Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
16 Comments:
Even if they don't "undercut" on price, we need to make sure they don't offer better quality and convenience. We will probably need a government board to keep an eye on things.
"Not undercutting" is also known as "price fixing" or "price collusion," and is illegal everywhere.
Does this mean socialists favor breaking laws intended to protect consumers?
Hard to believe such crazies exist.
Hard to believe Obama hasn't made him a czar yet.
Paul,
You're the man!
If I may be politically incorrect for a moment... Conservatives are like the man of the nation and liberals are like the woman. The woman nags, bitches, whines, makes minor issues seem important, complains, and remembers every little grievance. But when bad shit happens it's the man who fixes it and keeps the woman safe so she can go back to her bitching.
How would the letter writer feel if car dealers agreed not to undercut each other and sold cars at the same exact price? If airlines agreed not to undercut each other and charged the same fee for flights?
Does the writer never shop for the best price for anything?
Hypocrite.
Perhaps the SPDRDC (Socialist Peoples Democratic Republic of the District of Columbia) should just ban all capitalist enterprises and pay the workers in DC from tax revenue.
Oh wait! Without capitalist enterprises, there will be no tax revenues.
Since all the comments here are in support of Walmart, I'll try and play devil's advocate...
Walmart moved into a town of 9000 people and changed the dynamics of main street by developing a large parcel of land on the outskirts of town. With Walmart came a dozen other national franchises. The outskirts flourished while mainstreet died. The residents of the town felt that Walmart acted selfishly by disregarding the existing planning/visioning documents when they pressured the town to open up new land for their mega store. Towns of this size are usually desperate for increased commercial assessment, so they threw out the rule book for Walmart.
When Walmart opened the town foke and the country-foke flocked to the store for low priced products. Most didn't realize they were receiving lower quality products packaged in the same way they were used to. Electronics with cheaper wiring, fruits and vegetables that don't last as long, sandwich meats with more MSG to extend the shelf life, and other products designed to last only as long as would not disuade the buyer from purchasing the product again.
Suddenly, a town that had resilience and wealth creation prior to Walmart's presence, was being drained of its household assets, one cheap appliance at a time.
Deep down this isn't Walmart's fault, they are just taking advantage of the weak, poor and uneducated. Is it so wrong to provide cheap food so the poor can eat more unhealthy food? Is it wrong to sell poorly made household goods to people who don't have the intellegence to demand that their upright vacuum last more than one year? Is it wrong to only carry a low quality line of products (versus carrying multiple quality levels) so consumers have limited understanding of the products they buy?
I did business on Dupont Circle for a couple of years. The authors of that rag and the activists would say yes, no multi unit chain should be allowed to compete. In fact, they want to be the arbiters of all, destroying competition and its benefits. They are not interested in the goods and services supply framework. They are interested in power and making everyone live in their privileged concept of society.
Not at all sure the point LakeDweller is trying to make. I shop at WalMart sometimes and find the things I need. Meat, chicken, fish can all be found with little or no additives. Fresh produce is available as well as inexpensive frozen veggies (that have no additives). Yes, there is more crap than quality, but that is a choice. The clothing may not be the best, but my daughter grows out of her clothes quickly. Should I not be allowed to buy cheap shorts for the season or must I buy a pair that will last 10 years? And the vacuum cleaner... have you priced out a high quality one lately? You are talking hundreds of dollars. For someone with limited cash, buying a $60 cleaner and using it for a year beats not cleaning for 5 years and buying a good one.
I'm guessing this Bill Moseley didn't feel one iota's worth of shame putting that nonsense out there for public consumption...
What a complete fool!!
LakeDweller is full of hot air. Small towns are dying in droves. I will bet lots of money that downtown Nothingsville was dying before WalMart arrived. The town sure was desperate for the sales tax and property tax revenues that WalMart would bring. Why would it need that revenue if its downtown businesses had been thriving?
The belief that WalMart is preying on "the weak, poor and uneducated" is just snobbery. I'm a highly educated physician who understands tradeoffs between cost and value. I shop at WalMart (alongside all those weak and poor "fokes").
Listen Doc, how dare you not infantalize other people. Who do you think you are, not looking down your nose at the plebs around you? Don't you know they need you to make all the difficult decisions for them? Grow a heart.
LakeDweller,
What a sad story! I'm dabbing at the tears as I write this. Maybe you can cheer me up by clarifying a few points.
"Towns of this size are usually desperate for increased commercial assessment, so they threw out the rule book for Walmart."
Why are they desperate? Why do they need more revenue? Is this act of desperation the will of the people as supposedly represented by those in charge of planning, or are there some special interests being served here?
"When Walmart opened the town foke and the country-foke flocked to the store for low priced products."
So much for loyalty to their friends and neighbors who operate businesses downtown. You do understand that consumers make or break businesses by voting with their dollars. If keeping local small businesses healthy was of any concern to townfolk (not foke)they could have shunned Walmart & continued to shop downtown as they always had. This demise of downtown is not caused by Walmart, but by shoppers.
I'm not aware of any instance where Walmart has ever used force on any shopper to make them buy.
"Most didn't realize they were receiving lower quality products packaged in the same way they were used to. Electronics with cheaper wiring, fruits and vegetables that don't last as long, etc. etc..."
This sounds awful! Most other commentators here seem to be having a much better experience with Walmart than the one you are describing.
"Suddenly, a town that had resilience and wealth creation prior to Walmart's presence, was being drained of its household assets, one cheap appliance at a time."
And to think that no one realized this was happening, and all they had to do to return to prosperity was to return to their neighbors' stores downtown. Very sad indeed.
The rest of your comment mostly paints a dismall picture of how stupid these townspeople are. It's hard to believe they have survived this long with such limited life skills.
Is this really how you feel about peoples inteligence?
Well folks Lake Dweller said he/she would 'try' to play at being the devil's advocate, a tough row to hoe...
To whit: "When Walmart opened the town foke and the country-foke flocked to the store for low priced products"...
Well adults are still responsible for the decisions they make or made in this case, so it seems like the town of 9,000 welcomed Walmart with open wallets...
"Most didn't realize they were receiving lower quality products packaged in the same way they were used to"...
Sure the folks did... Walmart was just following the lead already set by Sears, Penny's, Target, K-Mart, et al...
I think Dr. T noted rightly that "Nothingsville was dying before WalMart arrived"...
Yes indeed and as personal transportation improved so did the choices of the consumers of what they wanted and where they were ready to pay for it at...
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