The irony is that the real economies of scale don't happen at store level, they happen at the wholesale purchasing level. That is what Wal-Mart has accomplished. It has total control of the purchasing for thousands of stores. Consequently, it pays its suppliers only a very razor-thin profit, reserving more for itself. It is an illusion that it is accepting a razor thin profit when it sells.
The same economies redound to companies like Super Value that sell to many, many stores, only a few of which it actually owns. So, the big box has no inherent advantage over the little one. By the way, the repeated charge that prices in Minneapolis co-ops place them beyond the reach of normal incomes is only made by people who don't have a lot of experience buying at co-ops. As a frequently unemployed person, my income has seldom risen above normal, and yet I've afforded co-op food the whole time they've existed in Minneapolis. So people shouldn't think they are able with unsupported charges to pull the wool over my eyes. And I'm sure there are at least a few others who can see through these charges. The one really bad part of the big box chains is that they constantly pull less-profitable stuff off their shelves to replace them with other things that generate more margin. That is why you so often cannot find what you used to buy at the five and dime, which attempted to have things in stock which people were looking for. At the big box, you constantly settle. A lot of us go to independent hardware stores for that reason. They are the ones still carrying the useful, if oddball, items. Oh, and the old-fashioned drugstores. Long may they live. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Am I in favor of social coercion such as used in Saudi Arabia and Singapore? Being an anarchist or Jeffersonian Democrat at heart, absolutely not" Which makes that argument a red herring. A method which is out of bounds is not a serious thing to talk about. Plus, until you really understand the culture of Singapore, you can't even say with any certainty that that was the CAUSE of the desired result. What we need is some proof that any method in the scale between where we are and some people's desired result will be any better than what we have now. I'm pretty sure the southern states are more brutal than we are. Have THEY totally eliminated the targeted street vices? The question I have is why these are the ONLY options being considered. Is it old-fashioned prudery? Is it Drug War brainwashing? I don't think Jeffersonian Democrats traditionally let government programs limit the options they'd consider. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'm not "afraid" of having the street vice move to my neighborhood. I just think it is incontestably STUPID to spend MONEY in a time of AUSTERITY for something like that. One of the real attractions of Minnesota for me over the last 35 years has been my perception that it is cultural here to use your mind, not your emotions, to choose solutions. This hunger for coercion is not an example of that. It is people letting their gut make their choices. I think Minnesota would do well to steer away from that if they don't want to become more culturally similar to those states in the southern tier that never solve any problem. Look at the Middle East. Look at Northern Ireland. Those areas, too, like solutions that give a temporary sense of emotional release. I say if that is what you need, punch a bag or something. But when you're deciding things like use of coercion, do NOT consult the primitive areas of your brain. It wants to rule you, but we didn't become humans by doing that. Homo sapiens differs from "lower species" by having the ABILITY to use our enlarged brain to think beyond our emotions. So we are misusing our human abilities with suggestions to experience revenge and excite fear in others. Mark my words, the more you do that, the more you are a fit subject of a tyrannical state. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community In The Great and Wonderful City I Call Home, Minneapolis TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
