Jon Bon’s Money

            It was a 1995 movie that has a great plot and has developed a bit of a cult following. The movie starts out with a high profile robbery taking place. The police have no idea who committed the crimes, as a result they arrest the five usual suspects on trumped up charges and make them stand for a lineup.

            It’s a great flick with crazy plot lines and a dramatic ending–I highly recommend it. It got me thinking of the usual suspects in America when it comes to the news today.

 

Wal-Mart

Exxon and Company

Investment Banks

McDonalds

Coal Companies

 

            These ‘big five’ are constantly featured in the press usually with negative story lines. Many people advocate suing or taxing these companies back to the Stone Age. I will tell you why that is probably the worst idea that I have ever heard.

 

Part I: Wally World

 

           AKA Wal-Mart. It has any number of complaints about it, low wages, sexism, drives out local business, shady business dealings with suppliers. You name it, they have been sued for it.

 

            You don’t have to go to Wal-Mart folks. If you disagree with them for any of the above reasons don’t go there. But millions of people still do, and why is this? Wal-Mart is the Best I repeat BEST retailer that has ever existed. They have constantly maintained the lowest price on goods that can be found anywhere. If your local store goes out of business due to a Wal-Mart, it is just survival of the fittest; only the strong (best) survive.

 

            If you have not noticed Wal-Mart has single handedly lowered the cost of living for all Americans who shop there. The other big box retailers and groceries resort to loss leader tactics to get you in the store. They lose money on certain products in hopes that you will spend money on their high margin products.

 

            Wal-Mart does not do these, and I bet their everyday low price still is close to or beats their competitions’ loss leader prices. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I will end with one more point.

 

            You might be rich enough, or green enough, or snobby enough not to shop at Wal-Mart, but if you’re complaining about the cost of bread, or meat, or light bulbs get over yourself and go to Wal-Mart.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 6:17 pm and is filed under The Usual Suspects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.