regulatory, etc.
Therefore there is little to no competition... Oligarchy Model...
See: Regulatory overburden and collapse of US small business sector...
See: TBTF Wall Street Whore Banksters...
Hence the "academically assumed" comment... The problem is you're making a generalization without application to walmart... walmart's market strategy is as low cost leader... in this particular case, it actually runs headfirst into the traditional notion of monopolistic pricing... it actually, often times, dictates to producers what they can charge to it... thus benefitting consumers. Obviously, the motive is profit... but, the profit derived is likely a far cry from monopolistic pricing given its competitors generally charge more for the same thing... [clearly there have been some cutbacks in quality and quantity due to margin compressions, but these are prevalent in virtually all similar retailers].
In short, presuming walmart is a monopoly, it behaves counterintuitively and the fact that small retailers have been decimated in its wake is irrelevant... further, do you think those small retailers would survive the internet age and the economies of scale and efficiencies derived by e-tailers? It wasn't walmart that killed small retailers, it was their overhead...
WalMart is a monopsony... It's different -- the mirror image of a monopoly. It absolutely dictates to producers what a producer's price will be as you say because suppliers have no real choice other than to deal with that buyer. They have ultimate pricing power.
But the real irony is that monopsony power ends up cannibalizing and destroying the very producers and manufacturers it relies on over time.
Does this really benefit consumers? Well sure, in the short run and if price is your only metric. How about quality? How about choice? Is the food you consume more healthy and nutritious today than in the past? I'd say there's a very good explanation why you consistently see morbidly obese zombies shuffling (or worse, driving their fat carts) through the aisles of WalMart shoving transfat cheez doodles into their baskets. "Always lower prices" leads to this kind of "food", if you want to call it that.
And please don't give me the lame "well you can always shop somewhere else." The reality is you often can't. The Wal-Mart death star is the only viable option in many communities, and its destroyed home grown, competitive small businesses who used to compete on quality.
Wal-Mart doesn't "compete" in a free market... As a monopsonist they sit on top of the market, micromanaging and coordinating the actions of thousands upon thousands of its suppliers.
Oh... And they also have benefited from more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies from state, local and federal government. Just another crony capitalist who uses Wall Street financing and the levers and power of the government to assure its success in the "free marketplace."
The process of food inflation (either by price or quality) is not a function of walmart's pricing power... it's a function of dollar debasement. Wal-mart's pricing power has only allowed food inflation to be hidden... now, what walmart's CEO is saying is that the cost can no longer be hidden... walmart is a passenger to dollar debasement...
In most other places in the world through most of history poor people were thin. Remember when Fat City used to be a good place? The poor are getting enough to eat. This is a miracle.
Exactly, another example is the Hasidic Depot oops I mean the Home Depot.
Smoot, meet Hawtley.
Wal-mart has succeeded in the environment it was presented with
absolute rubbish, get over your "all business is beautiful" mantra
ChinaMart + US government policies + backdoor dealings + other corporations + Chinese totalitarianist slave labor = massive profit for the fascists in the US & China
you folks that support the corps by worshipping their stock & praising their deeds are fascist enablers
and are the shoelaces of the boot that is upon the face of humanity
I guess communism is a lot like freddie kreuger.
But it's just transitory! QE3 will make it permanent!
..and if not, QE4 will defo solidify it.
∫∫QEXY dydx
edit: sorry, proper notation should have been
∫∫QEx^(y) dydx
It is indeed transitory. Ghawar is depleting and there is nothing anyone can do about that. Chindia's oil consumption continues to climb. But the price will reach a point where economies are smashed, destroying demand, and presto, oil price will lower (also transitory until the next attempt at growth).
This is forever sportsfans. I'm sorry for your young families, but it's all downhill from here.
this is already happening...export land model is ruthlessly destroying importable oil supplies.
Nations that don't "take care" of the indigenous population with cheap gas and growth will see revolutions.
Did you see that POS that Ilene posted in the Contributor section?
no...link?
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/scam-behind-rise-oil-food-prices
And to avoid the coming revolution driven by high oil prices, the US will embark on another military campaign that will end up nuking China and India.
We have two aircraft carrier battle groups in the middle east to ensure that oil flows. Pretty soon, it will be there to ensure that oil flows OUR WAY.
We invaded Mexico and got California/Oregon/Washington and much of the western territory. We will repeat history once again and keep invading and destroying countries that stand in our way of securing oil supplies. Nuking China and India is the only logical conclusion. They are our biggest competitors for oil. We will destroy the competition.
George Orwell
WalMartians are transitory.
Wal-Mart needs to install a McDonalds, Netflix kiosk, and Apple genius bar so I can go there to eat McStreaming Ipads for lunch; while I'm there I'll pick up some socks that will fall apart after half a use.
great idea, too bad the Mc part of it is done already man. years ago.
you ever actually been inside a walmart? Have hobson swing you by there after you finish your ladyfinger sandwich luncheon, Arthur. And leave your Nieman Marcus catalog in the Bently.
Apple genius bar is in Macy's...
Agree with LFMayor
Have you ever seen the Wal-mart store management geniuses?...
Cookie cutter NASCAR Bubbas from Mena Ar-Kansas...
The newest Apple is released only for Walmart shoppers:
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110425051136/southpark/images/th...
The market power of an Oligopoly retail model...
Expect Barama and the Bernank to get really mad. CONgress to haul in WMT officials demanding to know why they are making our man-boy prez look like a fool. Shame on WalMart...hee hee
I'm going to approach this like a liberal Democrat.
The only way to solve the problem of inflation is to print more money just like in order to solve our debt crisis is to raise the debt ceiling.
You're an idiot. You obviously missed the part where we tax people to pay for government rather than pulling a Reagan and charging it - yes Reagan. Jimmy Carter should have avoided the tough decisions and pulled a Reagan, then history would be kinder to him.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/01/us/reagan-signs-increase-in-federal-debt-ceiling.html
No you're a fucking idiot.
"The measure raising the debt ceiling from $985 billion to $1,089 billion"
How much has the limit been raised under Obama?
Shut the fuck up and go over to Huffington Post, your way of thinking will be more accepted.
Carter supporter? asshole
Plenty of these statist jerks in MN right pan..
Yep :)
It is about tough decisions and why politicians don't make them, whether you like it or not, the economic expansion of the 80s was funded by the debt.
Moron. Don't ask questions, they're going to fuck you up if you won't learn anything for yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt#National_debt_for...
Wait: Did you mean "asshole Carter" supporter??
Bob, Bob. If your're thinking that alot of this didn't start with Reagan/Bush, I suggest you do a little more hard research.
Obama(didn't vote for him) just happened to be chosen for us by the elite(like Bush was, Like Clinton was, like Bush was. like.... ) to be in this position when the blow off top happened.
The left / Right thing is SOOOOO last century.
Wake up.
+11111... Accurate analysis...
I wasn't commenting on Reagan or Bush. Bush was not a conservative republican, he was a very large government spender.
I didn't like Bush.
Saying Bush was a conservative republican is analagous to saying Donald Trump is a republican.
The last conservative Republican was Nixon, and most folks are still pissed at him for some reason.
Nixon instituted price controls. The last conservative president was Atilla the Hun
+ 1 lul
What I like to tell people attracts me to ZH is the highbrow level of discourse on Finance and Economics... that cuts right through the PR pablum. AND... I say, I love that you have to apply to get an ID in order to comment, AND the captcha requires basic math skills. Thus, the dregs that ruin every other sites' comment boards just aren't there (you know what I mean, by calling each other strings of 4 letter words). But here you go responding to someone's thoughtful points not with a referenced rebuttal, but by calling him a fucking idiot and an asshole. Do you think you just persuaded me with that juvenile outburst that your debate opponent is wrong? Yes, I junked you.
BLOW ME
you fuck shit damn ass cunt bitch.
if you actually junked someone then I guess I am actually serious
The fucking idiots are the ones that think that this is an issue of Republicans Vs Democrats.
I'm going to approach this like a conservative Republican.
The only way to solve the problem of inflation is to print more money just like in order to solve our debt crisis is to raise the debt ceiling.
Game, set, match - nicely executed - +100
Really? Which ones? And what's their stance on government spending?
Whether wearing a republican or democrat pin, few if any are real conservatives...
Jim Demint, Paul Ryan, Ron Paul, Mitch Daniels score pretty highly in my book.
It's really only about the wealth effect, levereged a hundred to one.
Democrat or Republican doesn't matter. The road to Washington is a two lane. Winners in, losers out.
Bob, Four conservative republicans is about all I can think of as well. Makes me sick.
Sorry, but I believe Demint is in the pocket of Bank of America.