[ExI] undercover at Walmart

[BillK]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 4:01 AM, Harvey Newstrom  wrote:
<snip>
> True, but only for people who can afford to choose.  How many people shop at
> Walmart because they can't afford not to?  How many rich people prefer
> Walmart even though they could shop somewhere else?  And are there really
> choices in that price range, or is Walmart close to a monopoly in certain
> neighborhoods and income brackets?
>


Nit-picking about Google stats is avoiding the Walmart problem.

Walmart is only the peak of the mountain.

>From the 1970s onward, western society changed from making things to
buying things.

So, 'borrow and spend' spread like wildfire. Credit cards were
invented, second mortgages, 'leveraging', and all the financial
wizardry. We shut our factories down and moved them to the third
world. We saw no need to make stuff anymore. We became a consumer
society, relying on borrowed money and working in service industries.

Why spend time making something when you can buy it cheaper from China?

Well, now we know why. And the millions unemployed and homeless know as well.

BillK