Posted on 07/11/2017 1:39:50 PM PDT by davikkm
When major employers come to a town, replace the local businesses, suck up the people they have made unemployed and then leave a few years later, there is very little hope of recovery. It is destroying towns and families. And what’s worse, it makes the victims complicit in their own demise.
Ten years ago in McDowell County, West Virginia, a new Walmart came to town. It was warmly embraced as an employer because the coal industry was in decline; but an unexpected side effect (to the local population, not Walmart) was to shut down many of the smaller businesses that employed many of the other townsfolk. And now Walmart have closed down and moved on, leaving the people without work, without the local business infrastructure that existed before, and sadly, without hope of rebuilding.
On 15 January 2016, Walmart announced that it was closing down 154 superstores in the US alone. Many of these are in town like McDowell, that have become reliant on the stores for employment and goods. It is easy to sneer and say that they should have thought about supporting local businesses while they had the chance, but the real villain in the whole episode is the Corporate/Globalist outlook that does not regard people as people, but as a block consumer base to which they have no responsibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at investmentwatchblog.com ...
One of the problems that we have in the US is that of overregulation, which only compounds the problem making manufacture in the US even more expensive compared to the cheap labor nations
-- now, some regulation might be appropriate, but much of it is illegitimate from a Constitutional perspective. -- Sadly the government has swallowed whole Wickard v. Filburn and this is the result, just as Thomas wrote in his dissent of Gonzales v. Raich: Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.
This is also compounded by corruption, illustrated corporately by things like the Wells Fargo identity theft scandal (where the bank got off with a mere $185 million in fines) or, on the more personal/political side, Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information that would have had any normal/little person
doing hard time (turning big rocks into little ones in Leavenworth, if it was a military person).
Jordan Peterson has an interesting video explaining how play and morality interact -- interestingly the fair play
of rats in a setting requires the dominant rat to allow the non-dominant one to win some of the time (about 30%) in order for the non-dominant to continue to request play. Now, extrapolating to the government as the big rat
we should ask does it allow little rats to win?
— The answer is [increasingly] no
, nowadays. Even to the point where a judge making up some criminal charge faces no penalty (link).
If small business is the economic engine of America
, then these sorts of continual injustices are teaching people that they as persons (and small businesses) simply cannot win… and that means that they are [starting to] refuse to play. [Meaning that continual injustice is literally destroying the engine
.]
Ace hardware is a good example. It was not that long ago that Lowes and Home depot were supposed to shut down all other competition in the hardware market. Ace persevered by exploiting Lowes and Home Depot’s weak spot; Customer service and competent employees.
Safeway and Krogers put a lot of mom and pop grocery stores out of business. Nobody blames them for “killing towns”. But then grocery stores are mostly unionized, Walmart isn’t, so the left hates them.
I remember when Home Quarters came to town and shut down all of the mom and pop places.
Then i remember when Home Depot came to town almost right across the street and shut down Home Quarters.
Well, Home Depot is still there......for now.
Ten years after HQ shut down they finally torn down the empty building, now we got yet another self storage place there now.....joy
And easier parking.
Exactly.
Yup, we got an Ace in my town a few miles from HD.
We go to Ace.
Go short UPS and FedEx. Amazon is going into the delivery business big time.
An old MBAer here, and a fervent believer in capitalism.
Now as an ancient MBAer, I believe more in the free market.
Too much of our capitalism today is based on lobbying and bs like that versus the seeking efficiency and research as you noted.
As Trump drains the DC swamp, we will be amazed about the dealings that large to main street business has bought/paid for from illegal workers to laws or treatie or whatever could be bought for their businesses.
That is why Bill Clinton was so popular with industry leaders to again so called main street businesses. He was available for a price and could be bought for some sweet quid pro quo!
Of course neither system gets run properly because we have so much government interference. Of course even then, if you think about it legislative capture is a form of efficiency, the companies that lobby best find clearer running.
I’m not sure how much Trump can really effect this. Sure fed-zilla is a major obstacle, but every city, county and state has their own grouping of palms that must be greased. Especially for brick and mortar retail, how much you pay for land is so dependent on how much the local government likes you.
“Main Street was dying and the explanation was that a Wal-Mart had opened sixty miles away.”
If people are willing to drive that far then Walmart must be offering much more selection at much lower prices. In my experience they have both. This is America. Compete or die.
The biggest ‘small’ competitor to Walmart in my small town is Dollar General. If anyone thinks mom and pop general stores in this day and age are selling anything but the same cheap Chinese crap as Walmart then they are diluted.
OSH, same thing. Small stores you don’t fear going in, without all the illegal construction dudes smacking their lips at you, and without a 3 mile hike to find your one little item.
I try all I have NOT to go to Home Depot.
“It’s because the culture HS changed, Internet, social media, mobility, opportunity in the urban areas. Example; what young person wants to sit a Dairy Queen in the middle of the Big Empty when he/she could be in Big D making good money, meeting new people, heck- having fun.”
Your exactly right. Times change. For a while malls were the new hang out place. In the 80’s and early 90’s malls were the thing. Now you can find dead and dying malls all over. Before Walmart was K mart, Before K Mart was Sears. Keep up with the times of die. That is life.
There are several reasons so much US manufacturing has moved overseas, but cheaper labor is at the top of the list. US firms move so they can compete with cheaper imports coming into the US almost tariff free, and they also seek new markets overseas and particularly in China.
Another less discussed aspect of globalization is the loss of locally owned manufacturing that was not large enough to move to cheap labor, but just lost out to cheaper imports and closed down after decades of successful operation.
And there is another huge aspect of globalization even less discussed. That is that we now have about 20% of US heads of household on one or more of the government’s means tested anti-poverty programs, and in one in five US families, no one has a job. That’s where the “benefits” of globalization are really piling up and the day will come when it can no longer be denied and ignored.
To have a healthy economy and nation in general, the US needs jobs at all skill levels. And the biggest factor affecting job security is not education or skill, but whether the job can be offshored and the work product shipped or transmitted back to the US, and whether the job might be lost to automation.
flr
We need buggy whips
Like you, “I like having goods delivered to my door and ordering online and most often with a price that saves money.”
This week, we will receive or order from Coscto, Walmart, Bed Bath and Beyond and Amazon prime!
Our IRA’s, sep IRA’s and former 401K’s are managed online ,with direct depostit to our checking accounts, without the hassle of dealing with someone with a quota to sell to continue living his life style with zero interest in us.
95%+ of our banking is done on line with direct deposits, auto check payments for PG&E, new Comcast Business, water, garbage, our church, money for grandkids’s college and our yard man. The other payments to credit card companies and other companies with irregular monthly amounts are done with my computer in minutes a few times a week. I don’t have to buy stamps, envelopes and deal with unpredictable mail people. A checkbook with 25 checks will last me over a year.
We still like to grocery shop, however some good friends only a couple of years older are getting most of their food via Blue Apron and delivery from a good local grocery store.
We have been State Farm customers for over 5 decades, since we got married. Inspite of ten+ various policies for our home, two vehicles, two kayaks/kayak trailer, a fishing boat/trailer and a umbrella policy, we have not seen our agent since we transferrred to her over a decade ago. All of our adult kids have State Farm and have the same issue, a basically unknown rep.
One of our younger female in laws has a couple of friends who went from State Farm to USAA and have saved a bundle. She has asked us to consider changing so they can get USAA insurance. My hold back has been no local USSA rep. Our DIL said we/they really don’t have a rep. Everything is handled from their home or regional office. So if we can get a better deal from USAA, we should go for it. Our friends with USAA love the prices and service.
Globalization is indeed killing American small towns. And it is an open and direct intention to do so, depopulating rural America.
So what needs to be done is for states to incentivize the public to move to rural areas. Making it attractive to them to put down stakes there, and raise their families there.
Possible methods (use by other states after each idea):
1) A state “homestake” law, basically that if you purchase a lot over a certain size, but no smaller or larger, and live in a residential building on that land at least six months and a day each year (AK), you pay no property tax and your property and home cannot be taken from you in bankruptcy (FL).
2) Small town small business incentives. Small town agricultural incentives. Small town animal husbandry incentives.
This is very true.
But, on the other hand, I know some looking for jobs that honestly shouldn't be — members of the STEM degrees that are, supposedly, in short supply
— because of (a) the abuse/fraud of the H1B visa system*, and (b) the attitude toward 'training' that a lot of companies have as being utterly undesirable. [The (b) portion is especially disconcerting, as it speaks to an unwillingness to invest in employees.]
And there is another huge aspect of globalization even less discussed. That is that we now have about 20% of US heads of household on one or more of the government’s means tested anti-poverty programs, and in one in five US families, no one has a job. That’s where the “benefits” of globalization are really piling up and the day will come when it can no longer be denied and ignored.
This is by design, I think.
There's ample evidence that the Elite are selling out the Average Joe, strip-mining the middle-class and looting the treasury
as it's said.
* One of the ways that it's abused in the software industry is the company will post an absurd requirement to an entry level position like 3, 5, and even 10-years experience and then, when nobody applies/qualifies, they have their documentation that there's nobody in the native population and so they need H1B.
I'm glad to see Freepers know more about economics than most economics professors. There is no way for a small town to generate a robust economy by just having a collection of retail stores where everybody sells to each other. (The same is true for services provided locally.)
Some other source of wealth is needed. And that has to be based on actual productivity, not just re-arranging who owns what asset. So there has to be farming, or mining, or timber harvesting, or some kind of value added manufacturing, or retail or wholesale distribution which includes people outside the community.
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