The Pittsburgh Times-Review writes:
A larger complaint against Wal-Mart charges that the giant retailer comes in and wipes out main street, puts an end to all those mom-’n-pops that are selling everything from hammers to salmon.
The other side of the story is that salmon is no longer a high-end delicacy, beyond the reach of the average household. With fresh fillets selling for $4.50 a pound in Wal-Mart’s display cases, the price for an 8-ounce dinner portion is 44 cents lower than the current price of a Cheeseburger Happy Meal at McDonald’s.
The end result is better nutrition in America, especially among lower-income households, and less poverty and unemployment in Wal-Mart’s primary supply regions in southern Chile.
Altogether, Wal-Mart’s prices, according to a study by M.I.T. economist Jerry Hausman and USDA economist Ephraim Leibtag, are saving U.S. consumers more than $50 billion a year, money that’s spent elsewhere, boosting volume at other businesses and creating new enterprises, including mom-’n-pops.
The net impact? The director of economic policy for the 2004 Kerry-Edwards campaign, New York University economist Jason Furman, contends that Wal-Mart is “a progressive success story.” With Wal-Mart’s prices ranging from 8 percent to 40 percent lower than people would pay elsewhere, states Furman, the increase in buying power that Wal-Mart delivers, disproportionately to lower-income families, more than offsets any impact that the company has allegedly produced in the earnings of retail workers.
Wal-Mart is good for all citizens, but especially good for the poorest members of society.
Link via Greg Mankiw who has more.
Dude….. Salmon at walmart? Now you’ve gone too far, vato. You’ve had my salmon…. or actually, that day it was mahi mahi. My point is the same. The only good place to buy salmon is Costco. It is fresh, and 15 bucks will buy enough to feed un chingaso de gente.
I would prefer a Mickey D’s cheeseburger to any nasty walmart salmon.
So therefore….. the “salmon at wal-mart” argument must be, ahem….., a red herring.
And that was some damn good mahi mahi!
But as for Costco, the problem with the poor getting Salmon from Costco is that there are not as many Costco’s in the ghetto, it’s primarily Wal-Marts that open up in the ghetto (and along with it, bring much needed jobs).
Second problem, Costco, even with its discount prices, is still more expensive a place to shop than the day to day poor shoppers that typically visit Wal-Mart.
If you think I am lying, just visit a Wal-Mart and look for yourself. You will immediately see a very big difference in the people that shop and work there from the people that shop and work at Costco. Wal-Mart is overwhelmingly poor and minority in its shoppers, whereas a good chunk of Costco is not. If Wal-Mart is so bad for the poor, why do so many of them choose to shop and work there instead of at other places? If not for the cheaper prices, closer location, and job opportunities where there was none before, than what? It certainly isn’t the short lines and quick service, I know that much!
Better nutrition at Wal-Mart. . .psh-a! I say!
The way food is processed now, I question everything. Just because it’s cheaper doesn’t make it “better.” Maybe years ago, unprocessed food was considered dangerous – it spoiled, rotted, and was probably even poisonous.
Although it is great to think that cheap, tasty food is a great technical advancement, I think that food processing often benefits the manufacturer first, not the consumer.
HP:
A Costco opened up in the town that I work in about 1 or two years ago. Guess what? Many of my student’s families are abandoning their sacred Wal-Mart and are shopping at COSTCO.
Nebur:
“So therefore….. the “salmon at wal-mart” argument must be, ahem….., a red herring.”
Dude, I am glad you are my brother. You crack me up!
btw…when do you want to come over for dinner? We will have salmon, from COSTCO!
Isn’t the problem with Costco is that it sells at too large a quantity? I mean, I know us latinos tend to have large families, but sometimes the quantities of food sold at Costco seems like they can feed an army.
Cad,
Your processing argument is a stronger argument against Costco than it is against Wal-Mart, lets remember, it is Costco that sells in higher quantities than Wal-Mart, and therefore must last longer than Wal-Mart products. Besides, I have yet to see somebody show that the Wal-Mart salmon is any different than the Costco salmon, aside from the price of course.
Kelly,
Either way, it is a fact that both, 1. There are more Wal-Marts in the ghetto than there are Costcos (my links above point to this) and 2. Wal-Mart employs and has a MUCH LARGER poor minority customer base than does Costco. Again I ask, if Wal-mart is so bad for minorities, why do they continue to shop there and work there in such large numbers?
Israel,
Exactly. Which is why Wal-Mart still continues to have a large poor minority customer base.
i wasn’t picking sides towards costco and walmart. I mean all processed food in general, not just the food in walmarts.
The whole, “The end result is better nutrition in America, especially among lower-income households” is just a joke. Yes Walmart does help supply people in demand in both food and work, pero. . .like i said before, just because it’s cheaper food, doesn’t make it better.
I agree! Cheaper does not necessarily (though it can) mean better and expensive does not necessarily (though it can) mean better. On that we agree! Wheres my hug?
that’s agreeing. . eh, i like hugs, so i’ll give you one anyways (hugs)
Isn’t Walmart trying to increase minimum wage, HP?
Yep, because they want to put smaller businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
Do your economists like it when Walmart puts small business at a disadvantage?
DD,
Small businesses pay employees less and charge higher prices than Wal-Mart , so in that sense, yes these economists would support Wal-Mart replacing those small businesses. However, let us not forget that Wal-Mart also helps many small businesses as well, by operating in the same area as Wal-Mart, many other small businesses (especially those that sell products that don’t compete with Wal-Mart) thrive and benefit from the larger customer base Wal-Mart brings in.
HP:
There are ’some’ businesses who pay their employees less, but many retail oriented businesses are able to compete with Walmart’s average hourly wage.
Walmart is able to charges less…..because small businesses starting out do not get the discounts that Walmart receives. That serves as a type of ‘market barrier’, HP.
My point is this…..if some economists are going to support Walmart and their want of increasing minimum wages… then that goes against the Adam Smith idealistic view points with regard to gov’t stepping in.
We should also learn from the past and look at Standard Oil. Sure we would like to have an idealistic market situation, however, we must not ignore that people do not always act with ideals in mind. We should place a “few” checks and balances and recognize that not everyone does the “ideal” thing.
My father-in-law was in the petro-industry, and I was able to work closely with his partners. One thing that I learned in working in the petro industry was that sometimes price-fixing occurs. My father-in-law’s partner warned me of such, and he gave me strict instructions to not engage in this behavior when dealing with other petro-company owners.
I have no idea what you are talking about dd, sorry. What exactly are you trying to say? Who is for the minimum wage here? Certainly not me! Who is for government intervention? What type of government intervention?
Sorry, just not grasping your response.
Walmart is for minimum wage increases.
Right, well I am against minimum wage increases…so are many Republicans.
Ok. I’m still annoyed at that, and wanted to vent.
Also, HP…..I would like to know…do you think we should have “some” laws that are against price fixing and monopolies? I’m curious is all. If you don’t want to go that direction in this subject….that’s cool….I will continue to pop in and out of here from time to time.
LOL. No, it’s cool.
Short answer to your question: Yes.
Whew! lol!