tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post7946402636493356369..comments2009-02-15T07:10:58.146-08:00Eric deCarbonnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08023745289801416061noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-91262119803169055212009-02-15T07:10:00.000-08:002009-02-15T07:10:00.000-08:00In Englewood, Ohio, through help from corrupt local government a Wal-Mart SuperCenter was able to be built right next to a residential neighborhood which has virtually destroyed that neighborhood. The store was built on land owned by the county prosecutor. After getting permanent tax abatments, they went back on their promise to provide 3.5 million to upgrade the road to support the Wal-Mart traffic. The local city was greedy for the tax revenue, but with the tax abatments and no money to upgrade the road, they are now spending more in providing services to Wal-Mart then they get back in taxes. The neighbors got together and filed a suit, but Wal-Mart brought in their high-priced lawyers and hired a local law firm owned by the city prosecutor. Not surprisingly, they got the suit dismissed by a local judge. Now the neighborhood has 15000 cars a day using the two-lane road, the houses are being broken into regularly, and the city refuses to re-zone the neighborhood to business so the home-owners can't even sell and get out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-89721887595343835252009-02-03T05:30:00.000-08:002009-02-03T05:30:00.000-08:00Eric, are you on www.covester.com?andynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-12848380272664954152009-02-02T19:09:00.000-08:002009-02-02T19:09:00.000-08:00Eric you dont have free trade by using tariffs. You have free trade when you get something and I get something. In our current relationship with China, they get nothing but a future obligation for something ie. debt. <BR/><BR/>If we were on a gold standard or ANY standard but the "print till it feels good standard" things would balance out. <BR/><BR/>So this isn't about Walmart or free trade its about real MONEY. Follow the money and you find out the problem. <BR/><BR/>Japan had plenty of tariffs which affected their populations standard of living keeping it frozen from the early 80s till now.<BR/><BR/>Chinas peg hurts China. Its smoke and mirrors. People busily working for crumbs, while America sits there like Jabba the Hut and consumes more on the international credit card. <BR/><BR/>I really worry about protectionists sentiments which seem to be going along with socialists ones. If we're not careful, we'll end up like socialist hell hole destined to repeat the same idiotic mistakes that have been well documented by communists countries<BR/><BR/>This is a time to "circle the wagons" and defend freedom. This is the time to push for responsibility coupled freedom. This is the time to push for a different economic system. One whos currency is backed by REAL STUFF. One whos banking,insurance and other financial system products are backed by REAL MONEY not FRACTIONAL RESERVES. <BR/><BR/>This is a time to embark on a new course of real economic growth based on a foundation of FREEDOM with the checka of RESPONSIBILITY.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-15110763465834436632009-02-02T19:03:00.000-08:002009-02-02T19:03:00.000-08:00andypandy said... <BR/><I>I would consider myself more in line with Rothbard, but come on, even Friedman didn't believe in responding to tariff's with tariff's. Friedman said at some point those that ship us cheaper stuff will eventually get sick of it and allow prices to rise.</I><BR/><BR/>Friedman is right that "at some point those that ship us cheaper stuff will eventually get sick of it and allow prices to rise." The problem is that allowing global trade imbalances to build up over 20 years and then have them correct all at once is enormously destabilizing. An entire generation (baby boomers) of Americans is going to live out their retirement in poverty.<BR/><BR/>I am not going to try to change your mind about this Andy, because I don't have to. In the face of the incredible suffering you will be seeing in America and around the world over the next year, the idea of tariff to correct trade imbalances won't seem so bad anymore.Eric deCarbonnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08023745289801416061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-82368248964556659312009-02-02T17:08:00.000-08:002009-02-02T17:08:00.000-08:00I do love your blog though!andypandynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-78894316467630381142009-02-02T17:07:00.000-08:002009-02-02T17:07:00.000-08:00Ugh, "The US should have responded to this Chinese tariff by imposing its own tariff on Chinese goods, protecting its manufacturing sector," Not that I am a big Milton Friedman fan; I would consider myself more in line with Rothbard, but come on, even Friedman didn't believe in responding to tariff's with tariff's. Friedman said at some point those that ship us cheaper stuff will eventually get sick of it and allow prices to rise.andypandynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-37678978813305046442009-02-02T16:54:00.000-08:002009-02-02T16:54:00.000-08:00For the record, I believe in free trade. TRUE free trade. China's dollar's peg makes a MOCKERY out of free trade. China's currency manipulation acts like a hidden tariff on all foreign goods, including American. The US should have responded to this Chinese tariff by imposing its own tariff on Chinese goods, protecting its manufacturing sector. Instead, the US took the opposite approach of actively outsourcing its manufacturing (with Wal-Mart's help) and embraced the delusional concepts of a "new economy" or "service economy".Eric deCarbonnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08023745289801416061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-58662722063042910552009-02-02T15:06:00.000-08:002009-02-02T15:06:00.000-08:00Wow, not many libertarians on this site.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-91069320876160933272009-02-02T14:05:00.000-08:002009-02-02T14:05:00.000-08:00US Congress has every right to tax the imported goods of the evil retail empire of Wal-Mart if it causes the damages of local economy so badly. <BR/><BR/>Not sure about the discussion of providing low pay jobs to low skill Chinese workers could go anywhere?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-59454991630301943552009-02-02T07:23:00.000-08:002009-02-02T07:23:00.000-08:00sorry i was just so angryandynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-11192100816944613792009-02-02T06:50:00.000-08:002009-02-02T06:50:00.000-08:00I think the larger question here is - what will the future marketplace look like? If and when WalMart is the last store standing - will they simply jack up prices? <BR><BR> And - is there any economic trend that would favor 'good old' mom-n-pops over the giant retailer? <BR><BR> My opinion is that WalMart has brilliantly exploited cheap labor on a scale we've never seen before. But that doesn't mean they'll be able to do so forever.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-61859667475288354722009-02-02T06:16:00.000-08:002009-02-02T06:16:00.000-08:00Andy - you write rude comments that do not belong here. Try to resist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-63515194864373213282009-02-02T05:32:00.000-08:002009-02-02T05:32:00.000-08:00and why shouldn't walmart leave america to pick up the health care tab, this is pure Darwinian capitalism. grow a pair.andynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-14821255960854664192009-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:002009-02-02T05:30:00.000-08:00OMG, when did you grow a vagina? If people didn't like walmart then they shouldn't shop there or work there.andynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-23257503434289630372009-02-01T22:27:00.000-08:002009-02-01T22:27:00.000-08:00Wow, something America does well (retailing) via Walmart which is the number one retailer in the country if not the world and nothing but Animus.<BR/><BR/>You don't like Walmart dont shop there. Want made in America? Dont buy made in China. People vote with their checkbooks and not with there sentiments. <BR/><BR/>If I had a dime for everyone who hates Walmart but continues to shop there I'd own Walmart. <BR/>Peoples hypocrisy is astounding and using Walmart as a scap goat obscures the real problems of this country. <BR/><BR/>The reason why Walmart buys Chinese goods locally is because its cheaper. The reason why Walmart buys Chinese goods for their American stores is because its cheaper. The reason why they want cheaper is because WE want cheaper. So they are just a manifistation of our desire to have cheap goods and plenty of them. So give Walmart a break. They are just serving us and if you don't like that fact maybe you dont like us. <BR/><BR/>The reason why this whole dysfunctional trade imbalance is allowed to happen anyway is because the currency system allows it. Specialization and competitive advantages will always exist globally and with a sound currency can co-exist profitably.<BR/><BR/>Our special status as a foreign reserve currency allows the Chines to export goods to us for paper (debt) to them. Our dollar is much too strong. If allowed to float against the RMB it would sink and then Chinese goods would cost more and domestic goods would cost less. Want to venture where Walmart would by their products from then? <BR/><BR/>Why does Target get a pass? They buy Chinese stuff. How about other big retailers? Try to find American products, services abound but no products. Is this Walmarts problem? <BR/><BR/>Why can China produce goods, ship them to us for cheaper than we can make them domestically? Why are their labor costs lower? Why are they attracting a stampede of foreign investment and the west only a trickle? These are real questions not "populism". What do you want people to do, show up at Walmart with pitchforks and torches for doing their jobs? <BR/><BR/>We don't produce cheap quality goods anymore, other countries do. Now the question is why don't we? The answer is because we are in a co-dependent relationship with the Asians. They need to feed us until it hurts and we cant stop consuming until we burst, both sides are dysfunctional AND CULPABLE. <BR/><BR/>The Chinese have been saber rattling about Americas irresponsibilty, borrowing to much, consuming too much, yadyadaya. How about them? Why are they continuing to lend us money? Aren't they responsible as well for this global imbalance? <BR/><BR/>So although I agree that Walmart has done plenty to encourage outsourcing, they only did it at the behest of us and we need to shut up or put up (why weren't you guys buying American all this time?) <BR/><BR/>Walmart is by no means a villan, it is merely a symptom of an American economy that has REALLY lost its way and attempts to ignite some kind of antiglobalist sentiment obfuscates the real problems of this country and makes the solutions much harder to find.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-502356674750161309.post-65669203783284618032009-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:002009-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:00This was a comment I posted at a YouTube video about red bell peppers that were imported from Israel for WalMart...<BR/><BR/>True story: many years ago I was in a Walmart, before I knew much about the place, and as I was standing in line to check-out, I concluded I hated the place--pure hatred and I didn't know why, but my instincts said to flee. I put my stuff down and vowed to never return. Only now do I fully understand what happened in that moment of clarity. <BR/><BR/>Here's the video:<BR/><A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC8txF6aSPQ&feature=channel_page" REL="nofollow">Made in Israel</A>Tyronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04226876002855072090noreply@blogger.com