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Donovan,
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What would constitute evidence against the claim that the free market
always yields the best economic result? Certainly, no matter what I
offer as evidence you could always give a similar reply. But this
could indicate that your faith in the free market is based on some
kind of abstract, a priori reasoning as opposed to any actual
empirical data.<br>--<br>Joe Campbell<br><br>---- Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 yahoo.com="#DEFAULT">
wrote:<br><br>=============<br>Joe,<br><br>Do you have any evidence that KB
Toys shut down in the mall because of Wal-Mart and not other factors?<br><br>
I claim that it did not. KB Toys has had to close hundreds of stores
throughout the country. Many of these stores in cities and towns that
do not even have a Wal-Mart.<br><br>My understanding is that KB Toys
shut down these stores because of greed. They got rid of
under-preforming stores and 3,000 jobs so their stock value would go
up.<br><br>_DJA<br><br><br><br>joekc@adelphia.net wrote: Gary,<br>I
didn't think Mr. Schou's analogy blew but here is a real world example
of an inferior business beating out a superior competitor. The mall
used to have a toy store: Kay-Be Toys, or something like that. I went
there frequently when my son was younger and my wife let me spoil him
more. Wal-Mart drove Kay-Bee Toys out of business. Kay-Be Toys had a
far superior selection of toys and was by any set of standards a
better toy store than Wal-Mart. (Neither are as good as Hodgins Drug
Store but that's another issue.) What happened was that kids go to toy
stores with their parents but parents buy other things besides toys,
things that are not sold at Kay-Be Toys. In short, Wal-Mart offers
low-cost and convenience. That is it. It is 'superior' to other stores
for these two reasons only. But that is enough to drive out some
businesses. Once those businsesses leave, the folks in Moscow will
have fewer choices, not more choices.<br><br>You note that "many
communities that are co-existing with the worlds largest retailer to
the betterment of its residents." But many are not. It was noted in
Tom Trail's post that two communities like ours were "sucked dry"
after a Super Wal-Mart moved in. For the sake of argument suppose that
98 communities like ours were not sucked dry. Would you take a pill
that had only a 2% chance of killing you if you didn't need it and you
were getting along fine without it? I don't think so. I love Moscow
and low-cost and convenience are not enough reason for me to risk
sucking it dry.<br><br><br>--<br>Joe Campbell<br><br><br><br>---- "g.
crabtree" wrote:<br><br>=============<br>Mr. Schou, Your analogy
blows. It seems clear to me that you have very<br>little understanding
of how an 'all in" bet works but rather than educate<br>you on
the finer points of poker allow me to propose an analogy of my own. A<br>
player comes to the game and bluffs outrageously each and every hand. Soon,<br>
his fellow gamblers see him for what he is and call him. His weak
hands are<br>revealed, his resources dwindle and very soon he is out
of the game.<br><br>This appears to be the tactic of the common garden
variety wal-mart<br>opponent. Exclaim loudly how WM will be the
ruination of civilization and<br>will bring about the heat death of
the universe and so on. When folks see<br>that there are many
communities that are co-existing with the worlds largest<br>retailer
to the betterment of its residents our protester is revealed as at<br>
best, wrong and at worst, a dupe.<br><br>Getting back to the original
heart of the discussion, hows about some real<br>world examples of
inferior business' beating out superior competitors. I'll<br>be
waiting, watching the pages of my calendar flit by.<br><br>gc<br><br><br>
----- Original Message -----<br>From: "Andreas Schou"<br>To: "g.
crabtree"<br>Cc: ;<br>Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 4:48 PM<br>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Doug Jones Says It Clearly<br><br><br>>You
are right about my confidence in a free market. Perhaps you could give<br>
>me a few examples where an inferior business beat out a superior one.<br><br>
Let me use a poker analogy. If I had a trillion dollars, played poker<br>for a
living, and won every poker game I played by going "all in" on<br>
every hand, would I be the best poker player that ever lived? Hint:<br>no, I
would not.<br><br>This is Wal*Mart's business model: saturate the
market, make<br>monopsonic agreements with suppliers, and run as thin
a margin as<br>possible in new stores until all the other business
goes under. Is<br>this a good business strategy? Yes. Does it
contribute to market<br>efficiency -- which is generally how a
"superior business" is<br>understood to work? No. It does
not.<br><br>-- ACS<br><br><br><br>
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