Sunday, April 08, 2007

Breaking: Falling prices land on house, kill 5

“Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.”
— Georges Santayana

The news broke last month that Wal-Mart plans to build a supercenter near the corner of Green Street and Cook Road, just outside the City of Hastings. Never mind that Wal-Mart already has a huge store in Rutland Township that hasn't been around very long, but I guess it’s not enough for the board of directors at Wal-Mart, they’ve got to have a store that will offer people everything in the world of goods and services, from groceries to haircuts, to lawn implements to lamp shades and all or most of it made in China. It feels like nothing is ever enough for these guys, they want to rule the world. And I hope we’re not dumb enough to do our part to let ’em do it. Wal-Mart made a pitch last month for rezoning to the Rutland Township Planning Commission and was rebuffed by a unanimous vote in a packed house full of people mostly opposed to the project. But those who opposed the project only won Round One, and this 800-pound gorilla will be back with a bigger team of lawyers and more threats Wednesday night when the Rutland Township Board will take up the issue in the spacious digs at The Barry Expo Center.

Meanwhile, the debate is raging, with most people opposed explaining that Green Street is mostly residential and too narrow to handle the traffic especially considering it's already a congested road at peak times of day and is the only route for ambulances to take to Pennock Hospital where any delay because of traffic can lead to death. Some people are arguing a bigger Wal-Mart would be bad for local business but that doesn't sway the ones who would rather pay a little less for a product without regard to the steeper social and economic costs to society which we have seen before in periods of American history where corporations began taking too much power and squashing their competition. Some of us are arguing that we need to remind ourselves of the lessons from those mistakes in history and see that unabated corporate greed has a way of coming back to hurt the people who never profited from its success in the first place.

For those who have forgotten about what happened in the United States 100 years ago, the Progressive Era was born at the beginning of the 20th century in response to the excesses of the Gilded Age, the Industrial Revolution, laden with “robber barons” such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, who made millions of dollars by screwing the poor masses glad to have jobs with meager pay and lousy hours.

The progressives included “muckrakers” like Upton Sinclair, whose book “The Jungle” exposed the awful things that were allowed to go into our food; Ida Tarbell, who a critical history of Standard Oil, and even politicians such as Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, who came up with a lot of the political reform ideas later captured by Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New Deal which helped fuel the period in history that made America the champion of liberty, prosperity and generosity around the world.

These reformers had their greatest champion in arguably one of our greatest presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, who did a lot more than just talk about doing something to stop the abuses of the super wealthy and hyper capitalism. It was T.R. who stopped the merger mania that had been occurring so frequently in early 1900s with his trust-busting activity and
he halted Big Oil’s march toward monopoly. The most important thing Teddy did was call out and defeat the likes of Standard Oil, which had designs on monopoly and status more powerful than the federal government through cut-throat tactics, simply because they could.

Under the still highly touted principles of an unregulated free market system, Standard Oil, because it had become so rich and powerful, could afford to sell petroleum products at ridiculously low prices that eventually could eliminate all competition. When the mission had been accomplished, Standard would be the only company left standing and it could set prices for as much as it pleased.

When you use cut-throat tactics to sell your goods and services for less, when you treat your employees like indentured servants, when you collect all the goods you sell from foreign countries that exploit their workers and pay them a fraction of what the U.S. used to pay ours, when you put a tremendous tax burden on the citizens where you locate because they must pick up the tab for roads, sewer, water and traffic lights that your presence requires, when you deliberately locate just outside city limits to avoid paying higher tax rates than neighboring citizens must pay, when you create schemes in which your employees must seek health care paid for by the public in order to shirk the cost of doing business in a fair society, you are just like the robber barons Theodore Roosevelt fought against so long ago. Citizens have a right to stand up and ask their government to be a fair referee. It's long past time we reminded government of it's duty and it's purpose.

There are plenty of shallow and uncomplicated people, too many of them, who only look closely at the low prices offered at Wal-Mart. They don’t understand they’re selling their souls to the devil, and they don’t want to be told about it. They’ll tell you they shop at Wal-Mart simply because the prices are cheaper and in these hard times, you’ve got to save money. But they don’t want to be presented with the big picture, the inconvenient truth such as I have only scratched the surface of here. I only wish these people, too many of them, would revisit history from 100 years ago and then look long and hard at the real price they pay for lower prices at Wal-Mart. There's a price to be paid for ignoring history and it's one that our children and grandchildren will likely pay. But that's just my 2¢...

10 comments:

CEW said...

Thank you for speaking about the long view, especially the progressive movement, and showing that fairness is not a partisan idea. Basic human dignity is neither red nor blue.

http://ourmichigan.blogspot.com

Boggsone said...

Point well taken. However, one thing that does bother me is this: When shopping local you pay higher bucks. One time I spent almost $20 more for a briefcase than one I saw in the Kazoo Malls.

My problem: The local downtown shop owners were, for the most part, the elite familes of the community, and lived in the high rent part of our community, while I was living in a $25,000 bungalow. Can't they lower their prices a little?

Unknown said...

You'll always be able to find something cheaper someplace else. Walmart has an image as being the cheaper place, but if you really compare the prices it isn't any less. As to the local merchants living the good life I just don't see that. I am very, very close with one of the biggest downtown stores and can tell you for a fact that no-one there is living any better than the average Hastings resident.

el colibri said...

Pol Watcher: A very good commentary on WalMart. I can't think of a think to add or subtract. I would point out that not too many years ago our downtown shopping area had several shoe stores,several variety stores, several stores specializing in both men and women clothing, three drug stores, etc etc. I knew a number of these families and I can say that these folks had to provide for their
own heath care, retirement, education for their kids. They often worked long hours and were generous in donating to community churchs and charities. We've lost a entire class of people who once were the bed rock of this community.

lonevoice said...

How anyone could call the King family, the Bulling Family, The Hodges, The Gilmores, The Bolthouses, and I could go on and on the elite of the communtiy is so far removed from reality that the road back would be endless.

As to walmart did they comply with the requirements set forth by the twp. if they did how could they now be denied?

Take their name off from it and how would some other business be treated that wanted to build?

The real issue here may have nothing to do with walmart being so big, but where they spend their advertising dollars......

agnosticrat said...

FREE SHIPPING!

I've never bought a briefacse. If I needed one I would likely purchase it online.
I point this out so that others might see the futility of fighting big box stores. The fight you wage is beginning to be lost anyway. I happen to know several people who buy online. Everything from sneakers to large screen televisions. In larger cities even groceries are purchased online, and delivered within 24 hours. Keeping Wal-Mart from opening one of its superstores in this area will likely be a small win in a much larger battle. Oh hey I gotta go I see UPS in the driveway!

sentinel said...

WalMart too shall go the route of other bix box stores. Unfortunately, before that happens, it will suck the life blood out of downtowns around the country.

Pol Watcher said...

Agnosticrat:
In the end, we'll also all evolve into gray aliens and travel through outer space but does that mean we shouldn't worry about climate change, either?! I'm sure a lot of people told George Washington there was no way he was going to defeat the British... thankfully he fought on or we'd all be speaking... well, you get the idea ;>)

agnosticrat said...

Britanese?
In my opinion the most effective arguement has always been, that Wal-M*rt hurts local business. It may very well drive out competition. But I find it somewhat disingenuous for any other retailer to cry foul, for business practices that have in the past been acceptable for them.
Also, if the arguement is that laws have been ineffective in the case of Wal-m*rt, and that loopholes exist. Would it not be more prudent to close those loopholes that are open for all buisiness, rather than play games with zoning laws that may ultimately have an effect on business' you are trying to save?
I am no fan of Wal-m*rt. I hold all corperations that bend the rules in order to make outragous profits responsible for our poor economy.
All I have heard so far are arguments for better wages, better benefits, better laws, and an end to unfair trade practices. Things I have always advocated. Let's start there, and we may see a day when all will be excited to see a new Wal-Mart come to town. To continue with end-around tactics (zoning laws) in the case of Wal-mart, only enables other corporate skullduggery to exist elsewhere. Like the internet.

sentinel said...

The sad reality is that Walmart does not abuse the laws, the laws were enacted by our wonderful legislators. WalMart has just taken advantage of our tax laws and a community's fear of losing businesses. Out tax structure supports the outrageous CEO compensation, again, not an abuse, but full use of tools given to businesses by our government using our money. Its really corporate welfare. The same could be said of farmers who receive $12 billion in subsidies, making millionaires out of our neighbors at our cost.