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Wal-Mart's CEO Provides The Starkest Visual Of The Modern Bread Line Yet
In today's Art Cashin Comments there is a stunning admission by none other than the CEO of Walmart on what modern day bread lines look like. To wit:
Profits And Baby Formula – Our pal, Rich Yamarone, over at Bloomberg picked up an eye-opening statement made by the Wal-Mart CEO last week.
I don't need to tell you that our customer remains challenged…You need not go farther than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it's real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m. customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items – baby formula, milk, bread, eggs – and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight when government electronic benefits cards get activated, and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher.
Talk about shopping only for necessities. The mid-night trip for baby formula says it all.
Luckily the NBER said the recession ended. Hurray:
So The Recession Ended 15 Months Ago – A Bloomberg report on lagging jobs got superseded by the FOMC statement. Here’s the opening line from the Bloomberg report:
Payrolls dropped in 36 U.S. states in August, led by Michigan, indicating the labor market will take time to rebound from the worst recession since the 1930s.
A little later in the article, it was noted how broad the job weakness was:
Texas lost 34,200 jobs, and California eliminated 33,600, the Labor Department said. The number of states where payrolls dropped was the highest this year.
More job losses in more states. Thank the gods that the recession’s over.
The country is collapsing everywhere and all the leaders can do is lie to their electorate that things are great. Images of the Titanic come to mind.
And some other observations from Art Cashin:
You Must Be At Least Four Feet Tall To Go On This Ride – For most of Tuesday’s trading session, the averages looked like the EKG on a Maine Potato.
From the opening bell, stocks snaked around the unchanged level for four and a half hours. The numbing lull was in anticipation of the 2:15 FOMC statement.
When the statement hit, things got really whacky.
In the first two minutes, stocks plunged. Then, suddenly, they reversed and began to spike higher. Within five minutes, the Dow was up 50 points.
That rally stopped on a dime. In the next two minutes, trading turned choppy. Then stocks began to retreat. That retreat lasted about five minutes.
Suddenly, the bulls returned, spiking the Dow to the plus 82 level. The bulls had no chance to pop the champagne cork. The rally ended instantly and stocks began to fade and by about 3:40, the Dow had turned mildly negative.
If you thought the frenzied trading in stocks was jaw-dropping, all you had to do was to look at other assets.
The dollar got pounded. Gold soared and then eased off somewhat. Treasuries rallied sharply with the yield on the ten year dipping below 2.60% (a record low). It was a stunning pyrotechnic display.
By the closing bell, stocks seemed exhausted by the spastic trading. They limped to a mixed and uncertain close.
We’ll Be There For You – That seemed to be the message that the FOMC tried to deliver in its statement yesterday.
They tried to walk a fine line, avoiding looking too worried while noting some concern.
The key phrase (to us) was in the fourth paragraph when the FOMC said it “is prepared to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation, over time, to levels consistent with its mandate.”
While not specifically detailing their concerns about deflation, they strongly hinted at it by the suggestion that they wanted to return inflation to an appropriate level.
The image of the Fed actively seeking to promote inflation helped crush the dollar and spike gold. The wild-eyed saw risks of a Weimar-like inflation. Treasuries chose to ignore it.
Cocktail Napkin Charting – Today marks the Autumnal Equinox which brings historical aspects of volatility, as we noted last week. In addition, there is a full moon and an unusual proximity of the planet Jupiter. Keep your telescope handy.
Yesterday’s unusual action had several aspects of a reversal day. Additionally, there are mounting indications that the September rally may have been propelled by a short squeeze. We’re still checking out the hypothesis.
For today the napkins hint resistance in the S&P at 1148/1151 and then 1156/1160. Support looks like 1129/1132 with a backup at 1118/1122.
AN ENCORE PRESENTATION
On this day in 1776, an American legend was born. Well maybe that's not exactly correct. The guy was born about two decades earlier.
This guy was a bright young fellow from Connecticut. He had graduated from Yale University (where some schoolmates thought him a bit of a showoff at games). Nevertheless, he was a good scholar and had a real gift for the classics. He became a schoolteacher and looked to be headed for the role of solid citizen. Then the American Revolution broke out and he (and five of his brothers) immediately joined the rebel cause.
He rushed about trying to get into whatever was the battle du jour. Somehow, he always seemed to be a day late. And when, in the final week of August, the troops of Washington barely avoided defeat by slipping out of New York City, he was one frustrated guy.
So, when Washington asked for guys who might sneak back into New York City to set fires and map the defenses, the schoolteacher was first in line. And, when his fellow officers asked how big a unit he would need, he said he'd go alone, in civilian clothes, using his Yale diploma to prove he was a schoolteacher.
For two days, he roamed successfully making detailed drawings of British defenses and describing them in notes of classic Latin to confuse anyone who questioned him. Then he bumped into his cousin, Samuel, who was working for the Tories. Sam said, this is my cousin, Nathan Hale, he’s a rebel spy. Hale was so proud, he said, "Yup, that's who I am!" (Or the Yale equivalent.)
So, on this day, the Brits hung him. The Rebs remembered his last words as --"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." It made him a martyr and a hero. Revisionist scholars would claim that what he said was --"It is the duty of every soldier to obey his commander."
But given Hale's classic education, it is more likely that he used the first version since, as you know, it is as a paraphrase of "Cato."
There was nothing classic or quotable in Tuesday’s action. There was a lot that was confusing however.
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A more complete equation:
More kids = more cannon fodder = more Pentagon spending = more $$ to the defense companies = less brown people's kids
Welfare appears to be about 1/3 that of what the Pentagon gets:
http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/872/How-Much-Does-Nation-Spend-on-Welf...
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm
The jackboot division is doing everything it can to reduce populations of people that have the nerve to comsume precious resources (there's eugenics fo ya!).
stoverny-
subsidize something, get more.
really simple.
Almost got fixed with Tommy Thompson in mid-90's. "Health Care" has fubar'd the situation, more coming.
of course, O could try to do the "one-child" solution.
- Ned
Celente said "by the end of 2010 everyone will have realized we are in the greatest depression". When the checks stop coming I would not want to be in the city. I guess they wont stop coming you just wont be able to buy shit with them...
Celente also said the same thing about 2009
Kinda along the same lines how Bernanke said there was no housing crisis right?
*sarcasm off*
and Ben has just a little bigger motive to lie than the other guy
<Sarcasm definitely on>
and Bawney Fwank said that Freddie and Fannie were all good. Perhaps from his perspective, this was all true (right Hot Bottom?).
but we'll live with the consequences, nay him.
</sarcasm>
- Ned
ed: full disclosure: he used to be my congress-critter until he was gerrymandered away by moving the district across the stripe on the road where I am. Not through any fault of mine.
Speed Racer was my fav cartoon when i was a kid, but chemba always irritated me...
You know...something just occured to me. Every now and again I go into Wal-Mart late at night...(I've noticed this for about a year or two).
Say 10:30 to 11ish and notice the place has a lot of people for this time of night. I always chalked it up to they are shopping when the store is less crowded, but maybe this plays into it. Going to start tracking the dates and times when I go in now.
When I was still in school, I always went to walmart late because it shortened my shopping time by about half... but jesus do the freaks come out at night. I can't put any patterns to it now... I generally go on the weekend and I get a mixed bag (mostly fat and if anyone is riding on a cart, they have to hit me).
Ever wonder whether this is your karma?
Don't support wal-mart! This model epitomizes what's wrong- the lowest cost mentality, the consume, consume, consume mentality, whereby the growthers aim us all right over the fucking cliff.
Since man has exchanged goods and services, man has sought the lowest cost for purchased goods and services... this concept will continue so long as man continues.
In a nutshell, the argument against walmart is an argument against the ability to utilize national boundaries to exploit low cost production capacity. This is an argument against every multinational, whose directive is to return the most profit for its stakeholders (probably principal actors moreso than shareholders). The only way to cease this is to attempt a single world government, with unified labor/environmental regulations and a single currency. Fortunately (and I mean fortunately) those nations who stand to benefit the most from being the new production centers have no incentive to join the rest of the world (hence china telling us to go fuck ourselves in copenhagen).
Of course, this problem does not stop with national boundaries. Even within national boundaries, there are differences in labor markets. This is why there has been a concerted shift from the northeastern states to the southeastern states... Even small/regional players utilize the cheapest labor force to maximize return.
You don't hate walmart, you hate human nature. Obviously some of their labor practices are terrible and we have to be diligent to fight inequality and immorality everywhere. But the reason why they are in the spotlight so much is because they have the most employees, not because they are proportionately the worst... this is the same reason why the united states has the most lawsuits... it's simply a direct representation of the number of business transactions/size of the markets.
If you're bright enough to figure out a way (without manipulation, coersion, or force) to get people to pay more for a similar product, then I encourage you to do so. Otherwise, we will continue to pay less.
PS, I am an atheist so, no, I do not believe anything is my karma... nor that I will return to this world as a grasshopper next life for my transgressions in this one.
Wal-Mart used the state benefit system to subside their business model - brazenly, for years. . . that's a form of "capitalism" that veers towards a socialist state model, no? where one family is full of billionaires, and has been (mis)using government handouts, where the employees are trained to see that as functional and normal, and then shop at the same place even when out of work? a brand loyalty that mirrors "patriotism" - seriously, this is something to be celebrated?
no, I don't hate "human nature" - I do however loathe the Wal-Mart business model, and the economics 101 remaking of language, including "efficiency". . .
Could you please expand on the concept of how walmart utilizes the government to subsidize its business model? I would like to see this argument fleshed out... I hear it a lot, but I'm guess it has a myriad of flawed premises... most notably that private enterprises are required to provide healthcare to their employees, despite the government setting a mandated floor to wages.
sad.
That was my very first thought as well..
All is well, as long as those BRIDGE food stamp cards keep getting activated at 12AM sharp!!
This is very bad... I hate gov cheese, but if you cut it off the folks will riot or snap.
Theyre saving that for when they can use it to their best advantage.
but the Progressives in MN and WI used to dump their milk rather than sell it at low prices and feed the Depression starving people. So the Progressives intentionally starved people. wtf?
- Ned
Yes, that seems pretty silly. Looking at your avatar brings up the question of why they didn't feed it to hogs...
For whatever it's worth, Canada has a progressive conservative party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Conservative_Party_of_Canada). I'm still trying to get my head around this one...
Walmart CEO - there are families not eating at end of month
Nov 10, 2009: Walmart Executive - "There are Families Not Eating at the End of the Month
We also have noted over the past year, Walmart saying they see a huge rush of grocery purchases around "pay periods" (whether that comes from actual work, unemployment checks, food stamp card debited, etc). In English this means people are literally living paycheck to paycheck, and cannot buy minor items... such as food, in part of that space between pay periods.
ood retailing consultant Bill Bishop, of Willard Bishop Consulting, said Costco's decision shows how pervasive the pressure on consumers has become. He said more and more grocers are seeing their sales peak and fall based on when assistance benefits are distributed.
Well, I'm sure he's upped his personal charitable contributions to help those poor people. I can only imagine his immense generosity considering this astronomical means.
Or, better yet, let 'em eat bread...if there isn't bread...let 'em eat cake.
This guy wouldn't give them a cup of sweat off his nad sack if they were dying of thirst.
"cake" is, of course, the burned carbon residue of the baking ovens. Not "cake".
- Ned
I'm friends with the manager of a local grocery store that's part of a regional chain. He told me a month ago that headquarters makes sure to put high margin impulse items on sale along with the basic staples timed to coincide with the first of the month.
He said that after they started doing this, same store sales of high margin items moved up "substantially" (he said around 18% when I asked) simply due to timing the sale around when the customer could best afford to splurge.
Ah, yes, exploitation of the ignorant by the educated in times of crisis. Serving society since forever.
Hey, it's normal for our corporations to act as sociopaths and prey on the less well off and disadvantaged because the bottom line is the bottom line. All hail the almighty profit.
Many people simply don't take the time or have the critical thinking skills to take a close look at how embedded social injustice is into our economic system(s). It's just the way it is after all. And you can't fight city hall or large corporations.
I can't wait until the "designated" corporate voter steps up to cast a ballot by "citizen" Microsoft or IBM. That day has already arrived, just not at the actual "designated" corporate polling place. They still use proxies, called the bought and paid for political class.
There's nothing like jumping over greed on the way to all-out gluttony. One should always kick an old lady in the teeth, for good measure, after snatching her purse.
Moral compass...permanently kaput.
So people do not have the wherewithal to avoid knick knacks in the checkout lanes of grocery stores... I'm wondering just where we're supposed to draw the line for personal responsibility.
the corporation doesn't need to vote for the candidate, the Supreme Court already said they could buy him http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22535
Indeed... Makes me ashamed to be human..
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" Krishanmurti
CD-
I'm a bit confused on your perspetive: do people have free will, or are they "preyed upon"?
gotta call you on no "social injustice" as well. don't grok "social injustice" outside of e.g. Alinsky.
but this is a normative vs. descriptive discussion.
let's play a bit
- Ned
You got junked for that, but I tend to agree. "Never give a sucker an even break" is the motto taught to all MBA students.
Yeah! That damn corporation removed all free will when they put those items on sale!
I'd be interested to know what exactly is "free will" in a society as propagandized and indoctrinated as America is today. Free will. I'll need to think about that concept for a while.
We clearly can discern that the captured solider apologizing for his war crimes while a gun is pointed at him or her off camera or some other threat of violence is imposed is obviously not acting under "free will". In a society where the economic system exploits and abuses while at the same time propaganzing using governmental and corporate subliminal and overt messages, peer pressure, the ever present threat of violence by authorities and an education and economic system clearly designed to raise good productive economic slaves etc, what is "free will"?
By no stretch of the imagination am I excusing anyone, including the good productive economic slaves. I'm simply asking a reasonable question.
Excellent point. Psychology and criminal law both recognize a variety of situations that erode "free will."
oops, others introducing "free will" - Ned
"Choice, the problem is choice." Neo
"False choice, the problem is false choice." Cognitive Dissonance
+666!
+666!
It has taken decades but we have been conditioned for this. Your government loves you, shut up and spend those food stamps.
But, it's the govt doing that because corporations underpay AND they also want to sell products. What to do? Ah, force the govt to "assist" people into subsidizing their practices, er a, buying their products...
I hear complaints about public assisted housing in downtown areas, that people aren't happy about subsidizing someone else's housing. Well, I say, it's really a matter of subsidizing developers and local businesses that are too fucking cheap to pay a sufficent wage such that people could afford to live and work downtown.
Which also reminds me of the poor logic that I heard when my local community was spending millions on a new transit station. I asked whether it wouldn't make more sense funneling that money into local businesses so that they could provide local jobs than in subsidizing the businesses in a nearby large city. People complained that they had to commute, yet they clamoured for better commuting resouces!
The biggest slice always goes to those orchestrating the system- the wealthy, the same folks that program us to fight among ourselves so that they can continue to pull the strings, keep everyone on edge and moving.
great post Seer, good to the last drop.
A long way to go and a short time to get there...
Lets all thank Walmart for all their help, shall we?
HOPE
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/09/screwed.html
MAX!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D7HSu9yHxg
WWIII came and went - GS opening in Tehran.
lol, you can't make this shit up.
seriously, CitiBank etc. in Iran - stealth undermining of nationstates, worldwide.
That Bill Simon quote sounds like the start to a good zombie movie!
Night of the Living Fed
And the zombification of the world continues apace
Every day is the same, confirmation after confirmation after confirmation that MARSHALL LAW is coming into town!
If you can't even spell "martial" correctly, I highly doubt that you are informed enough to offer an opinion on the subject.
'Martial law' is certainly coming, of course they wont call it that. Terms like martial law are SO 1970's Cambodia. Cant even call a food stamp a food stamp today. May hurt someones self esteem. So theyll call it 'friendly time' or something.
A big fat belly LOL for the "friendly time" martial law. :>)
Heh heh heh.
FEMA: "get in the van, candy!" time.
FEMA: Fun Everyone Must Attend!
The country is collapsing everywhere and all the leaders can do is lie to their electorate that things are great.
And throw them a sop.
Frequent visitors to HuffPost know that the real reason Mr. Summers is leaving, is to help Democrats keep support of progressives in the mid-term elections. Ever since Summers joined the White House team, far left columnists have pounded the Obama Administration for continuing the insider thread running through the Clinton and Bush administrations, represented by protégés of Rubin and Summers.
For the progressives to know that there’ll be a changing of the guard (most realists know it’s just a hat change) brings hope it might help progressive money to flow again.
you got it bub
Swap the puppets all they want it wont help, the people hate Obummer. Theyll see the polls arent turning their way at all and go to plan B around 3rd week of Oct. Got ammo and camping gear?
Who Was Self-Dealing CDOs?
I think that, at the end of all this, "leadership" will throw up their hands in a deflated sort of way, and comment, "Well, at least we saved the bankers."
Sad, that with all we are capable of, all we can produce is pride, anger, greed, gluttony, lust, envy, and sloth. Truly, a disgrace of leadership, at the least, and each of us, at the most.
One fine blog post, Mr Durden.
Does Kentucky Fried Chicken accept electronic food stamps at the drive-thru?
Actually, yes they do. Walked into my local KFC the other day for lunch and saw a sign on the door that read "EBT now accepted".
BTW, the term EBT bugs the shit out of me. How about calling it FOOD STAMPS!
If it preserves a little dignity for someone, it's alright for me.
What I'd like to see is EBT geared toward reducing obesity. The vast majority of EBT users are buying and eating exactly what they should not be eating. My rationale? If you live off the taxpayers, then we get a say in what you eat, and the resulting health care costs (that we are also paying). Don't like it? Tough shit. That's the deal. Or, take care of your own expenses.
KFC is so addicting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b5B1oD36Kw
Aye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo
Welcome the Orwellian language for saving our dignity!
cha, my thought exactly. Should be shame (don't have much of that around, thanks, Saul) to get folks focused on something other than sitting down.
- Ned
Maybe so...
As others have already pointed out, this program says one thing and then does another (imagine that!)
Their stated Goal:
To provide a variety of nutritious meal choices to the elderly, homeless and disabled food stamp households
http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/restaurant_meals/default.cfm
Funny how KFC, Dominos, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Taco Bell, California Donut, etc help them fulfill their goal.
Lemme get this straight - "If you live off the taxpayers, blah, blah, blah..."
You assume that these people ARE NOT/WERE NOT taxpayers? Only you and yer pals that may not be on welfare (yet)???
"If you live off the taxpayers, then we get a say in what you eat"
But, we already DO pretty much do do that. Well, perhaps not overtly. The system is working exactly how it's supposed to.
Trick the masses into subsidizing big Ag so that it can pump out more cheap, subsidized corn, so that the cheap crap can then be bought up by big food corporations, whose operations are subsidized by cheap labor and food subsidies. And all the while paint those that are oppressed as being the reason for the drag on everyone else...
Got the picture?
*nods*
add to that mandatory "health insurance" to funnel towards Big Pharma for the inevitable ill health fall-outs inherent in eating chemically manufactured "fud" products. . . damn, you got a closed loop system, guaranteed profits.
factory pharm'd hu-mans, mmmmmm.
Yes, in California, if you're homeless, disabled, or elderly.
http://www.ladpss.org/dpss/restaurant_meals/RMP_participant_info.cfm
California - super cool to the homeless.
classic 'restaurant' on the list of food stamp eligible ones:
California Donuts
3540 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, 90020
Yeah, quite often the choice of commuter airline pilots.
Hilarious! California government endorsing fast food chains...Go ahead, Supersize the arteries...Universal Health Care covers heart attacks. LOL!
Stop junking RT. We can all screen for movers, don't blame him.
Junk me instead......
Walmart... the People Republic of China Cancer Store... its sick
One reason I like Wal-Mart is that the PTB hate Wal-Mart. She’s an outsider, for the obvious reason.
Aside from being from Arkansas and getting a degree from wal-mart's executive incubator (university of arkansas @ fayetteville), I have a thesis that it is impossible to starve if you have a wal-mart in your town. For $5/day, you can easily get all the nutrition you need... and probably some toiletries/personal hygiene products to boot. People talk about the rising cost of things, but it's a relative measure... needless to say, I like wally world too.
Wallmart is everything that is wrong in this world.
remember when they were caught with their boats out of Hong Kong filled with items freshly stamped with the "made in america" labels. About sums them up.
I heard the Wallmart sweat shops tattoo their inmates with Made in America.
Wal-mart has stared you in the face for decades and told you the truth about your position in the world... that you are a lot fucking poorer than you think... and that american companies had no remote ability to compete, all things considered, on most household items. Not only did it predict the weather, it held your hand through the storm...
I'd hope you could at least respect their logistical abilities... aside from the fact that they're a privately owned company that employs the most americans... you could make them pay higher taxes and fill out more paperwork for their employees... but they can also not employ as many people.
What are you going to say, because walmart offered such cheap prices, people could continue to leverage? It's walmart's fault? piss off. The sad part is that walmart has probably done more for the nation's poor than the government ever has...
Wallmart is everything wrong with the world, I will say it over and over. Junk me if you like, but it is true. Luckily for people like me, their time has come. Once oil production peaks, their bottom line will be shot; this if FIAT is "re" valued or whatever. Then we will go back to community gardens, and farming. Away from this unnatural way of life! Be it with your conscience or without, away!
I have spent decades trucking. Some of my runs were into walmart distribution centers from around the Nation. They want the stuff pronto anywhere to anywhere in 4 days and not more than 10 minutes late of your appointed time and date.
If things go badly and desiel hits say... 9.00 a gallon or even more, Walmart will simply stop when the stocks remaining in distrubution dries up. Get the fuel very expensive and the trucks will simply stop rolling.
I have hauled apples out of Yakima when they were .15 a pound prior to 9-11 at the company store and .30 at walmart a pound. Now they are something like 1.50 a pound for Reds. Granted alot of the Orchards have had to cut down many trees to comply with water rations as each tree needs about 110 gallons of water a day.
I am old enough to remember the old 5 and dimes and delis you had everything you needed within a few blocks walk in the city, even a bakery, church, barber, gun shop and so on.
No more now. All the old country has died off along with thier generations of kids have also lived and died to be replaced by immigrants, legal or not along with other peoples moving through. None of the business I mention survive today. However the one bar still does and the grocery store.
Times did change, and here we are. Yet the future holds with it as much an oppurtunity for fortune as failure.
Congrats on the gig seagull, a walmart logistics job on your resume is a ticket to work for anyone... I'm guessing you have your shit together pretty tight. (I worked at a... not as prestigious unnamed southern freight line for a while between degrees after graduating a semester early... loved every minute of it).
Lennon: I'd say the short and medium future is nothing but a big trap for the unweary and it holds vastly more opportunities for failure. Not sure how you could remotely think our future has AS MUCH opportunity for fortune as failure... the "fortune" is contracting...
Also, you say walmart will crumble with higher oil prices like their some island in the sea... if that happens, EVERYONE will be effected... the supply chain will break down... and we will have no goods, including commercially grown produce. In other words, yes if the world dies, walmart will die with it.
The other issue is, walmart is perfectly capable of sensing threats and adapting accordingly... if it fails to, then it goes under (is walmart too big to fail?). Walmart is probably in a better position to adapt than many corporations... What is going to stop walmart from stocking local produce? What is going to stop walmart from selling american made products? It will still have its logistical core competancy... whether that be by rail or zepplin... It certainly has a big footprint and a lot of overhead... but, at the same time, it has/will become america's shopping mall... everything is relative. There is nothing static about a multinational...
Let's say that I have a load of... Ice Cream for walmart. 46,000 pounds of the stuff in the refrigerated trailer. I have to drive that load ... oh about let's say Virginia to Texas. Ice Cream costs about 3.00 for 1.5 quarts. roughly. Now that is on 4.00 desiel.
If I see 9.00 Desiel the trip from Virginia to Texas Walmart Distribution has just doubled at a minimum. That ice cream will need to sell for ... 6.00 for a quart or so I suppose once the bean counters at walmart finish paying my BOL for the load and they finish breaking that ice cream load into several other trailers that will scatter to different super centers.
Let's say that things really got bad. 14.00 Desiel. Walmart will probably not want to run trucks anymore and fail because vendors are all around the USA.. 300-2500 miles away and some of the stuff is on one of the three coasts coming and going. Folgers out of New Orleans La. comes to mind.
And no company with one truck or 15000 burning up to 300 gallons every 48 hours or so in team operation at 14.00 gas cannot successfully submit a Invoice for the haul to be paid with a profit.
Unless YOU, me and them other customers wandering in the wally world at midnight waiting for government cards to turn on can still afford to buy milk at very high prices.
I agree that presuming walmart owns its fleet, it is at risk of a significantly depreciating asset should oil prices rise substantially... I don't think anyone disputes this... and that the supply chain is fragile... and that rising prices at the pump increase costs for consumers... certainly acceptable premises.
I guess my point is, so what? What kind of time frame does gas rise in price? Is this an instantaneous event? Is there any redundancy in the system at that point? A backup plan? Has walmart changed a substantial portion of its business model by this point? Has it sold any part of the fleet or converted it to more efficient transportation? Has it sold any of its stores? There are an incredible amount of variables that are conveniently left out here... all of which are incredibly necessary to get some type of accurate guestimate.
Also, I do not believe your analysis is limited to walmart... essentially, what you're describing would destroy the entire supply chain at this juncture, i.e. walmart along with virtually every other business, albeit taking some longer to succumb than others. So, I'm not sure what your point is... or why this is uniquely something to discuss in regards to walmart.
hey lennon, ya know glass seaballs? he is in washington state, you in oregon†
Walmart's closest competitor is costco. Check out how they treat / pay / benefit their employees compared to Walmart. Walmart may "employ" a number of americans but so does the government. Means nothing. Walmart was also the one caught locking up their questionable citizenship employees overnight at the stores. Like their fake "made in america" stickers, walmart is a psychotic hypocrisy and as Lennon says, represents everything that has gone wrong with america
costco requires membership, no? Walmart is a private enterprise... the government, not so much... wal-mart's core competency is getting goods that meet the needs of its customers at the price point of low cost leader and getting them shipped to stores at the lowest possible cost. Inherently, the government is incapable of realizing the maximum utilization of its logistical abilities, determining needs in the market place, and paying bottom dollar for goods and services.
The difference between walmart and other employers is that other employers are not the most sued corporation in the world. Point being, you hear about walmart's transgressions more than the sexual harassment at the local bakery or the shortchanging of the concrete layers or whatever it is... you're simply describing the interchange between those that derive the profit from their business enterprises and those who actually produce it. No employer in the world is incapable of screwing over employees, period, end of story. It's just that too many employers don't have enough money for attorneys to go after to uncover the problems... you're going to have to show that proportionately, walmart is worse than other employers... I think that's going to be a hard row to hoe.
Costco's "membership" disqualifies them as a "private enterprise?" Give me a break. They are the fourth largest US retailer & Walmart is the world's largest so what, the comparison is fair. Low cost leader? Their product prices are similar yet Costco pays its employees an average of 17 bucks an hour, Walmart about 9. Costco covers over 80% of it employees with health coverage, Walmart about 40%. But you have to wait two years at Walmart and you still pay about forty percent of the premium. You're covered in six months at Costco and they pay over ninety percent. Big surprise, the employee turnover rate is over twice the amount at Walmart.
So what, the consumer gets a good price? Not really. The consumer as taxpayer, fills in the gap. Workers are paid so low that many of them rely on food stamps, healthcare subsidies, housing vouchers etc. A UC study demonstrated that the state of california spends 10 billion annually to subsidize its workers
So what's your point exactly? Other retailers provide better benefits to their employees? OK, I'll grant you that one... Yes, private enterprises largely have the ability to decide what benefits they want to provide their employees...
You have your cause and effect completely backwards. At inception of the government, it takes it upon itself to provide for its citizenry. This means that it takes it upon itself to provide for their food, education, and healthcare. Nowhere in this proposition did private enterprise agree to do so... these are inherent burdens of the government. When private enterprise takes the risk of owning and operating a business and a citizen derives wages and other benefits through employment, it is a gift to the government, whose burden has been offloaded onto the private enterprise. You have this concept completely backwards.
Also, I dare say it is not walmart's fault when employees require subsidation, given inflation has murdered the purchasing power of their wages... this, again, is a function of government and a result of its intermeddling in the market. The government can attempt to convince people their standards of living are higher than they really are through credit spending, but eventually those issues will come home to roost and are completely unsustainable... there is no free lunch.
"I'd hope you could at least respect their logistical abilities... aside from the fact that they're a privately owned company that employs the most americans... "
The Nazi extermination camps, now, THOSE were impressive logistically speaking!
That impressive logistical work is compliments of massive subsidies (that's why bombs are being dropped on civilians near pipeline routes and oil fields in the Middle East- to provide the fuel to move their crap half way around the globe).
You confuse bigness with greatness. There is absolutely NOTHING remotely resembling sustainable in their business model. They have, when all is said and done, helped set us up for utter tragedy: "mommy, how come there's nothing to eat?;" "well little, Susan, wal-mart's ship from China didn't make it here this week."
"The sad part is that walmart has probably done more for the nation's poor than the government ever has..."
Key word "probably," which means that you're pulling shit out of your ass. But...
Your (wal-mart formulated) opinion. But it's also done so by indirectly milking the govt: lots of those "wal-mart-helped" workers, thanks to wal-mart's gracious pay, attend local community health clinics for their healthcare.
I don't see wal-mart as necessarily bad (it's a sign of our times), but then again there's no fucking way I could see it as good. I can't blame the system for being what's in its nature: but when it commits suicide I surely won't shed a tear to see it and its poster-child wal-mart go with it.
Thanks for playing!
First, I'm making a monumental effort to read through your post after making a nazi reference to bolster your side in an argument...
Second, walmart is not the cause of our outsourcing and crated out manufacturing base. Walmart sells the wares of the outsourcing corporations... big difference... If outsourcing didn't occur, walmart would likely still be selling american products... Point being, walmart is simply better than its competitors at exploiting the corporations who produce goods and services through outsourced (cheap) labor. Please do not portray, even mom and pop shops, as selling only made in the usa items... the issue is pervasive and occurs across all strata of business. In short, walmart isn't in the business of rounding up people, forcing them to work at substandard rates, and stuffing them into ovens...
Third, although there is a case to be made for private enterprise usurping the power of democracy, you can't generalize the usurpation and cite walmart as the source of all problems associated with the manipulation of the democratic process, as if some conspiracy exists with walmart and the others, e.g. GS. There are multiple factions, all jockeying for position, each of whom has varying levels of transgressions.
Fourth, what do subsidies have to do with being good at getting items from point A to B? Whether or not oil is cheap is completely irrelevant. Walmart's existing infrastructure is built around oil, but you presume that the same people that are good at moving things around with oil will be terrible at it with rail? ship? any form of transportation? Logistics is logistics... if not by big rig, walmart will get items to consumers by some other means... In other words, walmart is only good at moving items around with cheap oil... ok, got it. Question, why are other companies not as good at moving items around with cheap oil? Are you suggesting that our military supplies walmart with cheaper oil than every other competitor?
Fifth, what is unsustainable about its business model? I agree that brick and mortar business face huge risk with e-tailers given the low overhead of e-tailer warehouses and automated browsing/payment options. However, walmart has overtaken the concept of the "general store" in many towns... much of the items are too cheap to ship individually for most people and also be cost effective... What is stopping walmart from decreasing the length of its supply chain? It simply has no incentive to, given cheap oil... that is not to say that more expensive oil would prohibit walmart from purchasing products closer to each store... In the end, e-tailers to not present the same risk to walmart as they do other stores given the rudimentary need for some place in every town to go get general items... What is so unsustainable? So they start selling american products when we start producing things again? so what? I fail to see how walmart is completely incapable of adapting to changing circumstances and I'm not going to make your point for you... Walmart may "suicide" itself, anything is possible, but I'd like to see an expanded rationale for its demise.
Last, how does walmart milk the government when the government has agreed to pay for the healthcare of its citizenry? Walmart didn't agree to do that... The government sets the minimum wage rate and walmart abides... where it doesn't abide it gets the shit sued out of it and/or fined (in dire contrast to wallstreet). In other words, the government dictates that it shall pay for healthcare and it dictates to private corporations what they should pay employees, but when the corporations pay their employes the required minimum wage, then it is the corporations' fault their employees seek healthcare... ok, got it.
I think you've got this backwards. It's the government that benefits from the generosity of every corporation who provides healthcare to its employees, given the government's self sworn duty to provide healthcare to its citizenry (and non citizens...).
MM and seer i have been reading your late entry posts for a while. you both have a lot of experience and knowledge. in depth for me to read and comprehend. MM, i lived in the same town for almost 40 years. NO big boxes were permitted in the RF valley. until Walled Mart came in. i lived quite well, i thought, without ever needing to use a Big Box store, point i think is, humans being conditioned and their local government being bought out by these huge corporations and put small mom and pop stores out of biz. ski town granted, but most of stores were so pretentious if it was made in the US of A it was considered shit. most everything coveted is from europe. ok have a nice day.
The other stores were unsustainable... walmart only showed you that... just like credit contraction is showing us our real standard of living... I think most of the bad feelings of walmart stem from its innate ability to curb stomp their denial.
Funny what we call necessities nowadays.
Formula - presumably you're unemployed and home full time. Use your titties - the milk is free - formula is very expensive.
Bread - I make our bread. Takes about 15 minutes to knead the dough, few more minutes after rise to get it in pans. Cost is less than a quarter a loaf, and that's a loaf that weighs 3x as much as the crap they sell in yellow bags at the store.
And let's not forget the cigarettes and chew and beer and ridiculously priced pre-packaged foods. Not listed, but have no doubt they're being purchased.
If you couldn't make it during the fake economic expansion of the years 1950-2007ish, then you were most likely a moron, a loser, or a moronic loser.
Sorry. That's just the way it is. At no point during those years would it have been difficult for me to get and keep 2 jobs.
People are poor for a reason. The reason is not "bad luck."
EDIT - BTW, it's stupidity defined that we allow these "poor" people, who are generally disturbingly obese, to buy whatever crappy food they want with welfare money.
They should only be allowed to buy about 10 food items. Rice, beans, basic fruit and veggie, and so on. As a starting rule, any non-water beverage or any food with "corn syrup" in it should be illegal to possess if you're taking your neighbor's money to feed yourself. Don't like it? Get a f---ing job. That's what the rest of us do.
EVERYONE IS NOT EQUAL!!!
Of course, in many ways you are all too right -- but then the chain of continuity between agribusiness - healthcare - pharma -taxpayers' pockets would be severely disrupted. Plus it might result in an increase in self-empowered, frugal citizens who actually take some time to think for themselves. Can't have that now, can we?
excellent point CD, the entire USGDP relies on the codependency paradigm.
'People are poor for a reason. The reason is not "bad luck."'
So anyone can be president in this country, eh? I find it very offensive to just assume that poor people are stupid. That is a pretty broad brush stroke you're making there, and such a generalization might be stupid in and of itself. Upward mobility is not as easy in this country as convention would have you believe.
I am poor, granted I am still doing much better than a lot of people in this country, and especially around the world. So, from what you are saying, it is my own stupid fault for not agreeing with the notion that I must finance a huge ass student loan so that I can get an education, some day pay off said loan, and get a higher paying job so I can pay off my debt more efficiently?
Besides that, in order for you to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and climb out of poverty, you have to battle a horde of a-holes who dismiss you as stupid because you're poor.
I am probably not as smart as you. You probably have more money than I do. However, this doesn't mean that your assumption is correct. Maybe it means that I value other things more than I value money.
So this is poverty—of America's poor “89 percent own microwave ovens, and more than one-third have automatic dishwashers”? And you don't want to go to university because you'll have to work to pay off the student loan.
Roger Hedgecock said this week in Poverty just ain’t what it used to be: “In time for the world 'Anti-Poverty Summit' at the U.N. starting this week, the Obama regime released data indicating growing 'poverty' in the U.S.”
Another mid-term campaign, no doubt, by the federal government to continue building its huge empire of welfare workers and welfare voters, by defining more and more Americans ‘poor’ to make them "dependent on government cheese."
It’s called socialism, made possible by Keynesianism.
According to facts from The Heritage Foundation about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau:
“Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car (31 percent own two or more cars), air conditioning (80 percent), a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded (more than 67 percent of ‘poor’ households have two or more rooms per person).
"'Poor’ American children eat more meat than higher-income American children and average protein intake 100 percent above the recommended levels. Obesity is the predominant health hazard to America's ‘poor’ children. ‘Poor’ children in this country grow up to be on average one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the average G.I. who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.”
There are two main reasons that American children are poor, says Heritage: “Their parents don't work much, and fathers are absent from the home. In good economic times or bad, the typical poor family with children is supported by only 800 hours of work during a year.”
Nor does the government count as "income" any income received from the government. If you get food stamps or WIC payments or Section 8 housing subsidies or a disability check, this "income" does not count as income.
It's all relative, homie.
When we're discussing poverty in America, it doesn't really make sense to compare poverty in the United States to poverty in Uganda, where 2009 GDP was 38.1 billion. This is why I am not really comparing poor people here (in the USA) to poor people on average around the world. Lets just stay US centric for a minute.
Microwaves are inexpensive. So, your definition of poor means you can't have any household appliances. Have you seen the Las Vegas sewer people? They have beds, are they poor? (link below)
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/2651937/The-people-living-in-drains-below-Las-Vegas.html
According to our own criminal government, a family of 5 is above poverty level if they make a total of 27,000. You can bet your ass that they don't have a microwave, or if they do it is because they don't have an oven.
Also, yes, I think it is bullshit that you can't get a college diploma without forking over $40,000. Education is extremely overpriced. For a person who doesn't wish to take on huge loads of debt, it is impossible, if you are not hooked up to begin with.
The point of my original post is that it's pretty fucking stupid to say that the poor are poor because they're stupid. That statement is baseless, insulting, and untrue.
Are you stupid, or just poorly educated, poorly dressed, and perhaps have poor hygene due to the fact you have no soap or possibly running water or the light or gas just got cut off? Maybe no phone to answer or give a number on an application?
How are you going to get one job if you are poor and have one or any number of issues listed above?
It is clear you are one mean-spirited idiot. As bad off as we are, we should always insist on basic food and shelter for the least among us, no matter their faults. We have more thn enough food and shelter.
Reminds me of the recent health care looting spree debate... when every one of the thirty five countries who do much better in terms of both cost and care... provide care for all. Your type of myopic libertarian fantasy greed simply costs us all entirely too much.
I'm really not a bleeding heart type, but i really am at a loss as to why and how people get to a point like you express. maybe the bleeding hearts are right when they ask folk like you - What on earth did somebody do to you as a child? Because little else seems to be able to explain such a desire for widespread misery.
Is impossibility the exception or the rule to overcoming poverty?
You can be as generous as you like with your own money--just keep your thieving hands off of mine, thanks.
Lol, that's the spirit. Tighten that grip!
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Carlos Helu. These types should be put on hoarders: the billionaire edition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAnah0l0rqk
If you want to advocate slavery, that's your business, but I hope you were envisioning a scenario where it was you getting whipped. Hoarding isn't the problem... it's excess derived through immoral/illegal means that is the problem. In this case, getting your old ass bailed out at every step of the way by the administration.
Cute. Well, you've got me pegged. I am a retired 65 year old teachers union rep on welfare and food stamps, I donate to Obama, and all I want is for rich people to hang themselves and bequeath their money to the United Way (lmao).
I was simply trying to make an interesting juxtaposition. I was highlighting that wealth accumulation could be likened to hoarding.
But sure, I'll buy your hyperbolic refutation of that juxtaposition.
I couldn't agree more with the notion that the problem is excess derived through illegal and immoral means. That is a wonderful sentiment, but how the hell do we fix that? Do we write our congresspeople?
If I'm not mistaken, I've seen you talk about how incentives are what drive people to action. Well then, how do we remove the incentive to obtain excess derived through immoral/illegal means? Enforce the laws. Oh wait, the justice system is rigged by the high net worth crowd. Damn. Guess we're screwed again.
I must add, you're a master of sticking it to someone while concurrently making it look like you're not trying to stick it to them, very nice (golf clap).
Advocating slavery...HA!
I must add, you're a master of sticking it to someone while concurrently making it look like you're not trying to stick it to them, very nice (golf clap).
In a nutshell, it's what I do for a living... so, thank you.
If you presuppose that the rule of law has been thrown to the wind (see recent florida case sticking it to the mortgage servicer), then you have pigeonholed yourself into either staging civil disobedience to prove that they have not the resources to deal with you and like minded individuals, or into taking up arms against your state. If you want to be defeatist, that's fine, but it's not going to make the ass rape feel any better... I suppose you could trick yourself into liking it, but that's pretty sick... a sore asshole is bad enough. Needless to say, you have alternatives. (aside from the fact that the traditional notion of working hard and smart WILL still pay off for you... but I do acknowledge that ability is in its twilight and limited to a select few of the middle/lower class).
there are some valid points in there, but i'm less than impressed with those in white-collar law enforcement... one after-the-fact catch in florida does not a credible justice system make.
that's like saying "they caught bernie madoff, so wall street must be working". etc.
as a ZH reader, you can guess my general opinion of the gubmint/street these days.
cheers
I'm in agreement with you regarding the status of our regulators certainly (I think people would have a different opinion of the legal system if any of the criminals were ever brought in front of the court...). However, I'm simply pointing out the fact that the previous poster was making a call to arms but too cowardly to do so. Once you dismiss political avenues as having any effect, you're left with few choices.
+
i've noticed (and am somewhat guilty) quite a few armchair revolutionaries out here in sheeple-land...
i know i can always do more, but i've also seen how effective most of that action has been thus far (letters to senators, etc.). i'm actively trying to figure out which battles can be won, and how to best execute those strategies (signs on the street?, meetings with representatives, etc.).
ZH is rich with well-intended dialogue, but the human condition is rich with unmotivated spectators who enjoy their bread and circuses from the sidelines and wonder why there's no change in the game. loud cheering only goes so far.
arguably, ZH is merely another arena. i've got a season pass :^)
Here's an unjunk for you, Eureka. I was not raised, nor do I live, nor would anyone ever accuse me of being a bleeding heart type, but I find no good reason to deny basic life-support to those who can't (or even won't) take care of themselves.
Yes and no. At least not the kind of jobs most would view as an "honest" paying job. Why? Because although I agree with you on the basis of self-sufficiency, I don't think you're looking at the BIG PICTURE and what will be the path of least resistance for many of the USSA's newest members of the low / lower income class.
We're now looking at unemployed millions (and growing) who had been riding on the coat-tails of the easy credit markets easily for the last 13 years. New cars, 20" rims, multiple vacations, $600 weekend tabs at the bar, eating out 2x a day for 7 times a week...........those days are over.
You really think people who had gotten accustomed to that lifestyle are just going to take Charlie "Ass-hat" Munger's advice and "suck it in and cope?" Working 2 jobs which now include the swing shift at McDonalds and the graveyard shift at Carl's Jr just to pay off the data plan on their iPhones???? No fucking way.
These people won't get jobs, they'll be doing jobs and a failure to realize the potential effects on a working class that at one time was living the good life only to lose it all in a matter days / weeks / months, will be a failure on your part to plan for the shit storm that's coming which many of us here at ZH have been fortunate to plan for a couple of years in advance.
It's one thing always being broke and living broke versus being on top of the world (as false as it maybe living off the plastic) but now living broke.
Watch your back on that next visit to the ATM. If you're lucky or aware enough, you just might save yourself from being someone's next "job."
Unless the poor band together in thousand-man armies and overrun people like the Zulu did to the British army, I don't think they're bright enough to cause very much trouble.
Last time I checked, it didn't take a rocket scientist to rob somebody at gun point....
Like it. Or each population center to have one or more glorified soup kitchens in place of food stamps. This way the tax payers have some say in what food stuffs are allocated & rationed to the parasites and these free meals assured to be wholesome and cost friendly. The peoples other needs could be provided for by philanthropy ie milk powder. Maybe we need another solution for healthcare but understand that this is currently being finalised. Any thoughts?
To the couple posters calling me a monster and so on.
Start with this - not being "poor" has nothing to do with not having a college degree.
It's about concerted effort.
The "reason" that people are poor - with a few exceptions - is because they're fundamentally lazy and unable to control their short term impulses in order to improve their long term prospects.
Simple as that.
Now, as I noted above, that has been the truth for the 50 years of fraudulent expansion of the U.S. economy. It will be less applicable in a few years when we're eyeball deep and in depression.
But in any event, it's a truism that what you get out of life is strongly related to what you put in - causatively related.
Obviously the station of your birth and the location limit what you can do, but if you lived in America in the last 50 years and you were "poor," you were, with few exceptions, poor by choice.
Don't show me a poor person living in a tunnel. Show me the choices he made to end up there.
I agree that we should have a social safety net, and I think it should be tight - I just think it should be the bare minimum. None of this "let them buy ring-dings because otherwise they'll feel stigmatized" horse shit. Nothing like a little humiliation to get you motivated. The card that welfare people present to get food should be neon pink and have the word "welfare" in big letters on it. One of the biggest problems with U.S. "poverty" is that everybody is fat and happy. The stigma is gone.
To the poster who mentioned - "be prepared, as we at ZH have had a couple years head start" - I have a bigger secret than you. I have been preparing since 05 - I'm as prepared as I can be.
Finally, regarding "doing jobs" and ATMs, I always carry, I always carry with a round chambered, and I am always aware of my environment. Sure, they can probably take me, but I go out fighting, just like I've lived my whole life.
No monster taunts here Mr. Ivy, what you just said is real.
The truth is often unpopular.
I make our bread, too - but I cheat and use a bread machine to mix the dough before letting it rise. I get to use the time saved to do something else productive (or not, like bumming around ZH). It's not hard to find a machine for $10 that someone isn't really using.
That's great you're prepared probably both in acquiring goods and most importantly the mental state that will be needed to survive which will be the killer for most, unfortunately that isn't the case for the majority of the dumb-downed masses who are just now stepping into either the denial, anger, or panic stages especially at a time when they no longer have the discretionary financial means to get ready.
Frankly, I'm glad I didn't wise up anytime sooner because I can only imagine how it would be to be in on the "secret" for that long without shooting your own brains out in the process.
I now look at guys like Ross Perot with more admiration and how the media made him out as some kind of freak with all his charts and graphs although at that time I was just a young teen and could care less. There have been several who've been calling for a dollar crash 20 years strong. That's a long ass time to being early to the party.
Having said that, the end point is 3rd world America is coming whether you have a round chambered or not and seeing how today's society has a tendency to taking the easy way out, that .45 with a low count mag probably won't help much.
I'm only in the game and "preparing" because of the kids. If not for that, I imagine myself somewhere very far away.
I don't even go to atms anymore. I go to bank with conceal carry license and adequate shoot practice regularly. I take out a sum of money and go home for the whole month. It was a bitch disconnecting from the atm lifestyle but when you carefully plan 4 weeks of expenses ahead of time plus build a small cash cushion at home you can do it.
I have had some time to prepare and we are not finished yet.
When I was little we would have a downtown filled with everything. When walmart showed up along with the great big glitzy mall just outside of town, everything died downtown. To be replaced by crafts, thrift and mission stores.
Now the area I am in we have a little this a little of that, but if Walmart builds a super center in my spot, all the little bits will be finished because everyone would get it cheaper at walmart.
As long as you can maintain the entire web nationwide with trucking, rail and ships to make it all happen every day.
In fact. Consider this.
Gallon water lines a shelf in my local store. When the shelf is FULL of water that means all is well. If the shelf suddenly empties of water, that means the area has had a water main break somewhere, only you dont know about it yet until you return home and find your taps dry.
In that case I maintain several barrels of potable water to get through one week without water until they can make the repairs.
If I ever, ever see a stripped out walmart super center one of two things:
Coming hurricane or coming of the last days and it's NOT going to be pretty.
why have all of the ZH commenter's turned effeminate, lately? you're all talking nonsense. walk your talk. i eat when i am hungry, that's it, has been my whole life. what is new. that's what our body tells us, hey i need some energy. jeeze. get over this topic and go forward with something interesting.
Buy a pound of premium tobacco and a roll your own equiptment to make your own smokes tax free.
But hurry up before the Government and Revenuers start to tax that stuff too.
I still remember how to cook meals the slow way, the thing is it takes raw materials that will quickly vanish once very hungry mobs quickly relearn colonial cooking all over again.
And those iron stoves, pans and such at the flea markets, those will be stripped bare also because they are useful and will outlive you if cared for properly.
It is interesting to note how much time people have if unemployed in sufficient numbers.
Solar cookers. We enjoyed chicken breasts and baked potatoes from ours just the other day.
You can also use them to pasteurize water and dry seal canning jars.
You strike me as some kind of control freak. Want to run the poor peoples' lives, eh? Make them eat this, and force them to do that, and select which brands of underwear they can purchase, unless it's second hand.
Yuck. You disgust me. I agree with most of everything you said, though. We would all prefer people acted how we thought they should, but so long as they are not depriving of life or property, then let it go, dude.
Your issue is with your government, not poor people. Guide your derision towards where the blame truly lies.
Actually, I'm happy to let "poor" people live their lives and make whatever decisions they want to make. Any. Any.
Except when they come to me and demand money, which they do as long as there is taxation and redistribution. Then, and only then, do I have a right to dictate what happens to the money that's been forcibly taken from me.
God Bless Your Big Heart. You're happy to have 8 dollars in taxes taken from you so that a fat "poor" person can eat KFC.
I'd say that 1. You're encouraging them to stay poor. 2. You're encouraging them to eat very unhealthy foods, and 3. You're willingly paying 8 dollars in taxes to fund a KFC trip when 2 dollars would buy better, healthy foods with more calories.
But bless you anyway for having a big heart.
(BTW - see story on farmer's markets and how they had a heck of a hard time getting approval to take welfare cards - "Big Business it don't like you. It don't like the things you do.)
My point was that poor people aren't stealing from you, your government is.
I don't believe that government is fit to express everyone's favorite carrots and sticks, and is not the proper arena for that.
Most of what you wrote is reasonable, until...
'People are poor for a reason. The reason is not "bad luck."'
Care to take a trip to Manila with me and make that proclamation? Do you know why most of the wealthy are wealthy? Overwhelmingly, it was because they either had a shielded environment in which to grow from (try becoming wealthy after a childhood of constantly dodging bullets- be it in a slum-ridden city in the US or one/anywhere in Rwanda), or they were handed a bucket-load of money/inheritance.
Bill Gates Sr. said that he wealth was achieved because of the society that he was born in to, and that he therefore owed that society something. (this was in response to a campaign to get rid of the "maintain the dynasties" campaign, aka "kill the death tax" crusade)
I was referring to the U.S. over the last 50 years.
GREAT POST! Extremely insightful & HONEST (not an attribute that any media outlet except ZH, is known for -) Ok - so here comes the bleeding heart liberal in me - Equity investors who KNOW that their entire investment is at risk are INSULATED by the Federal Reserve, however, Walmart appears to be able to COUNT on EARLY MORNING SALES due to the 'new underclass' - TRAGIC - so much for a government FOR the PEOPLE - My grandmother, God rest her soul, would say 'Wish them 3x what they do' - I wish that on Obama & Bernacke - as they ensure their cronies are INSULATED - they neglect the scores of the newly created underclass - I wish them 3x on what they do for the underclass - I thank you for the honest reporting this site provides - God BLESS the USA
Looks like the market participants (if there are any) could start a stampede out at any moment here.
I dont know how long the robots can hold the line.
The bankers and the robots are trying to keep oil up ! (You think the arabs are injecting their own POMO/MOMO/MOJO into the oil market ?)
With the "HUGE GLUT" inventory report out today Thy will not be victorious
"You think the arabs are injecting their own POMO/MOMO/MOJO into the oil market ?"
So, ONLY "Arabs" would be looking to do this? Not, say, the British, or the Dutch, or...?
Sorry, but your racism is showing...
OPEC, which I'm figuring your were trying to peg, but missed, is not comprised solely of "Arabs." And, it was actually an entity encouraged by the US: origins of the model can be found in the Texas Railroad Commission- look it up! Shit has been oozing out of Texas for a long fucking time...
well, you brought it up first. . . I'll just add that the Harvest full moon is only a few hours after the equinox, making it a particularly "powerful" chart. . . I realise no one here is particularly interested in charting planetary movements, so I'll just say there is a strong cross reference to the "birth" chart of the Federal Reserve, and it's "challenging" to say the least. . . also relates to amkra's "birth" chart, making a hard aspect to Venus, which represents "wealth", and the Midheaven, "how the world views us" . . .
there are many tensions inherent in this Full Moon relative to the status & money of amrka - of course it's apparent in the news - but I would not be at all surprised if something "event-full" were to happen shortly.
check this...hot off the presses from spaceweather.com:
GLOBAL ERUPTION ON THE SUN: This morning between 0230 UT and 0600 UT, the northern hemisphere of the sun erupted in a tumult of activity. There was a solar flare, a coronal mass ejection, and at least two dark magnetic filaments lifting off the stellar surface. The event appears to be a smaller-scale version of the global blast in early August that sparked auroras over some US states. As before, NASA spacecraft recorded the action in detail. Visit http://spaceweather.com for movies and updates.
thanks for the link tip e. - interestingly enough, the "cardinal climax" (a term apparently coined by financial astrologer Raymond Merriman, was in effect for the first week or so of August, so this full moon would have an "echo" quality to it. . .
next Thursday 30 Sept. also has aspects that trigger the same archetypes, might prove interesting. . . astrology for me is archetypal, observation & correlation, not so much "backstory" attached as watching the chapters unfold. . .
link to Merriman's version of reality, for the curious:
http://www.mmacycles.com/articles/articles/the-cardinal-climax%3a-2008%1...
The entrail reader down the street agrees with you.
lol, stay in character dude!
BOOO!
I've seen this phenomena. Do not go into wally world on the 1st ever.
For some cheap fun buy a police scanner (or find a free internet based one) and listen to activity during the evening of first of the month. Especially if it falls on a weekend and a full moon is present.
I am a Licensed Conceal Carry, I ALWAYS AVOID the walmart on those times and moons you describe. I find early mid week (Tuesday morning) when everyone is still asleep and the stockers have finished filling the shelves is a good slow time to shop.
Even better, buy a 12 cu ft freezer and shop at walmart one time and eat out of it all month. It can be done if planned properly.
I worked as a part-time bartender for a number of years when I was in school. Every full moon was duly noted and prepared for. For some reason (I'm not discounting power of suggestion) people tended to just drink way more and the regular trouble makers tended to make more trouble on a full moon. Not sure why there is that correlation but I've heard the same from police officers as well.
Who knows.
"The last function of reason is to recognize that there are an infinity of things which surpass it."
— Blaise Pascal