re: #707 SixDegrees Well you’re certainly right about Wal-Mart’s “predatory” business practices in opening stores in new areas, but I have to disagree with you about the unions.
There WAS a time when Unions were necessary and GOOD for the American Economy. But now GM - GM!- is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection in spite of the BILLIONS the taxpayers gave ‘em and a significant part of the reason is the UAW (to which I was a member in a galaxy far, far away!) - according to something I read in the WSJ (can’t find the damn link, sorry) the average Production Line worker at GM got over $70 a hour wages and benefits. IF they only worked a 40 hour week, that means in terms of wages and benefits they made over $140,000 a year. No overtime included. Compare and contrast to the “Japanese” car makers who make their cars AND parts here in the US who make iirc, $48 an hour wages and benefits, that’s a little under $100,000 a year - no overtime included.
So while I think A LOT of GM’s problems came from crappy management - top to middle tiers, where are all the UAW workers for GM going to go to make that kind of wages and benefits? Or anything close to it?
As the late, great George Carlin once said “The primary job of a Union Executive today is to make sure he never becomes a member of the working class.”