[extropy-chat] Re: Seven cents an hour? (was: Riots in France)

[David Lubkin]

Rafal wrote:

>Since at Wal-Mart prices are low and profits high, it means that it is
>a very efficient company.

Their corporate management at work -- starting senior staff meetings 
at 7 AM, constantly measuring, experimenting, honing -- looks like 
they took lessons from how Andy Grove ran Intel.

I suspect that part of what underlies Wal-Mart bashing is a lack of 
understanding of the functions of and necessity for middlemen. Time 
and again throughout history, the people and those in power have seen 
rich, successful middlemen (esp. the Jews and Chinese), resented 
their power and wealth, and saw them as fat ticks adding nothing of 
value. And every time they "cut out the middleman," the economy 
plummeted. Thomas Sowell has a good treatment of the subject, as usual.


-- David.