Re: Wal-Mart and Wages?

From: Johnny 5 (johnny5_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/23/04 

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 01:02:07 GMT

Mason A. Clark <masoncNOT@THISix.netcom.comQQQ> wrote in
news:fu60g0thvmjg4omd971qrlo5q5bapqi1pt@4ax.com:

>>I agree. But the huge market for bottled water in the face of free
>>tap water that is just as good (in most places) tells me that all the
>>talk about how Americans just don't have enough money is a lot of
>>nonsense.

Look it's a social thing, these women view it as an extension of thier
independence to have thier own water bottle and the metrosexuals jumped
in line behind the leader - who wants to share a water fountain anymore,
communal living is in defiance of PERSONAL POWER and independence.

> Americans do have enough money. Enough to spend vast amounts
> on advertising and "public relations" to induce them to
> spend it foolishly -- but it's fun ain't it?

The shopping machines and thier little clones are lighting up the credit
cards in my local mall. I read somewhere over half of all drug research
money goes into marketing.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520225147/ref=cm_custrec_g
l_rec/103-6115621-1851018?v=glance&s=books

Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders,
and a Plan to Stop them All

Americans have been conditioned to appreciate, cheer, and serve economic
growth. Brian Czech argues that, while economic growth was a good thing
for much of American history, somewhere along the way it turned bad,
depleting resources, polluting the environment, and threatening
posterity. Yet growth remains a top priority of the public and polity. In
this revolutionary manifesto, Czech knocks economic growth off the
pedestal of American ideology. Seeking nothing less than a fundamental
change in public opinion, Czech makes a bold plea for castigating
society's biggest spenders and sets the stage for the "steady state
revolution." Czech offers a sophisticated yet accessible critique of the
principles of economic growth theory and the fallacious extension of
these principles into the "pop economics" of Julian Simon and others. He
points with hope to the new discipline of ecological economics, which
prescribes the steady state economy as a sustainable alternative to
economic growth. Czech explores the psychological underpinnings of our
consumer culture by synthesizing theories of Charles Darwin, Thorstein
Veblen, and Abraham Maslow. Speaking to ordinary American citizens, he
urges us to recognize conspicuous consumers for who they are-bad citizens
who are liquidating our grandkids' future.

I see so many WASTEFUL shoppers that blow money and resources because
they have an EMOTIONAL need to do the mall rat lifestyle - it doesn't
matter that it takes poor little girls in sweatshops to support that
lifestyle, here is your challenge citizen, would you rather hear your
wife bitch and whine all day about her drama - or give her a credit card
and send her to the mall and get all that stress off your back so you
can watch some TV?

Emotions are a big part of why people spend and purchase and work the way
they do, can't forget about that big factor. 

-- 
Government policy in interest rates, and on finance generally, has been 
marked by vacillation, wishful thinking, electoral expediency of the most 
shameful type towards the end of last year, contortions and 
contradictions, all to accommodate the redneck economics of the National 
Country Party. (Harsard Aug.27 1981)
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