re: #270 Killgore Trout

I’ve been thinking about this lately too. Like so many other issues, I think most of us are missing the point. I don’t like Walmart either and I don’t shop there. The problem isn’t really Walmart itself, but the culture that keeps it in business. As long as poor people are eager to waste their money on cheap crap they don’t need then Walmart is going to make lots of money, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Your emphasis is kind of bullshit, it’s not the fault of poor people making bad purchasing decisions that keeps them in business and it’s kind of fucked up to put the blame on those with the fewest options and the most budgetary constraints. Walmart sells shit that people actually do need, clothing, food, detergent, pharmaceuticals, etc. In many areas they’re not only the best prices around, they’re the only game in town. The part of the culture that needs changing is the one that keeps service workers poor, a minimum wage that hasn’t nearly kept pace with worker productivity let alone inflation. Walmart can adapt and could probably compete just as well in an environment that forced it to pay its workers a living wage, or in an environment that restricted imports to those from countries with first world environmental and worker safety standards.