It Ain't Wal-Mart's Fault

Well, they ain't all perfect. Wall-mart refuses to sell emergency contraception
pills in their pharmacy, so my Canary friends and me were protesting. Such
a policy only leads to more unintended pregnancies and abortions.

Let's Talk About Wally World!!!

When I heard about the PBS documentary on Wal-mart, I thought it was going to make me angry at the company, but SURPRISE — that wasn't my reaction at all.

The documentary, which aired on the show Frontline, essentially made the case that Wal-mart was forcing U.S. manufacturing jobs to move to China. There, in China, employees are paid 50 cents an hour for the same job that would pay $15 an hour in the U.S.

The TV documentary made the case that Wal-mart was putting so much pressure on vendors to keep their prices low that they were being forced to relocate their plants to China, which has become the "world's workshop."

Another Canary Shocker...

While I am a social liberal, I'm also a fiscal conservative and a big believer that capitalism is like evolution. If you want to learn how capitalism works, watch Wild Kingdom on TV. See, really, Wal-mart has committed no crime. No one has to work for them, no one has to sell to them, and no one has to buy from them. And blaming the loss of jobs in the U.S. on Wal-mart is silly because it is OUR fault and the fault of our tunnel vision government.

See, the main reason that Chinese goods are so cheap is NOT because of alleged subsidies or the alleged deflation of Chinese currency. The real reason is that there are MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of people who need jobs. Such a massive labor glut keeps prices low and it's SO CHEAP to manufacture in China that even with the cost of a long boat trip, Chinese goods are still a great deal. So when you buy those $9 dress shoes or that $9.88 toaster oven, think about those Chinese workers who eagerly work for 50 cents an hour because they have hopes and dreams of moving UP.

As for the United States, we are quickly following China's example. Our population is skyrocketing and is fueled by high immigration and an abnormally high teen pregnancy rate. Let us keep having our large families and when the grown kids fight for jobs we can say it's "God's punishment."

Specifically, China has a current population of 1.29 billion and the nation will reach 1.39 billion by 2050, which is an 8 percent growth rate. Meanwhile, back in the idyllic United States our population is 291 million now and will grow to 421 million by 2050, a 45 percent growth rate. (Source: Population Reference Bureau).

So don't worry about jobs going to China. As our U.S. population skyrockets and China's population continues to slow, the jobs will return to the good ol' USA. We hard working Americans will then be making nice TV sets and toasters for the Chinese, but we likely won't be getting paid much.

To add injury to insult...

Funny thing is that the United Nations Population Fund has programs in China that help to slow the population by encouraging smaller and healthier families. But in 2002, President Bush cut the U.S. contribution to this program, and he continued withholding the funding in 2003. The reason he has done this is the claim that some of the funds are used for coerced abortions in China. Several delegations to the country have proven this allegation to be completely false, but the White House remains firm on their position. The main person pressuring President Bush to withhold the funds is an anti-contraceptive zealot in Congress named Chris Smith (R-NJ), along with the Family Research Council, an extremist and Catholic-leaning group.

What an irony!

Hmmm, I guess President Bush is withholding family planning funds to China so that they can have more babies, and thus more workers, so that labor rates will remain low. Thus, Wally World can continue to keep prices low for American consumers and jobs will continue to flow to China.

So, no, I don't blame Wally World for this crises. They are just shrewd business people who are exploiting an opportunity in the system. And for all the bad they are supposedly doing, they are also doing good by keeping prices low, forcing vendors to be efficient, and probably single-handedly slowing inflation.

And yet another irony in this story is that the VERY NEXT day after the documentary aired, Sears and K-mart announced their merger. This is even more evidence that Wal-mart is not the bad guy because they are just as susceptible to new and unexpected market developments as any other firm. It is survival of the fittest, or as the old saying goes, it's EVOLUTION!!!