Oct. 26, 2003 - 22:14 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

BIG Business

Pushing things to a ridiculous extreme, and wondering as I often do, will it eventually come to pass that our country will have one farmer "Agri-business," one retailer, "Mal Wart," one refiner of petroleum products which appears that maybe BP is gaining ground on that.

Seems like we will be sitting ducks when there will possibly be only be one farmer in our nation, one retailer, etc., etc., etc. No independants any more. As a kid I remember the Mom and Pop stores in our town wich were all independant grocery retailers. Small they were with limited choices of a few things, open quite late with prices a bit higher than one would pay in the big grocery stores. They were the typical "convenience" stores. Mom would run out of bread, milk or have a need for a pint of ice cream for visitors delectation and sonny would get sent to the "Creamery" up on the next corner. Back in those days most folks would sack out at a decent hour or stock up early for late events and with no customers on the street after maybe nine PM the Mom and Pop stores would close. Then along came the corporate "convenience" stores and in the beginning they would close a bit later than the Mom and Pop establishments and in many cases up their prices, but due to their ability to buy in large quantities the price they paid for their merchandise was much lower. So the Mom and Pops disappeared. For many years the new, corporate stores would not allow any use of their bathroom by customers. Nowadays they are open 24 hours a day and the bathrooms are a convenience for the customers use. Neat for us, huh ?

Quotes from an article of October 25, 2003 by Rob Reuteman, Business Editor of the Rocky Mountain News follows: Is Wal-Mart really a wolf in sheeps clothing ?

Mr. Reuteman discusses an area familiar to me by the way, where we shop frequently. He says, "I was out running some errands last Saturday and stopped at Kmart on Monaco and Evans to pick up a few household items. I was shocked to find maybe 15 cars in the lot. Six months ago, there would have been 115 cars at 3 PM on a weekend."

Mr. Rueteman makes a short sentence, "It took about five seconds to reason it out. Wal-mart.

Then he says, "A new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened at Hampden Avenue and Dayton Street earlier this year, about half a mile from the Kmart. Thats the only variable I can think of. I, too, shop at that Wal-Mart these days rather than Kmart. They're both equidistant from my house and I can get groceries at Wal-Mart too."

Then Mr. Reuteman quotes from an October 6th Business Week Cover story, "Is Wal-Mart too powerful ?" Among things he quotes, "Wal-Mart is the world's largest company, with $245 billion in revenues last year."

Another paragraph, "By virtue of its mammoth retail supply chain, Wal-Mart saved U.S. customers some $20 billion last year alone."

"According to a 2002 UBS Warburg study, Wal-Mart Supercenters offer prices 14 per cent below rivals."

Further he says, "Unionized grocers pay their workers 30 percent more on average, according to the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, which is attempting to unionize at 45 Wal-Mart locations."

In our town Wal-Mart wants to put a store in an area at Alameda and Zuni Street, an aging mall, now an Asian marketplace. I have seen a few empty spots there but not too many.

Mr. Reuteman goes on, "A Wal-Mart there would displace several tenants in what has become an Asian marketplace, and could require the city to approve condemnation of some property. Also, since the 19-acre site falls within an urban renewal district enacted in 1991, Wal-Mart would be eligible for a city subsidy in the form of tax-increment financing. To reimburse Wal-Mart for part of its development costs, it would get to keep much of the sales tax it collects until the urban renewal designation is up in 2016."

Councilwoman Kathleen Mackenzie is in the middle of the brouhaha. Mr. Reuteman explains, "Privately Mackenzie wishes America were a nation of small entrepeneurs with different shops in each region. 'Instead, we are a nation of large corporations,' she said. 'Everywhere you go, you have the exact same stores.'

Then Mr. Reuteman goes on, "Anyone who's followed Mackenzie's voting record or public pronouncements over four years in office is familiar with her general pro-labor views. As such, some of her opinions come as little surprise." "A great many people work for these corporations that pay poor wages," Mackenzie said. "They're not building any equity to protect themselves in old age or pass on to their children. That's sad to me. Wal-Mart is the biggest symbol of the increasing hegemony of the corporation in America. I think they have been an astonishingly successful retailer, but at quite a cost."

Mr. Reuteman reports that Mackenzie said, "When General Motors was the largest corporation, they raised the bar on health insurance and worker pay," she continued. It seems to me that Wal-Mart is lowering the bar in worker treatment. I'm sad about that, and I worry that the low prices Wal-Mart is able to offer may be pretty expensive for our nation over time, as we have to subsidize people in a variety of ways."

Then Mr. Reuteman brings out that Mackenzie is between a rock and a hard place. He says further, "But Mackenzie well recognizes that a public servant often must subjugate personal beliefs for the wishes of her electorate. "My constituents who live around Alameda Square are unanimously in favor of a Wal-Mart," she said. "Their position is very clear to me. That's the dilemma."

Mr. Reuteman says, "Stay tuned.

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It really boggles my mind that a corporation as large as that would be bottom feeding, dredging for every little advantage including a forced condemnation to boot in order to get their foot in the door in that neighborhood. At least that is my opinion. I've been trying to find an article that claims that the average Wal-mart worker's wages are below poverty level. I saw it somewhere and it sounds about right to me. I know the last place I worked as a journeyman the repair ladies wages were in about that category too.

As usual, I can see that things are ailing but am not doctor enough to bring things up to an equitable level for all.

Some day will we all be employees of One Big Store? Run by who? The government? Or the biggest retailer in the world? who also went into farming and refining along the way? Hah & pah and poo too, BIG Business . . . . . . . . .

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