[A. Pole]

According to Jeff Foxworthy, you might be a redneck if you’ve ever been promoted to dishwasher, or if the last physical you had was on board a UFO. In the Wal-Mart economy, you might not be a redneck yet, but you could be soon. If taxes are the price we have to pay for civilization, higher prices may be the price we have to pay for a First World society.

[Alberta's Child]

Wal-Mart's impact on the U.S. economy is one of the most overrated "hype" stories in the media in recent years.

The biggest positives are the two for which Wal-Mart is beloved of blinkered free traders: its deflationary effect upon prices and its relentless promotion of efficiency up and down the chain of production, distribution, and sale.

This actually has nothing to do with "free trade" at all, except that it clearly illustrates the importance of operational efficiency at all points in the supply chain -- and how the relationship between labor and transportation plays such an important role in supply chain management. If the transportation cost associated with shipping a product from Asia to New York are less than the cost of shipping the same product to New York from Michigan, then moving production to Asia would be a viable option even if U.S. and Asian labor costs were the same.

[ex-snook]

TFP

It's 'pay me now in price' or 'pay me later to the goverment'. Knocking down the domestic payroll makes the company more profitable but is a loser for the population in growth of government [have we noticed?] . The government makes up the difference in building safety nets plus the social costs of family degeneration.

"Penny wise and pound foolish is no way to go through life" to paraphrase Dean Wormer.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

BTW - your comrade Willie Green has been banned.

[roverman2K6]

Walmart= bad. Pays bribes to keep the prices lower then the others. Think about the PRC selling off organs of dissenters next time you are in malmart buying their cheap junk in a dirty store

[Clintonfatigued]

If a large field of low-wage labor made a nation prosperous & powerful, Mexico would be an international powerhouse.