[Vision2020] Wal-Mart and Personal Choice (was Job Openings)

[joekc at adelphia.net]

Donovan,

Good points but I don't buy the general claim. Try to find a soda that does not have cafeine or sugar, for instance. It is nearly impossible. Why? There is no incentive to cater to people with tastes that are not in line with the majority. I worry whether there are enough folks who share my musical tastes -- and my tastes with regard to food -- were a Super Wal-Mart to move in to Moscow. And my main point stands. There is no reason to suggest that five years after Super Wal-Mart moves in that I will have a greater number of choices for things that I actually want than I do right now. Super Wal-Mart is not the clear winner in the personal choice sweep stakes -- unless your choices are in line with the choices of the majority. You might believe that the Co-op and Paradise Ridge will remain but you can't say that for certain. If they don't, my personal choices decline.

Thanks! Joe

---- Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote: 
> Joe,
>   
>  I was honestly unaware that  Wal-Mart censored their audio and video products. All the ones I have  bought there seem to be just like the ones I buy elsewhere.
>   
>   I think that a new WalMart would add a selection of goods and services to the community.
>   
>   "If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives the Co-op away"
>   
>   Sorry, but that is just silly Joe. 
>   
>   I do agree that any business that tries to compete with Wal-Mart  directly, trying to sell cheap goods for the lowest prices possible,  they will most likely fail unless they are another huge super chain  with the same practices. But Wal_mart does not sell everything, it does  not provide professional expertise, and it does not sell many quality  goods. 
>   
>  Any business that sells quality goods, provides good  customer service, or sells specialty items, used items, or items that  Wal-Mart does not carry, can easily exist in this town with a Wal-Mart,  as they do now. Anyone business that tries to compete with Wal-Mart on  there turf, cheap products for cheap prices, will most likely suffer.
>   
>   _DJA
>   
>   
> 
> joekc at adelphia.net wrote:I  have to be honest that, even though I did organize the public forum on  Wal-Mart and the local economy the other night, not so long ago I knew  relatively little about these issues. Thanks to Andrew, Jeff, Steven,  BJ, and other folks at Monday's public forum, I've learned a lot in a  relatively short period of time.
> 
> One thing I learned is that it  is not clear whether having a Super Wal-Mart in town would increase or  decrease our level of choice. It is doubtful that a Super Wal-Mart  would offer anything that we don't already have available, for  instance. Of course, it would offer things that we already have  available at a cheaper price and that is an important consideration.  But it is not -- in my estimate -- the most important consideration.
> 
> There  are also ways in which a Super Wal-Mart would limit many of the choices  I now have. For instance, if I want to purchase a CD I can go down  today to Paradise Ridge and buy it, knowing that the full content of  the CD is exactly as the artist intended. At Wal-Mart many of the CD's  that they sell have censored content and are quite different from what  the artist intended. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and drives Paradise  Ridge out of business, then a significant and important set of personal  choices would be removed.
> 
> There is even a better example if we  compare the selection of foods offered at the Co-op with the selection  of foods offered at a Super Wal-Mart. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in and  drives the Co-op away there are a number of products -- from soy milk  to wheat-free crackers to beer to margarines high in poly-unsaturated  fats -- that I would not be able to purchase, at least in any easy way.
> 
> For  me, a Super Wal-Mart would eventually translate into fewer choices and  that is one reason I am against having a Super Wal-Mart in Moscow.
> 
> Joe Campbell
> 
> ---- Donovan Arnold  wrote: 
> >  I thought some of you might be interested in this new committee forming  in Moscow: Moscow Committee to Prevent Personal Choice
> >        
> >  Wanted: Moscow Community Members out to eliminate personal choice and  enforce their personal preferences on others including but not limited  to: Shopping Habits, Sexual Preferences, Place of Worship, Worship  Practices, Education, Clothing, etc. 
> >        
> >  Qualifications: Must be extremely narrow-minded, egotistical, and know  what is best for all people, even ones you never met.
> >        
> >  Duties: Create, support and establish policies in Moscow and the  surrounding community that eliminates personal preferences of others.  The committee shall establish where people can shop and what stores are  permitted in the area. It will establish what religions people can  practice, how they practice that religion, and where. It will establish  how and where people will educate their children, and establish what  their children will learn and are not permitted to learn. It will  establish who people can have sex with, what type of sex they can  engage in, who they can have children with or not have children with,  how many children they can or must have, what the gender of their  children shall be, and the parents’ marital status. In addition, it  will establish what people can eat, smoke, drink, consume, how much,  and where it can be eaten, smoked, drunk, or consumed. It will also  establish what people can wear, what accessories are permitted, what  brands are!
>   leg!
> >  al, and
> > how much skin can or  must be exposed. Finally, it shall pursue a strategy of pointing out  choices people still have after it stripes people of another personal  choice or pointing out the benefits to “society” and the  “community” by eliminating personal freedoms.
> >        
> >       Hours:  Big Brother is  ALWAYS watching
> >        
> >       State Date: 1984
> >        
> >       Pay: Unconstitutional power and authority over others
> >        
> >       Please send application to: 
> >        
> >       City  of Moscow 
> >       206 East Third Street 
> >       Moscow, ID,   83843
> >     
> > 
> >   
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
> >  Photo Books. You design it and we’ll bind it!
> 
> 
> _____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>                http://www.fsr.net                       
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
> 
> 
> 
> 			
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Photos
>  Got holiday prints? See all the ways to get quality prints in your hands ASAP.