Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

You mean trashy like judging people who work at/shop at Walmart based on their appearance?

No, I'm not judging them, it's just that I don't like being around that type of crowd. That's all.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

No, I'm not judging them, it's just that I don't like being around that type of crowd. That's all.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

Whatever.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

No, I'm not judging them, it's just that I don't like being around that type of crowd. That's all.

Oh, I completely understand. You're not judging them, you've just formed an opinion on them and are making assumptions based on that prior opinion.

That's not judging at all....

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Oh, I completely understand. You're not judging them, you've just formed an opinion on them and are making assumptions based on that prior opinion.

That's not judging at all....

KSigkid, if I don't care to be around certain people, how is that judging them? I just don't like some of the things that I've seen. Having a cashier touch my produce with black stuff underneath his fingernails is gross to me. I'm sure there are certain people that you wouldn't want to be around either.

[pbear19]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

No, I'm not judging them, it's just that I don't like being around that type of crowd. That's all.

At least have the courage to admit you're being judgmental when you are! I'll give my own perspective for example:

I personally don't shop at Wal-Mart, partially because I don't care for the quality and manufacturing of their products, partially because I dislike the corporate policies, and partially because I am a snob and don't like the crowd. I'm not a bargain shopper, I don't have kids, I usually dress up a bit to go to the store. I am turning my nose up at the shoppers and I know it. I am ok with that. Yes, I am definitely being judgmental about the other shoppers. It simply makes me happier to spend my money elsewhere, both because I like the stuff I get better, and because I like being in the presence my shopping peers better.

[33girl]

And it smells funny.

[barbino]

I will shop at Wal-Mart for certain things if the price point is what is most important to me. However, it usually is not and if I am going to buy something, I prefer quality/style. My background includes both Marketing Research and Retail Management, so I consider myself a "tough" customer.

I do not like shopping at Wal-Mart for most of the reasons already mentioned. While I consider myself a Republican, I think that Wal-Mart is being totally ludicrous in warning about a Democratic win. America is supposed to be based on democratic principles, and this just undermines the whole meaning of democracy. If Obama wins, then it was meant to be.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by pbear19

I personally don't shop at Wal-Mart, partially because I don't care for the quality and manufacturing of their products, partially because I dislike the corporate policies, and partially because I am a snob and don't like the crowd. I'm not a bargain shopper, I don't have kids, I usually dress up a bit to go to the store. I am turning my nose up at the shoppers and I know it. I am ok with that. Yes, I am definitely being judgmental about the other shoppers. It simply makes me happier to spend my money elsewhere, both because I like the stuff I get better, and because I like being in the presence my shopping peers better.

If more people thought, and shopped, like you and me, I don't think we'd be in the economic crisis we are. Really. Americans are obsessed with buying a lot of crap for cheap, and now - pun intended - we're paying the price for it.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

If more people thought, and shopped, like you and me, I don't think we'd be in the economic crisis we are. Really. Americans are obsessed with buying a lot of crap for cheap, and now - pun intended - we're paying the price for it.

Isn't the problem really the opposite - that Americans wanted more than they could afford, and extended credit to anyone who wanted it to facilitate this?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Isn't the problem really the opposite - that Americans wanted more than they could afford, and extended credit to anyone who wanted it to facilitate this?

It's a combination of both.

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by 33girl

It's a combination of both.

I agree. We really have become crappy a$$ consumers. But then again, thank goodness we've sent all our money over to China to import their cheap crap, where do you think we're going to get a good portion of these bailout loans from?

[pbear19]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Isn't the problem really the opposite - that Americans wanted more than they could afford, and extended credit to anyone who wanted it to facilitate this?

If we were culturally different as a county though, it wouldn't have mattered how much credit was extended. ITA with PeppyGPhiB, it's an economic theory I've long held in fact.

For example, credit companies can (and have) dangle as many money carrots in front of me as they would like, but I still don't bite. Because I am a quality over quantity type of person. I actually enjoy my small, super-low-mortgage house. I could have gotten a loan for about three times what I took, and bought a huge property, but I chose not to.

I'm not saying that I'm better than other people, just different. My conservative spending doesn't put as much cash back into the system. But the cash that it puts in is all real, not credit.

I do think it's similar to the way that culturally we want as much as we can have for as cheap as we can get it. My boss mocks me for spending a few bucks more at the local store instead of going to the bargain discount chain store. But, it makes me happier to spend a few bucks more and support a local business. For the majority of Americans it's just the opposite. That cultural push for bigger, better, cheaper drives the market - it's the demand the meets the supply. Were there no demand for all these extra cheap things that we often don't need anyway (but we want them because they are cheap and because we want in general), there would not be the supply of credit.

I truly believe that excess demand drives supply far more often than excess supply drives demand.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by pbear19

If we were culturally different as a county though, it wouldn't have mattered how much credit was extended. ITA with PeppyGPhiB, it's an economic theory I've long held in fact.

For example, credit companies can (and have) dangle as many money carrots in front of me as they would like, but I still don't bite. Because I am a quality over quantity type of person. I actually enjoy my small, super-low-mortgage house. I could have gotten a loan for about three times what I took, and bought a huge property, but I chose not to.

I'm not saying that I'm better than other people, just different. My conservative spending doesn't put as much cash back into the system. But the cash that it puts in is all real, not credit.

I do think it's similar to the way that culturally we want as much as we can have for as cheap as we can get it. My boss mocks me for spending a few bucks more at the local store instead of going to the bargain discount chain store. But, it makes me happier to spend a few bucks more and support a local business. For the majority of Americans it's just the opposite. That cultural push for bigger, better, cheaper drives the market - it's the demand the meets the supply. Were there no demand for all these extra cheap things that we often don't need anyway (but we want them because they are cheap and because we want in general), there would not be the supply of credit.

Yeah, I just don't see the connection at all - I think you're grasping for a literal connection, although I'll agree with a completely figurative connection if you'd rather just leave it as "people are poor consumers, and both ARMs and Wal-Mart are good examples of poor and uninformed consumer decisions" then I'll agree.

However, the psychology behind both is nebulous at best - the push for lower per-unit cost on goods really doesn't seem at all connected to a lack of understanding of proper income-based spending, the time-value of money and amortization . . . in fact, it seems "penny wise, pound foolish" which is antithetical to what you're saying.

Total trainwreck of a hijack here - my point is that I agree with the forest (so to speak) but not the trees. I see where you're going but disagree with how you're getting there. I'm not catching what you're throwing. I'm running out of hack metaphors - my bad.

However, this:

I truly believe that excess demand drives supply far more often than excess supply drives demand.

. . . is true to the point of tautology for almost any system, and actually goes against your point, in my mind.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Total trainwreck of a hijack here - my point is that I agree with the forest (so to speak) but not the trees. I see where you're going but disagree with how you're getting there. I'm not catching what you're throwing. I'm running out of hack metaphors - my bad.

Not pickin up what they're puttin' down? Not smellin' what they're steppin' in?