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9/6/2007 My Living Epitaph
10/13/2006 Wal-Mart; The High Cost of Low Price Watched the movie today and I really that it's message is right on the money. More info about it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473107/
I really can not overstress the point that, in my opinion, Wal-Mart is much too big and influential and it does more harm than good. If you care about your family, relatives, friends, neighbors, community, country and world you should avoid shopping at Wal-Mart.
Whatever your industry or personal endevour, don't complain about your job or situation to me if you patronize Wal-Mart. The retail giant is now much too powerful and they are affecting working conditions, wages and benefits in sectors beyond retailing.
Take a look at the big picture and make the right decision, it's best to shop somewhere else. Choose a responsible retailer that cares about what really matters. Life is about more than squeezing every penny out of everything and everyone and maximizing your share price.
Why do I dislike Wal-Mart?
In addition to the reasons pointed out so well in the movie, there are several reasons I dislike the enormous retail chain. They:
* = My suburban town's landscape and the environment of the smaller towns near mine have been hugely reshaped and damaged by hungry and uncaring growth monsters. There is much, much more to life than one's share price. ** = I personally have never worked for Wal-Mart (and would starve first before I did) but I know people who had well-paying jobs in unionized stores before Wal-Mart came to town and now they have jobs that don't pay as well and they have a hard time providing for their families. I prefer to pay a little more and get good service from people that I know and who really care about their jobs and who use the money that I spend to take proper care of their family. *** = My suburban town now has a Target and Wal-Mart side-by-side. I took my Mother (who formally patronized Wal-Mart) into the Target and she thought it was such a much more pleasant experience and there is virtually no price difference between the two.
8/29/2006 The Nanny Nation Just found this great quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower, "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom."
Reminds me of what my university history professor told me about someone's idea that laws should be renewed every twenty-five years or so, that way the living don't become ruled by the dead. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Dvorak, the cranky geek's diatribe on the amount of laws in the U.S. also sticks in my mind. He sees similarities between the U. S. legal system today and the old Soviet-style (oppressive) legal system. In his view, their are so many laws in the U. S. today that you can't but help break one of them by just walking down the street. 8/2/2006 Maximum Wage Limit! While Congress is debating upping the minimum wage in the U.S., perhaps it's time to begin having a maximum wage limitation as well. What's the sense of CEOs and the like making millions and millions a year?
For example; Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott makes what, 20 something million dollars a year while the people ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK on the store floor make 7 dollars an hour and have to go on welfare to provide for their families?
If there's a minimum wage there should be a maximum wage. It's simple logic.
Oh, but how stupid of me! How can the poor and disenfranchised dictate to the rich? For that matter, how can the politically-hobbled middle class? Is there even a middle class anymore or is it all just red or blue have or have nots?
Case-in point, in August 2006 the New York Times reported, "In 2004, the top 1 percent of earners — a group that includes many chief executives — received 11.2 percent of all wage income, up from 8.7 percent a decade earlier and less than 6 percent three decades ago, according to Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, economists who analyzed the tax data."
Let's not forget; Congress votes on their own wage increases. The whole system is rotten. What a joke. 7/22/2006 My Global Warming Soapbox The following is a reply to post on global warming that I made on Channel 9: http://channel9.msdn.com/
It's really difficult to persuade developing countries to reduce their fossil fuel emissions, particularly when 'our' countries continue to guzzle like there's no tomorrow (which there may not be). In my hometown in the States (a fairly large mid-western city with a large airport, an excellent heavy rail infrastructure and a formerly excellent streetcar system), it's 'no car, no job, no life'. Perhaps if you live in the inner-city with the poor and disenfranchised you might be able to get away without having a car but that's about it, what with urban sprawl. How can such a society hope to tell others how to conserve to save the planet? It starts at home. Sell your car, take the bus or better yet ride your bike, write your representative (perhaps they're not too in the pocket of the automobile industry). Really, with all due respect, if you drive a car you have absolutely no ground to stand on in complaining about global warming. There are billions of people in developing countries who are trying to emulate the car cultures of the west (particularly the US) and global warming is only just beginning. My two cents. Thanks for the outlet. Joe 7/17/2006 When does a peasant cross an intersection?Anytime he or she wants to.
Why do they cross the intersection?
Their chicken is on the other side. 7/13/2006 It's OK to steal from Wal-Mart now? According to the 'New York Times', people stealing merchandise worth US$ 25 or less from the MASSIVE retail giant will now be let off. Now, where are my pants with the deep pockets?
I was humored by Wal-Mart asset protection chief J. P. Suarez's comments in the same article; "There is a not a lot of margin for success for those intent on making a living stealing from us." I venture the opinion that there's not a lot of margin for success in working for Wal-Mart for an hourly wage either, what with their reportedly low wages, benefits, etc.
This brings up an interesting supposition; what is the cost to a community in having people work for such low wages and benefits? Of course, it's beneficial to be able to purchase goods for a cheaper price (if that's what you are actually able to do at a Wal-Mart, I would never patronize the place) but if the people that work there, your friends and neighbors, have to go on public assistance to survive then what is society as whole gaining from this arrangement? 7/8/2006 1984My first e-mails to my friends and family (anyone who would listen, basically) after Sept. 11th were to warn of the possibilites of eroding freedoms in the face of danger. Has this now come to pass? Has our government, in it's attempt to protect us, ignored the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? If so, then the terrorists have won. |
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