"From: "Victoria Heller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Minneapolis Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 15:52:09 -0600 Subject: [Mpls] Wal-Mart in Minneapolis
I've read that Wal-Mart saves American consumers $10 Billion each year. Wal-Mart has improved the standard of living of millions of people around the world - = not to mention the employees who became millionaires by holding its stock. Low prices good - high prices bad. Victoria Heller North Oaks" Response: Cost internalization good. Cost externalization bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because Sam Walmart was a genius in methods of product inventory and distribution, good. If Wal-Mart prices are low because goods are produced by exploited workers, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because goods are produced in countries without environmental protections, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because Wal-Mart employees are not paid a living wage, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because the corporation does not need to compensate for the destruction of local economies, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because the corporation does not need to protect against local water resource impairments from the 50 acres of hard surface it puts on the landscape, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because profoundly subsidized fuel prices allow consumer goods to be shipped economically across the nation and around the world, bad. If Wal-Mart prices are low because producers of goods pay Wal-Mart to allow them to put tracking devices in their products without telling customers, bad. Market economics 101: social welfare is optimized by the market only when all costs are internalized in prices. If this means the poor need to pay more for products, the answer is not to make stuff artificially cheaper for everyone by pushing costs off on exploited workers, communities, and those who breathe the air and drink the water near factories; it is to work toward a society where there is not such a vast maldistribution of wealth (and, no, there is no strong correlation between the accumulation of wealth and the doing of worthwhile things). Unfortunately, for the past several decades our leaders have been pushing non-stop in the opposite direction. Chuck Holtman Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
