The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Wal-Mart Marked Off

3.8.04 @ 12:01AM

STRUDELED
Re: Editor's Desk message of 3/5/04:

Sehr geehrter Herren:

Cowards! Wimps!

No EOW, because of a Ski Trip to the Tyrol??!!

I have performed Mozart in the Salzburgerdom. I have performed Charles Ives and selections from the Sacred Harp in the Karlskirche. I have researched the Wiener Volksoper in the Wiener Rathaus library, and the Augustinersaal. I have also performed in the theater in the old Schloss in the Alpendorf of Kaprun.

I have been to Austria, the land of Karl von Boehm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, and August von Hayek. And you can't do an EOW from Tyrol because you're skiing??

You're getting Frencher by the day.

Herzlichen Gruessend.
-- Jim Stevenson
San Diego, California
(P.S. Oder ist das, "Sankt Jakob, CA"?)

WAL-MART SPECIAL
Re: K. Andrew Jackson's Retail Politics:

Thank you, Mr. Jackson for another opportunity to laugh at the spectacle that is California. Two points jump out at me: Nothing like the left's displeasure with Wal-Mart's. The fact that Wal-Mart's put the Mom and Pop retailer out of business is a favorite whine. Yeah, 'cause I want to pay more and have less selection when I shop. Amazing the lefties pine for "the good old days" when it involves creating a more inefficient shopping experience, yet when an institution like marriage is on its last legs and the social costs we bear because of that are through the roof, any attempt to shore up that institution is viewed as a roadblock toward "progress."

Secondly, how about the fallout from banning the building of electric plants for a decade leading up to the electricity crisis in June of '02? Once again those brilliant decision-makers bowed to the gods of political correctness, forbade the building of power plants, then when Californians had to import power from other states, had the gall to blame the market prices they were paying on the "price-gougers."

The majority of the Golden State is affected by a disease that causes them to defer to the "cultural reasons" and "aesthetic vibes" of a particular decision rather than weighing the pros and cons like a rational person would. When one enters into the decision-making process with the given variables being "Wal-Mart = bad" or "power plants = bad" without a second counter-intuitive thought, it's no wonder the state's such a mess.
-- William H. Stewart
Boston, Massachusetts

Jackson seems to have learned his journalism from liberals. Whenever a liberal has to mention a fact he doesn't like, he puts it in quotes, as if to say, "this is only what others are claiming." Wal-Mart does pay "low wages" and offer "paltry benefits." They don't even deny that fact, they simply claim they're necessary to keep their prices low.

The real problem with Wal-Mart is the Walton family itself and the Arkansas culture that surrounds it. It's the "old time religion" of the South, heavy on pietism and down on porn, but a religion that comes up short on making sure the children of those who work for you get decently fed and clothed. The South I grew up in was full of that. The only obvious malnutrition I've seen in the 26 countries I've visited was that of Southern poor whites. The ultimate cause were preachers who lacked the spiritual backbone to tell their wealthier members to take less for themselves and give more to their workers. That's as much a part of the culture of the South as NASCAR.

Jackson is probably right when he notes that L.A. liberals care as little for badly paid Wal-Mart employees and they do for the poor folk who so desperately need Wal-Mart's low prices. But the same can be said for Walton family billionaires. If they had hearts, they'd pass some of their vast wealth along to their employees as stock options.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Hillary Clinton, Business, Religion, Books, Constitution, Law, Socialism