In our opinion, libertarianism is theoretically superior to most other political ideals. In the 18th and 19th century, it was ideal. But the founding fathers did not have to deal with the type of technology that corporations have at their disposal today. The government could stay out of the way because it was impossible for any individual/corporation to become big enough to become oppressive.
Say you want to buy kitchen equipment. The year is 1780. You’re a farmer. You grow your own food and sell it at the local market. You make a decent living. Anyway, you go to the blacksmith for your pans. The blacksmith owns his own house and business, does most of his own work, and makes a decent living.
In 2009, you go to Wal-Mart. The kitchen equipment is made by virtual slave labor in china, supplied by an intermediary barely squeaking out a profit, and sold by an “associate” making minimum wage. Where does the excess profit go? Straight to the ownership. In the meantime, small-time farmers have been driven bankrupt by big agri-business. Economies of scale and advances in technology make it next to impossible for small farms to compete.
Transactions that once provided a decent living for everyone involved have been hijacked by ruthless, technologically superior corporations. No one is more successful than Wal-Mart.
So I understand your arguments. I don’t think that Wal-Mart has done anything wrong. They’ve played the game better than anyone else. My problem isn’t fundamentally with Wal-Mart, it’s with the system that allows them to squeeze the profits out of “little people’s” transactions and into their massive corporate pockets. Rather than ending up with a large number of moderately successful citizens, as we had in the early days of our nation, we end up with a handful of massively wealthy fat cats and millions barely squeaking out a living.
As Rod Dreher put it in his “Crunchy Con Manifesto”, “Big business deserves as much skepticism as big government.”
I use to shop at Walmart every week, not only because their prices were the lowest but because it was convenient for me as a working mom to do “one stop shopping”, where I could get everything I needed in one trip. I will say their product quality is not stellar, but I was willing to make some sacrifices on certain things.
Over the last 2 years, Walmart’s prices have gone way up, they said due to the falling dollar and due to fuel prices.
So I tolerated it for a little while, but since gas prices have fallen, their has been no attempt by Walmart to pass this saving on to the consumer. As a matter of fact, they continue to raise their prices.
So starting this week, I spread my shopping list over two stores, catching their sales. I did not shop at Walmart.
I did spend less money by buying what was on sale at two different stores. It is inconvenient and time consuming, but at this point it is worth it, and I will continue to do
it for the foreseeable future.
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