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<DIV id=idOWAReplyText54043 dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I believe it is you who
misses the point fair lady. Of course you had job oportunity galore back at NC
State. The students don't here. There are not enough part-time jobs here for
students.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>I believe that both Les Schwab and Bruneel
would do better than Wally world in the tire business. The socks were a symbol
for common items that can be purchsed anywhere. I would just as soon pay as
little as possible for such items and that is what competition gives me....low
prices. You seem to want Moscow protected from competition. How is that going to
help anyone living paycheck to paycheck?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>The reason so many of our manufactoring
jobs have left the Country is because Billy and then W set up very poor trade
agreements that left us disadvantaged. It has nothing to do with Wal-mart coming
to town or not.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another selling point for Wal-mart is that
you can get most of these common items at one stop. I personally like the idea
of not having to drive around looking for things. My time is very valuable to me
that is why I am chatting with you. I need to convince you that Wally-World is
good so I don't have to shop as much and I could get my items as cheaply as
possible. It will still be my neighbors and friends working
there.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><BR>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com on behalf of
Joan Opyr<BR><B>Sent:</B> Mon 12/5/2005 4:02 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Vision2020
Moscow<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Wal-Mart<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><BIG>I'd respond to your entire email, James, citing facts and figures and
economic impact studies, but to be honest, I'm stuck on just the one line:
</DIV><BR>
<DIV>"If someone wants to believe that Moscow has a small-town atmosphere that
is fine but really it is only small because it is not large." </DIV><BR>
<DIV>I am five foot six only because I am not six foot nine. </DIV>
<DIV>I eat food only because I don't eat cardboard. </DIV>
<DIV>I have a border collie only because I don't have a pony. </DIV>
<DIV>I love Steve McQueen only because . . . well, just because. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>I managed to work my way through NC State University from 1984 until 1991
-- through first a BA and then an MA -- without having to work for Wal-Mart.
Perhaps I was just lucky. I had friends who worked for Wal-Mart, but I worked at
a gas station, at Raleigh's local newspaper, as an English tutor, driving a
School Book Fairs truck and trailer, cleaning carpets, teaching, and technical
writing. Many of these jobs I worked simultaneously. Not easy, but then, I
didn't mind. I would have shoveled pig manure in order to get my degrees; school
was important to me. In fact, I did shovel pig manure, but I didn't get paid; it
was to help out my Uncle Rich, who ran a pig farm. A smelly business, but he
loved it, God rest his soul. </DIV><BR>
<DIV>(Oh, and did I mention that I know how to plumb? Not so hard, really -- the
three essential principles of plumbing are hot on the left, cold on the right,
and shit flows downhill.) </DIV><BR>
<DIV>No, Moscow must not stagnate. Neither, however, should we sell ourselves
short. Study after study after study (studies not paid for by Wal-Mart or its
subsidiaries) have shown that the net economic effect of a Wal-Mart is negative.
Wal-Mart doesn't bring money into a community; it sucks it out. I don't think
this is comparable to the decline in logging, the ongoing disappearance of the
small family farm, or the slow, painful death of extractive industry. We cannot
"aw, shucks" our way through this one. We as a nation are going to Wal-Mart our
way into Third World status. The question is does Moscow -- one little town that
is not big -- want to go down without a fight? </DIV><BR>
<DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment </DIV>
<DIV>www.joanopyr.com </DIV><BR>
<DIV>PS: I see that Ford Motor Company is following GM's lead. Today, they
announced a massive series of factory closures. Good-bye, manufacturing jobs;
hello low-wage, low-benefit service industry work. But for how long? I have yet
to speak to a customer call center in the past 18 months that was located inside
the United States. I find this frustrating, annoying, and sad. Most of us are
only one decent, benefits-paying job away from living a second-class life. If
you have health care, picture yourself without it. If you've got retirement
benefits, kiss those good-bye. Now, take your living wage job and imagine that
you work 40 hours per week at minimum wage. Where can you afford to live in
Moscow? Can you pay your rent? Your mortgage? Your car payment? Your gas, heat,
electric and phone? It takes only one Boeing lay-off to knock and upwardly
mobile engineer on his ass. Or, to bring this closer to home, a few more cuts at
the University of Idaho . . . </DIV><BR>
<DIV>PPS: I don't know of any business in Moscow that just sells socks. I do
know of several optometrists, though. What effect would a Wal-Mart Supercenter
with an optometry office within have on all of these particular small
businesses? What effect would a Wal-Mart Tire Center have on Bruneel and Les
Schwab? How would Wal-Mart oil changes compete with the locally-owned Jiffy Lube
franchise? Think, for God's sake! Think!</BIG><FONT face=Helvetica> </DIV>
<DIV></FONT></DIV><BR></DIV>
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