Kunstler v. North

regarding Walmart - Reply To Gary North

Who's more "conservative" here, the Democrat or the [paleo-]libertarian? I wonder if North could tweak his argument to such an extent (i.e. Wlamart is good for American consumers and Chinese workers) that Michael Sandel would actually agree with him.

Team Blue

Wal Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price- Full Length Documentary

Greg Plotkin, Why Wal-Mart Won't Ever Please Locavores

Why Wal-Mart Won't Ever Please Locavores

A suitable rebuttal of the views mentioned in this post.

Walmart a force for positive change and relocalization?

Rod Dreher: Wal-mart, friend to local farmers. Really!

Corby Kummer, The Great Grocery Smackdown

Can Walmart survive the post-carbon transition?

Slow Food San Francisco

More by Corby Kummer:
Slow Food, High Gear - The Atlantic (January/February 2008)
The Atlantic Food Channel: Corby's Fresh Feeds

The Pleasures of Slow Food (GB)
Building a Slow Food Nation (1 or 2)
Slow Food Nation | Videos

I thought I recognized his face--he was in an episode of The Chopping Block.

Is Costco a Big Box Store?

Costco is said to be a much better employer than WalMart/Sam's Club (in which I had never stepped foot was until I temporarily moved to Virginia), but is it nonetheless still a big-box store? Does it still have an adverse impact on local economies? Probably not--I don't think Costco appears except in communities that have already lost self-sufficiency and most of its locally-owned businesses, if it had any to begin with.

While families can probably shop at Costco with a cleaner conscience than if they did at Walmart (and what middle-class family in the Bay Area doesn't have a Costco membership?), is saving a buck here and there all that matters? (I don't think the sale of Costco pizza along with everything else is enough to justify its existence, even though it is a good bargain-$9.99 for an 18" pizza, with a choice of pepperoni, vegetarian, and supreme as toppings.)

It may be true that many families just cannot afford to shop regularly at farmers' markets for locally-grown food. But before we make look for an easy excuse to justify our current shopping choices, shouldn't we look a little bit closer at the consequences of maintaining our current political economic arrangements? What are the hidden and not-so-hidden costs that are incurred and the injustices committed to make it possible to for us to buy things so cheaply?

The Costco Challenge: An Alternative to Wal-Martization? (July 5 ...
Wal-Mart vs. Costco
Rivalry between Wal-Mart, Costco also extends to national politics ...
How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart - New York Times
Costco: The 'anti-Wal-Mart' - MSN Money
How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart
Costco: The Only Company Wal-Mart Fears


At Rebellion, Mike Tuggle draws our attention to The Big Box Swindle by Stacy Mitchell, which discusses the negative impact of big-box stores and large retail and service chains on local communities at all levels (from the environment to the political realm).

The Hometown Advantage
New Rules Project
Institute for Self-Reliance

Once again, the website for Local Harvest:
Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

Mom-and-pop stores

Some do not lament the passing of Mom-and-pop stores from cities (especially urban centers, i.e. "downtown") as big box stores like Walmart gain ascendancy. After all, Walmart satisfies the needs of its customers, does it not? And gives them what they want at low, low prices. Given the role of the merchant and the trader to the economic life of a community, is it not surprising that those who can achieve positive economies of scale and have advantages conferred by governments will win out over small business owners?

Stacy Mitchell recommends in "What to Do About Walmart":

3. Support Small Business Creation
We've lost tens of thousands of independent businesses over the last decade and, with them, an important part of the fabric of American life. Small businesses contribute significantly to the vitality of local economies. They nurture social capital, disperse wealth and vest decision-making in local communities rather than corporate headquarters. They are the means by which generations of families have pulled themselves into the middle class.

But small businesses have long been on the losing end of government policy. Local and state governments have spent billions subsidizing the construction of big-box stores. Nearly half the states have corporate income tax policies that give significant advantages to national chains. Local zoning boards routinely bend and break the rules to accommodate big retailers, while telling small businesses that it's their own problem if they cannot "compete."

What might our economy look like if we reversed these policies? What might happen if we redirected all those corporate subsidies to small business development? We could set up business incubators, training programs and revolving loan funds. What if we stopped creating tax increment financing zones to support Wal-Mart and instead established Independent Business Investment Zones, as some in Austin, Texas, are calling for? What if our land use and transportation policies no longer fueled big-box sprawl but fostered small businesses embedded in neighborhoods and town centers, so we could once again walk to the store?

But does this go far enough, fostering the businesses of small merchants? Relocalization, either as a response to peak oil, or as a requirement of good practical reason, demands more. Why?

Merchants do not produce anything, but instead act as intermediaries, facilitating the exchange of goods between producers, those who obtain raw materials and producers, producers and other merchants, producers and consumers, or merchants and consumers. (This is not mean to be an exhaustive list of possible relationships -- merchants can also act as middle-men between other merchants.) I'll reserve the term trade for exchanges between communities or members of different communities, and not exchanges that take place within a community. (And by community I am usually referring to that lowest level of political organization which can be considered as such, being perfect as Aristotle explains in the Politics, or close to it.)

It seems uncontroversial to say that the agrarian base of larger American towns and cities has gradually been lost. I do not know who produced the majority of the other goods used in those cities--members of the community? Or were these brought in by merchants? One cannot give a narrative that applies to every single American city--undoubtedly some were more self-sufficient than others.

When we talk of relocalization, we do not mean that what we are aiming for is an economy of mom-and-pop merchants, though an increase in their may be laudable in so far as a local economy is preserved (and this can especially done through the adoption of local currencies). Rather, in the ideal arrangement producers would sell directly to those who would use their products, and thus the need for a merchant/middle man would be eliminated. I don't see why this would not be feasible for a city of a reasonable size. This would be true even of farmers selling food at the market; living and farming in close proximity to the city there would not be a need for highly advanced modes of transportation (i.e. vehicles running on fossil fuels).

In self-sufficient poleis, there would be no need for retail corporations like WalMart, though there is a place for corporations like guilds. While WalMart does not necessarily initiate the destruction of self-sufficiency and in many cases its dominance may just be the final phase of that process, nonetheless it has its own negative impacts on the political economy peculiar to it and the other corporations behind the big box stores.

wiki: Returns to Scale not the same as economies of scale

Black Friday

Most Americans know that the Friday after Thanksgiving is perhaps the biggest shopping day of the year, as Americans begin their shopping for Christmas. (What a way to get into the spirit of the season--of course, one of the other big shopping days is December 26.) Only tonight did I learn that the day has a special name, "Black Friday." What this name? Wikipedia gives two possible explanations, though I like the first because it is the first that came into my mind--retailers depend on sales from the (pre-)holiday shopping season to keep them in the black, and so on.

I don't do much shopping in stores much, relying on internet retailers (for good or for ill), but I will be going out today because of CompUSA. Their sale actually starts at 5 A.M., and I may try to stay up until then. I hope the streets of Brighton are safe at that time in the morning. Too bad there's no Fry's Electronics here.

KK has 5 stores to hit--Macys, Sears, JC Penny, Target, and... one more. It's a good thing WalMart didn't exist in Cupertino while we were growing up--I'd hate to be a WalMart kid, though I didn't mind being a KMart kid so much--not because of the clothes. With respect to its business practices, KMart may be no better than WalMart. KMart is noted for having the Jaclyn Smith collection. But as Miranda Priestly points out in The Devil Wears Prada, fashion trends make their way down from the trend-setters...

KK and the M.D. think of themselves as Target kids as well; I prefer being a Mervyns kid.

Having Asian feet, it is difficult for me to find shoes. Unfortunately, in general clothing retailers here in the U.S. don't really cater to Asian body types. KK recommended that I check out Rockport shoes... I may do that once I return to CA. DakarM likes Clarks. (UK) Now if I could only find shirts that would fit me well...

How many people will be up early trying to beat the crowds, only to find that there are crowds nonetheless? And how many people will be spending the day shopping? And how much money will be spent on useless things and junk? I was thinking the other day about furniture--and how much furniture and other usable items are thrown out when people move out. How we waste... There will be some money spent on clothing, of course, and clothing is useful, but they are products of the garment and fashion industries, which are not exactly well-ordered. Then there are the toys, not just toys for children, but toys for adults. Gaming consoles are gaining popularity with adults, and the stigma that used to be attached to them is disappearing (though I think it still exists with respect to computer games, though even that may be diminishing).

How we keep ourselves in an infantile state with the sort of diversions we choose. I don't want to say adolescent, because there is a healthy adolescence. It seems that children are drawn towards diversions that are aimed at the gratification of the senses and the passions and replace the use of the imagination with an electronically generated virtual reality, and even for them this is not healthy. Fr. Rutler came to OLP once and inveighed against computer games... while the computer game-makers have been able to attract some younger females to their games, it seems that they become less popular with women as they get older; I do not think there is a sizeable component of 20-something females among those who play console games--then again perhaps this is because console game-makers have not created products that would attract them. But it is more likely the case that electronic games do not have the same sort of pull that, say, a novel would have. How many women have lost boyfriends, husbands, shack-up partners to electronic gaming?

While it may be possible to turn gaming into a social activity by going into a 2-P mode--I remember those days at Christendom when the basement of St. Benedict's would go head-to-head against each other in Goldeneye--how does this compare to a pickup game of basketball or football? Certainly the latter is healthier for the body, despite those who would claim that gaming is good for eye-hand coordination and useful for training soldiers in a high-tech military. There may be some use to games that serve as battlefield simulators, but I wonder if these games are realistic enough and if they may not foster some bad habits as well. I don't see how such games can replace battle drills and flexible thinking in accordance with the principles of 3GW, and if they make for a very bad substitute, then the money spent on developing such games should be used instead on training.

(What about the weekly poker (or mah jong) game? I ponder whether I will find a poker circle in the future, or if I will pick up golfing. Probably not. Paintballing can be good exercise, but it's rather expensive. Has the New Scot started up his airsoft group? In previous centuries one would guess that the opportunity for recreation was rather limited for most people, though there were communal celebrations of feast days and such. But more on this in a separate post.)

It would be nice to save up a bundle of cash and head off to do some training with a friend at a place like Thunder Ranch.

I do purchase presents for Christmas--I try to buy items that are connected to our Lord, either explicitly or by promoting Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. However it may be difficult to do even the latter, since the gift needs to be proportioned to the recipient if that person is to enjoy it. (Unless one chooses strictly useful gifts.) These days though I wonder if there is any point to getting presents for people outside the family and the circle of close friends... especially if the virtue of gratitude seems to be missing. Does it give support to the secular holiday that has in the minds of many replaced the Feast Day of our Lord? What is the rationale in their mind for gift-giving, other than custom?

How do we Christians get our feast day back and communicate our reasons for joy to others other than giving presents? Celebrating with our families, especially with those members who are not Christian, is a priority.

(Almsgiving during Advent seems appropriate.)

What does our use of the word "happy" fail to capture in the Christian understanding of felix? I was thinking about it today, after the Lady Downstairs made a comment about Whom people were implicitly thanking in celebrating Thanksgiving--when feast days have been drained of any transcendental meaning, should Christians boycott them? What is the Christian response? What is the rational response, the logical response of Mr. Spock? Or is custom sufficient to demand that we celebrate as others celebrate? How do we say Merry Christmas to a non-believer without making a mockery of it, if we do not take the time to explain why this day is indeed a reason for us to be glad. It almost seems as if one should save Felix Nativitas(?) for our brothers and sisters in Christ and say "Happy Holidays" to everyone else...



Anti-Walmart sites
WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price
Wal-Mart Watch
Links to Anti-Wal-Mart Resources - HEL*MART™
Comprehensive anti-Wal-Mart info digest
Wake Up Wal-Mart
How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart - New York Times
Anti-WalMart and Pro-WalMart Groups and Websites

Uh, go Costco.

On CBS late night news...
Uh... there's a story on CBS news on older recruits--one is a 41yo woman with 3 grown children, another is a 42yo woman with 2 children--unbelievable. The army raised the maximum age for recruits to 42. This second woman has a son who is in the army and has been deployed to Iraq. Something is seriously messed up with the army and our civilian leadership. Being mentors for the teenage recruits? Life experience? What, the army is supposed to help provide that sort of guidance now? I'd rather see the army doing what it can to retain the older NCOs who know something about combat, instead of fooling around with social engineering.

Say No to Walmart and Big Box Stores

Review of The Wal-Mart Effect, by Charles Fishman

At least the people at Costco are paid more. I wonder if Costco relies upon any unsavory practices though.