Wal-Mart Shows a Similar Side to Sears

Yawn!

Are you people running out of things to talk about? Also, why did you delete my post on your earlier article? Hmm..I think I get it if you don’ t have anything negative to say about Wal*Mart you don’t post it.

I’m terrified to say it, but I agree with Sooner JJ.  So what?

Yeah...it seems that another slogan of Sears comes to mind too… “Sears...what’s inside?”

Just substitute the word Wal-Mart for Sears...and your get the idea.  Wal-Mart comes into one small community after another all across America and “dazzles” the part-time mayors and uninformed city councils with their “pretty wrapped up package” of jobs and tax relief.  Wal-Mart then dangles this “carrot” in front of adjacent small towns and gets them to worry that if they don’t accept Wal-Mart’s “generous” offer, then WM will hike up the road ten to fifteen miles and bestow their “gift” on some other community.

However...when communities start to take off the “pretty wrapping” and take a look at “what’s inside,” then they get a better idea of what Wal-Mart is REALLY all about.

You can put a tuxedo on an elephant...but it’s still an elephant!

Sorry.  I didn’t want to offend the good people at J.C. Penny.  I thought I better correct my previous post before all the WM Trolls jump all over it.

The correct advertising slogan is.. “It’s all inside.” This belongs to Pennys NOT to Sears.

This does not change the point of my post however… Wal-Mart it’s all inside!  Just take off the wrapping people!

That is why I do not shop at WM Screwedby in!!! I have stripped off the wrapping and I did not like what I saw.

I love your analogy of the “Tuxedo on an elephant”.  Good one!!

Screwed and Kathy,

You guys are awesome. If only those Wal-Mart supporters would go to college, then they would learn that evil corporations like Wal-Mart only want to enslave and exploit society.

You Wal-Mart supporters should read a book about how bad Wal-Mart and capitalism really are, then you’ll understand!

At least we see the truth and are intelligent enough to understand.

What Wal-Mart did was hire the guy who used to be in charge of Target’s marketing department, Sort of iroic, they could’nt make them selv’es look like Target in thier advertisments. without raiding the competion for talent.
It’s just Wal-Mart, same old crap with anew fancy wrapper.

Big Deal! So Wally World and Sears and Target and JC Penny and everybody else is doing what it takes to advertise the products that they sell. The same as Budweiser, Miller, Winston, Monday Night Raw and everyone else in business today. Frankly, the company that most of you work for probably is a supplier to Walmart and that is why you have a job today. The fact is, Walmart’s success is MARKET driven. In other words, the American public is fully supporting it. If you do not like Walmart, then take your business elsewhere. Honestly, I hate the crowds, so I shop at alternate grocery stores, Dollar General, etc… But DO NOT blame Walmart for being successful.

Oh...In reviewing this website, I came across the faith based portion. Now if I understand it properly, this site is asking for sermon material that will be preached, apparently against Walmart? That is the most inappropriate thing I have ever heard!  Those of us who are members of the Body, do not, should not, use the pulpit as an opportunity to pronounce their politically charged propoganda. The pulpit is to be strictly reserved for proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel and never for any other purpose. I never said that Walmart is perfect and yes there are opportunities for improvement. The purpose of this communication is to identify an improper use of the pulpit by my brothers and sisters in Christ. Get it right and keep the two items separate!

Whitesnake I am glad to see am am not the only one who thought the use of religion to promote one’s own agenda is highly inappropriate. ;-)

WILL YOU GIVE US ALL A BREAK--WHITESNAKE AND WONDERS!

You BOTH keep whining about the use of religion to promote one’s own agenda.  Yet, I don’t hear you complaining about the Republican’s and their cozy relationship with the Religious Right in this country to promote its agenda!  Take a look at where many of the philanthropic donations for the Wal-Mart Foundation goes--- right wing conservative organizations.  I suppose Helen Walton and her clan thinks they are fine outstanding Christian citizens, who only have only the best interests of America in mind!

The Republican Conservatives have hijacked Christianity to suit thier purposes.  If you listen to some of them talk, you might even come to the conclusion that there isn’t such a thing as a Pro Life Christian Democrat in this country.

I suppose you two are BOTH equally repulsed as I am when our “fearless leader” like his father before him closes out a speech with the phrase “God Bless America.” Whose votes are they pandering for when they do this?  All this pseudo religious phraseology and jingoistic flag waving that you typically see at a political convention, really got started in earnest during the Reagan years. It makes me want to puke!  I suppose you guys join right in with those mindless chants, “USA,” “USA,” “USA” too!  Think of how stupid that makes you look to the rest of the world.

Just wait until the 1.8 billion Chinese all start chanting China! China! China!

Hey Anti-WMer? So what is the truth about capitalism? What solutions do you have to save us from WM and capitalism? I have to hear it. Assume I did not go to college and educate me. Please save me from capitalism and those evil people who do the hiring.

Just remember that this same ad campaign failed for Sears and they almost died.  Maybe WM will suffer the same outcome!

You can put a tuxedo on an elephant...but it’s still an elephant!= suger coated terd

Don’t look now Sooner JJ, but the times are changing.  We won’t need ANYONE to “save us” from what you call WM Capitalism.  Wal-Mart will eventually implode.  Its present business model is NOT sustainable.  Wait until the Chinese learn all they can about the WM “business model” and then usurp it and modify it for their own purposes.  If you, and others like you, think we are going to bring “democracy” to China by exporting “American-style capitalism,” you are sadly mistaken.  It’s not like there haven’t been precedents.  Go refresh yourself on the Boxer Rebellion in China in the early part of the last century.  Think it can’t happen again?  America is a mere infant when compared to the history of China.  China will do what’s best for China in the long run...it is NOT beholden to Wal-Mart.

When you ask for the “truth” about capitalism, what kind of capitalism are you talking about?

There is a thought provoking book by Ronald Dore entitled: “Stock Market Capitalism: Welfare Capitalism : Japan and Germany versus the Anglo-Saxons.”

The kind of “capitalism” you and your Pro-Walmart cronies keep talking about is Washington consensus capitalism, or Anglo-Saxon Capitalism.  It is marked by creating shareholder value and maximizing corporate profits.

The Japanese and German flavors of capitalism are sometimes referred to as Market Capitalism.  In both countries there are articulate defenders of what they consider to be a better way of life, informed by a more human, more social-solidary, set of values.

America’s day of reckoning is coming.  It’s clear there will be a breaking point...maybe a lot sooner than you want to admit Sooner JJ.  You are isolated in the middle of America, but you are not immune.  The tidal wave of change will reach into your little world too!  You tenaciously cling to a dying philosophy that is clothed in a jingoistic pseudo-religious conservative set of values.  You ARE NOT an intellectual by any means!  As more and more people are thrown out of work...as REAL WAGES in this country continue to stagnate...as there are more foreclosures...as there is evermore outsourcing in this country so corporations can seek a last ditch method to prop up and preserve their profits and the “bottom line,”...these corporations will be FORCED to adopt a more socially responsible way of doing business or face the consequences.

Yea, those Germans have it made along with just about every country in the EU with their “LOW” unemployment and wage guarantees and their five weeks of paid holiday.

Thank God I’m not an intellectual and think I know what is best for everyone else. Thanks for “enlightening” me and diagnosing me as a follower of “jingoistic pseudo-religious conservative”. I have no choice but to confront this.

Whatever!

What solutions do you have?
Build a wall around our country?
Have laws saying what we can make and sell and who makes it?
Have laws saying how much everyone should get paid?
Provide health care?

Give us some solutions oh intellectual you.

Man, if you are so smart, why do you keep calling yourself “screwed” and why do you let WM do the screwing?

IF we really wanted Wal-Mart to fall, all we would have to do is to get them unionized. Then they could get behind the American Auto unions in court.

Btw You cant point out a speck of saw dust in a mans eye, if you have a log in yours. The Presdent ends all his speches with God, Becuse he belives in GOD and Everyone knew that before he was voted in. TO me that shows a strong personal char when you dont fold to public pressure.

Well Sooner JJ...I couldn’t tell if your question was merely a rhetoroical one or not, so I’m going to answer it!

First of all...I don’t think anyone “lets” Wal-Mart ‘screw them.’ Like..."yeah Wal-Mart that felt so good...do it again!” Wal-Mart never asks anyone… “How may we screw you?”

This is just what Wal-Mart does...it screws the “associates,” it screws suppliers, it screws the economy, it screws the environment, and it screws entire communities.

By the way...I NEVER said the German’s had the “perfect economy”...far from it.  But why are all you Pro Wal-Mart types so fixated on the Germans?  I mean how may times have we seen references to “nazis” from you people?  Notice I also mentioned Japan.  It seems Japan is kicking America’s ass in a few ways, and has been for some time!

Hey Timmy...if you are such a Bible pusher...why don’t you look into biblical eschatology.  Many biblical scholars believe that of all the countries or possible countries that are referred to in “the last days”...the United States ISN’T ONE of them.  What do you think might have happened to the United States?

Never mind screwed. I guess you are too intellectual for us stupid WM shoppers. How may you screw me today?

Sooner JJ, you have once again shown that Screwedby is only interested is spewing hir tiresome rhetoric about how bad a place Wal-Mart is.  He offers no solutions other than closing the place down, and with that, he has no answers for the millions of lost jobs, etc.  It must be very,very difficult to have all of the answers as he does and not share one sinle answer with any of us.

Granted, this isn’t earthshaking in the least, but it is amusing.  If you know anything about Sam Walton and Wal-Mart you know most the “innovations” ascribed to Wal-Mart were borrowed from others.

What makes ripping Sears off so hypocritical is the way Bentonville jealously guards what it considers proprietary.

Coming soon to neighborhood near you - the Great Wall mart.

Love it Toby!  Anyway you describe Wal-Mart… “Great Wall Mart.” or “Wal-Mao,” I think everyone is getting the idea of what Wal-Mart means in this country!  Don’t you wonder what inspired that star (called a “squiggly” in WM lingo) that separates the WAL from the MART?  Take a look at the flag of China that might be a clue!
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Republic_of_China

This just in:

VIETNAM: Here Comes Wal-Mart

Did I say “the times they are a changin’?” Well, actually it was Bob Dylan, but it applies!

I find it hard to believe that China with its 1.8 billion people is experiencing a “labor shortage” already. Even the Chinese are finding out there’s a better future than working is some dead-end sweat shop factory making things for Wal-Mart.

SHENZHEN, China — Persistent labor shortages at hundreds of Chinese factories have led experts to conclude that the economy is undergoing a profound change that will ripple through the global market for manufactured goods.

A few years ago, “people would just show up at the door,” said Liang Jian, the human resources manager at Well Brain. “Now we put up an ad looking for five people, and maybe one person shows up.”

The shortage of workers is pushing up wages and swelling the ranks of the country’s middle class, and it could make Chinese-made products less of a bargain worldwide. International manufacturers are already talking about moving factories to lower-cost countries like Vietnam.

The changes also suggest that China may already be moving up the economic ladder, as workers see opportunities beyond simply being unskilled assemblers of the world’s goods. Rising wages may also prompt Chinese consumers to start buying more products from other countries, helping to balance the nation’s huge trade surpluses.

Did you see that Michael D. and Bob? Huge trade surpluses? Didn’t at least one of you say there is no such thing as a trade deficit in this country? Everytime you make your lame assertion, there’s many others who will refute you!  But hey, Michael...maybe this is the answer to all of the lost jobs in America.  Maybe all of the displaced workers should just get on a boat and head for all those good jobs in China.  Maybe we could even disassemble the Statue of Liberty and ship it to China, so that when all of the American workers arrive, they will feel welcomed and at home!

Tom-

I take a week off and it seems you have gone completely insane! Your recent posts have a bit of everything: a Marxist interpretation of America’s collapse; a strong reiteration of your paranoid belief that Wal-Mart is trying to screw you; an apocalyptical warning against the U.S. from the Bible; and a comment about Wal-Mart’s star and the Chinese flag that is nothing short of delusional (the American flag has 50 stars...RUN!!!).

“If you, and others like you, think we are going to bring “democracy” to China by exporting “American-style capitalism,” you are sadly mistaken.”

I don’t think anybody believes that. What reason is there to believe that a market-based economic system cannot operate under an authoritarian government?

“But why are all you Pro Wal-Mart types so fixated on the Germans?”

You are the one that keeps bringing up the present situation in Germany. A certain poster used to bring up “useless eaters” to associate my argumentation with the horrors of the Holocaust. Generic brings them up in his appeals to history maybe once or twice in labeling me a fascist. Other WMWers bring them up from time to time in an attempt to characterize Wal-Mart as evil. Clearly, the Wal-Mart apologists are not the only ones bringing up Germany. Besides, of all of us, I bring them up more than anyone. You ought to be able to figure out why.

“SHENZHEN, China — Persistent labor shortages at hundreds of Chinese factories have led experts to conclude that the economy is undergoing a profound change that will ripple through the global market for manufactured goods...”

Give me a source on this. I’d like to read it...unless that’s all of it.

“Didn’t at least one of you say there is no such thing as a trade deficit in this country?”

Who said that? I said that the U.S. trade deficit was good for the economies of other countries. Without the deficit, countries like China wouldn’t be able to catch up...er...Sorry...I forgot. You hate the Chinese and have no interest in helping their economy.

It’s been fun…

Wal-Mart Watch-

What’s up with all of the lame topics lately? Can’t you do better?

S in USA:

What’s the matter “S”?  How come you don’t use your whole blog personna anymore?  Where you blocked or banned from this blog?  Did you have to create a new “identity” for yourself so you could continue to make your meaningless posts?

If you are the “someone” I believe you are...why would I want to engage you in any type of a “discussion” when you make <strong>IDIOTIC STATEMENTS</stong> like:

“What reason is there to believe that a market-based economic system cannot operate under an authoritarian government?”

and…

“I said that the U.S. trade deficit was good for the economies of other countries. Without the deficit, countries like China wouldn’t be able to catch up.”

You are correct. Indeed I am Someone in USA. No, I was not banned. I just felt the need to change my posting handle to emphasize the distinction between myself and a certain imposter.

“What reason is there to believe that a market-based economic system cannot operate under an authoritarian government?”

This is fascism. Nothing idiotic about it.

“I said that the U.S. trade deficit was good for the economies of other countries. Without the deficit, countries like China wouldn’t be able to catch up.”

You know as well as I do that unless the U.S. engages in a trade deficit these countries would not develop very quickly at all. A trade surplus is an excellent way to give an economy a positive jolt. Why the U.S.? Simple! No other country could shoulder said deficit. Notice that I reserved comment on what it does to the American economy. That was intentional.

My intention was not to “debate” anything with you. I was just pointing out some flaws in your comments.

Screwedby, you posted, “Don’t you wonder what inspired that star (called a “squiggly” in WM lingo) that separates the WAL from the MART?  Take a look at the flag of China that might be a clue! “

FYI...the star has not always been the symbol that was between the WAL and the MART.  For quite some time, the sybol was, in fact, a “squiggly.” It looks like this....  ~

Now, you are better edumacated, Tom. 
And, no, I have not commented on the trade deficit…

As always, .....

Well thanks Michael D. 

Actually I knew that Wal-Mart used the ~ symbol in its logo prior to using the star.  The technically correct name for this is a tilde,(pronounced til-Duh) but I guess it’s alot more “fun” to say “Gimme a squiggly” than it is to say “Gimme a tilde” when you do the Wal-Mart cheer!  Now you’re “edumacated” too.

The story posted by the “screwed dude” (has a good ring huh) is conveying the standard of living in China is rising which is a good thing.

It means the cost of labor is going up and this is not because of unions, but of demand. I know he won’t understand this and find some intellectual way to explain it away, but I like the simple explanation.

A higher standard of living means you can buy more stuff...more stuff from the US. Buying more stuff means a better economy and more jobs. The best part is that the government did not have to pass any insane legislation requiring companies to pay more.

Screwed dude will also not understand that a trade deficit is not a bad thing. This money is re-invested back into the US through ownership in securities. This huge surplus of investment means demand for these securities is low thus keeping interest rates low so we can borrow money at
lower rates to buy houses, cars, and items we buy at Best Buy.

He won’t understand that we insource more jobs than outsource (every heard of Toyota and Kia?). He will be hell-bent on believing that in the near future, ALL the jobs he can do will be gone.

Times WILL change and the easy jobs are going to people in other countries who have hardly any education. How does that feel knowing what you now know can easily be trained somewhere else and to someone who is bidding lower than you are? For me its humbling. For him it may be criminal and he would not think twice of throwing all these greedy capitalists in jail...not sure which law is broken though and no single person can proove just how they actually steal all the money from the poor.

All I know is to keep my skills updated and vigilant to the changing times. If I am a target for outsourcing, I’m going to do whatever it takes to learn a better trade. I would suggest he do the same and quit whining like a 4-year-old brat not getting what he wants. He should take a time out like they do on SuperNanny.

Sooner JJ--

Yeah..it does have a “nice ring.”

“It means the cost of labor is going up...” And how is this good for Wal-Mart, Sooner?  When China no longer wants to be the world’s sweat shop, then what Sooner?  Joe “Mr. Wal-Mart China” Hatfield better start packing his bags for Vietnam.  This is what’s wrong with the Wal-Mart business model...its not sustainable.  Wal-Mart will continue to chase cheap labor wherever they can find it around the world.

YOU are about the only one who doesn’t think the trade deficit is a bad thing.  Maybe with your supreme intelligence you should straighten out the thinking of Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Warren Buffett and Paul Krugman.

Yeah...I’ve heard of Kia...OH Wise One!  Georgia just landed a Kia factory there...so that’s a recent development.  Yeah, this is a fair trade off--we are on the verge of losing companies like GM and Ford and we get a Kia factory in return!

I do know this...when the standard of living does rise sufficiently in China and they all start to drive those Kias and Toyotas, what do you suppose that will require?  More gas/oil?

If anyone in this country is worried about $3.00 per gallon gas, try $6.00 or $7.00 per gallon when the U.S. finds itself in a bidding war for limited oil resources with China.

Tell us all how this is going to be good for America, Sooner JJ

Hey nice name change.

Its good for both economies as price will dictate who gets paid what. Workers have a price. The idea is to let the market determine the standard of living. Not legislation like WMW wants. You don’t need unions and requirements to make wages go up. Supply and demand will do it.

There is no level playing field. This playing field is round and as economies emerge like China, Korea, Pakistan, and India, the price of workers will naturally go up.

Everyone’s standard of living goes up. I’ll take “great one” as a compliment and ignore your sarcasm, and for now I will drive a foreign-made car because the price is good and they can offer 100,000 mile warranty. Ford and GM is the failed business model with their employees priced far out of the market.

Its good for WM because WM will have to constantly improve their logistics so they can compete in this world too. They understand it.

Oil? Again the market decides the price. There is no single person or persons who sit and say, “Let’s make the price this.” Until the Federal Govt gets the heck out of the way and let the US oil companies drill to increase supply, the price will continue to go up. Profits be damned, the market decides the prices. You will have to live with it as do I. Prepare for it, improve your skills so you will be in hot demand. Otherwise, I don’t know where you will be in five years.

WAL-MART SUCKS AND THE STORES LOOK LIKE JUNK YARDS

BEDTIME FOR APRIL REPPY: A PSEUDO-ECONOMICS STORY WITH A POINT

Since Sooner JJ and a few others enjoy stories so much, I thought they would love this one:

Take a wildly fanciful trip with me to two isolated, side-by-side islands of equal size, Squanderville and Thriftville. Land is the only capital asset on these islands, and their communities are primitive, needing only food and producing only food. Working eight hours a day, in fact, each inhabitant can produce enough food to sustain himself or herself. And for a long time that’s how things go along. On each island everybody works the prescribed eight hours a day, which means that each society is self-sufficient.Eventually, though, the industrious citizens of Thriftville decide to do some serious saving and investing, and they start to work 16 hours a day. In this mode they continue to live off the food they produce in eight hours of work but begin exporting an equal amount to their one and only trading outlet, Squanderville.The citizens of Squanderville are ecstatic about this turn of events, since they can now live their lives free from toil but eat as well as ever. Oh, yes, there’s a quid pro quo—but to the Squanders, it seems harmless: All that the Thrifts want in exchange for their food is Squanderbonds (which are denominated, naturally, in Squanderbucks).Over time Thriftville accumulates an enormous amount of these bonds, which at their core represent claim checks on the future output of Squanderville. A few pundits in Squanderville smell trouble coming. They foresee that for the Squanders both to eat and to pay off—or simply service—the debt they’re piling up will eventually require them to work more than eight hours a day. But the residents of Squanderville are in no mood to listen to such doomsaying. Meanwhile, the citizens of Thriftville begin to get nervous. Just how good, they ask, are the IOUs of a shiftless island? So the Thrifts change strategy: Though they continue to hold some bonds, they sell most of them to Squanderville residents for Squanderbucks and use the proceeds to buy Squanderville land and other assests like ports. And eventually the Thrifts own all of Squanderville.At that point, the Squanders are forced to deal with an ugly equation: They must now not only return to working eight hours a day in order to eat—they have nothing left to trade—but must also work additional hours to service their debt and pay Thriftville rent on the land so imprudently sold. In effect, Squanderville has been colonized by purchase rather than conquest. It can be argued, of course, that the present value of the future production that Squanderville must forever ship to Thriftville only equates to the production Thriftville initially gave up and that therefore both have received a fair deal. But since one generation of Squanders gets the free ride and future generations pay in perpetuity for it, there are—in economist talk—some pretty dramatic “intergenerational inequities.”

Copy and Paste? We will soon be calling you “Screwed by China”.

I remember a story like this...when everyone was scared Japan was buying up everything. I am sorry and I don’t see your point. Please enlighten me of just how the US is Squanderville.

Thank God time is being freed up through outsourcing so we can do more worthwhile things like services and we can buy goods cheaply at WM. Man you would think this guy believes our economy is in the tank already. Doom and gloom, miserable.

Come to think of it, Squanderville should revolt and claim its independence and produce whatever it wants. The good citizens of Thriftville should claim its independence and produce what it wants. Both should engage in trade. Island A produces what it is good at (say apples) and sell the surplus to Island B. Island B should produce what it is good at (say oranges) and sell it to Island A. Both should sell even more surpluses to other islands.

Ya know, since when was this country (or any other for that matter) like either island. Come on Mr. Ruorke, or should we call you Tatoo (da plane, da plane)!

Yeah..."Evil Capitalist” Where have we heard your crock of crap before?  OH, I remember...it was Bill Clinton when he was trying to sell the country on the benefits of NAFTA and right before he pushed to get China PNTR status.

I guess we all see how NAFTA and CAFTA are helping this country now don’t we?  Now click your heels 3 times and repeat after me: 

“There’s NO such thing as “free trade,” there’s NO such thing as “free trade...”

You guys know that Tony Samples(Regional district Manager) Suddenly quit about 5-6 days ago right? With the coment “Sam would be rolling in his grave”

Go Tony!

Screwedby, on a serious note with no insults or ill-feelings, what do you think the solution is NOW that NAFTA and CAFTA are a reality? 

Thousands of companies are taking advantage of this, and you seem to have great, great ill-feelings towards what has happened.  How does this get resolved now?  Or is it something that we as a nation just have to learn to deal with???

I’m all ears…

As business moves to China, and China becomes a world economic power, how long do you think it will be until China buys Wal-mart?
Won’t that be interesting? Production and distribution control by a foreign investor for all of America.

Hey Michael D....

I know we’ve traded a few “barbs” back and forth...but I’ve always had more respect for you than MOST of the others “on your side.” You don’t come across as pretentious, pompous and opinionated as the others. You’ve always put it out there that you are a manager for Wal-Mart, and I can respect that.  Even though I’ve disagreed with you on a number of things...you strike me as being more genuine than some of your “pals” here.

Now...seriously, I WISH I had an answer to NAFTA and CAFTA, but I don’t.  Like I said, neither of these trade bills should have been passed.  They represented the opening of “Pandora’s Box.” Maybe Bill Clinton should get his butt off the golf courses and stop hangin’ with George Bush Sr.  Clinton is the one that started America down this path.  I’d like to hear his prescription for our trade deficit.