Wal-Mart currently sells about 25 percent of all music sold here in the States. The retail giant hopes to increase it’s market share by making 20,0000 songs available for download. The songs will be available for less than the 99¢/song average. Most of the initial offerings will be C&W, but if Wal-Mart is successful, expect them to dominate the market for all types of music.

Not long ago, Apple computer proposed that all music be offered this way and pioneered a lot of the method. Maybe the music industury is buying in.

Looks like buying music is getting easier and more attractive. Maybe no more crap-tracs. Mp-3 players can hold about a weeks worth of music now...as well as naked pictures...and any other kind of data.

*cringes. I abhor Wal-Mart. Die, just f*cking die.

Where there is a profit...there you will find a merchant.

Walmart is not just any merchant. They are literally the largest company in the world. Bigger than Microsoft, GM, IBM any company you care to name.

Their sales are upwards of one billion dollars a DAY.

I am officially starting my own personal boycott of Wal-Mart and will support local businesses.

"Gee, I just love all these low prices!!!"

Tell that to the people who live like animals that make their products. But its all about the bottom line isn't it. Profit. Ethics, hell we don't need those.

Walmart has 30,000 vendors - companies that are eager to sell to the largest retailer in the history of mankind. Boycotting Walmart is scarcely going to make a dent in a billion dollars worth of sales revenue every 24 hours.

I was at a Walmart the day after Thanksgiving. The crush of people was unbelievable. Anyone with a boycott sign would have been trampled to death.

It is a brave, lonely, and ultimately fruitless battle you have elected to shoulder, CD.

PS
Can you name one ethical reseller of anything?

I was just venting my fustrations with Wal-Mart. Yes, there are plenty of other unethical retailers but Wal-Mart is the biggest so they deserve the most hatred.

But, I will live to see the destruction of Sam Walton. This I can revel in. Yes, I will outlive you Sammy! (I am only 18, lol)


Isn't anyone else worried about our trade deficit with China?

Anyone with a boycott sign would have been trampled to death.

Speak of the devil a woman was trampled there last week. And what did Wal-Mart say (paraphrased)"We hope their family will continue shopping with us."

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3046wal-mart_pricing.html

Although an interesting article, Lyndon Larouche has an axe to grind, which somewhat colors the facts to suite a political agenda. Predatory pricing practices has been a retailing technique used by everyone, including Toys R Us, it is a stretch to blame one company for the downfall of TRU. Before Toys R Us grew to become #2, it also destroyed a lot of other toy companies in its imperial rise. What goes around comes around.

The only people that benefit from below wholesale pricing are the customers. It should be obvious though, that the world's largest company didn't get that way by losing money.

In rebuttal, I would say that the only people who are complaining the loudest are the companies that have been overcharging their customers for years.

Walmart became the largest company on earth because tens of millions of people shop there everyday. These people, all acting in unison, are called "the market", and THEY have poured their hundreds of billions of dollars into Walmart. The collective market is ruthless. It seeks only one thing. Supreme pricing efficiency.

This does not mean that Walmart is immune from market forces themselves. According to Larouche, Walmart may soon be the only toy retailer left on earth, which is of course quite ludicrous. Walmart fills a certain niche in it's ability to appeal to a certain class of buyer. Retailing is itself much to large for any one company to dominate it. Walmart is the largest player, but by no means, the only player.

Number one has to be occupied by someone. For generations, Sears Roebuck held that distinction. It is now Walmart's turn. Empires come, and empires go. Who will be the next merchandising giant in retailing history? Time will tell, but it will be a Chinese retailer, for obvious reasons.

There are many 100 and 200lb gorillas.

Retailing is difficult, but with tight management, customer service, and good product knowledge, a retailer can thrive. WALMART can usually set the low price threshold...usually without customer service and/or product knowledge.

It takes time to shop discount retail...that’s worth something, too.

America likes the low-price leader.

Ok, Wal-Marts piss me off because they contribute to basically replacing union factory jobs and now employing people in the service sector which pays much less. The conservatives are trying to destroy the unions in our country and don't listen to the neocon spin, that is a horrible thing.

Yay, I don't live near a Wal-Mart :D I hear their music selection sucks.

Oh my GOD, I DISPISE WalMart.

Unfortunately I DO live near one. I've gone in twice. Once on accident because I've never been in there before, and the second time was because I absolutely needed some contact lense stuff immediately cause my contact flipped around in my eye while I was driving and a WalMart was right there.

Both times I've gone in (and maybe it's just this certain location) but it was like the bottom of the barrel all gathered and was shopping there. I'm talkin' people that nearly looked homeless. They smelled, they were dirty, and one lady had her baby in sitting in the shopping basket with just his dirty diapers on!! I'm not germ-phobic or anything like that, but even I was disgusted at that sight.

@ Jamiii.

Funny how Wal-Mart is just the opposite of Target. I think Target is way better than Wal-Mart :agree: I dislike Wal-Mart because of their stupid policy for banning parental advisory CD's/DVDs and replacing them with clean versions. I think people will obtain it without having to go to that horrible place.

lol this is so funny how all you guys hate Walmart. In my town, there's a Walmart and a Target within 5 miles of each other and then a Kmart within 3 miles of Target. Target and Walmart are the EXACT SAME STORE except with a different name and Kmart isn't far behind. Both have round things- Walmart with that yellow face and Target with the red target. Walmart has better prices by like $.30, but Target is a little closer. Both are clean too... lol. Every DVD I've gotten from Walmart have been the original as well.

I don't work at either store, but I just wanted to say that I don't think Walmart is as bad as you're all saying (include Target and Kmart in it too then). I don't even shop at them that much... it's all about the technology/electronic stores Bestbuy and Circuit City (better deals and more selection on DVDs, CDs, and games)!

Which just goes to show you that the alarmist view that Walmart is taking over the entire world is a tad bit overblown. Yes, they are the biggest company in the world, and no, it's pretty obvious not everyone shops there for these reasons and others.

To each his own. We know Ziyi loves Prada. Walmart doesn't carry or own Prada .... yet .... :laugh:

Sam’s Club in Beijing.

Asians like a good deal. Z would be into that.

Most of her really cool stuff is probably given to her to wear. She’s a fashion ikon. I’m talking about how and where she spends her money. She probably gets her WEEZER cds at Sam’s Club.

She probably has a house full of electronic gear, home appliances, lava lamps, vibrating recliner chairs, Tivo in every room, a huge food freezer, pizza oven, popcorn machine, jacuzzi bathtub, a stack of teen magazines, mountains of cosmetics, sonicare toothbrush, and a hot dog cooker. She can afford all that stuff.

OK, so let’s blow the lid off this ‘Wal-Mart issue. I think it’s time that people realized, what they are contributing to, when they shop at WM (incidentally, I am just as to blame, since I only stopped shopping there fairly recently).

Quite frankly, the previously referenced article (Lyndon Larouche) only touches upon the various issues, since there are so many.

There is no doubt that WM has used some smart logistics in their warehousing; transportation; inventory, and purchasing areas. And we cannot deny that they were able to find a niche and employ strategies, which allowed them to grow quickly and successfully.

As Virgule mentioned, many companies use and have used ‘predatory’ pricing techniques to increase their market share.

But WM’s predatory pricing techniques and practices are so effective; so ruthless, and so devastating, because they are made possible, and viable (i.e. profitable) by using methods of exploitation, in various areas, which border not only on illegal, but also on inhumane.

We tend to hear the complaints from the companies, which have been financially devastated by WM.
But by far the largest number and volume of complains are from the WM’s own ex-employees.
Disgruntled ex-employees with an axe to grind, you say? If so, for a good reason.

All we need to do is look thru some of this: http://www.walmartyrs.com/.

Maybe that is not enough, we need more opinions – how about from around the world?: http://www.union-network.org/UNIsite/Sectors/Commerce/Multinationals/wal_mart_campaign_index_page.htm

Of course we cannot pass over the sex discrimination cases: http://www.walmartclass.com/walmartclass94.pl?wsi=0&websys_screen=all_press_release_view&websys_id=11 and http://www.walmartclass.com/walmartclass94.pl?wsi=0&websys_id=&websys_screen=all_faqs_index


Now, we have all heard about the ‘sweatshops’ in Asia (Nike, etc.) and WM is certainly not the only player there – but how about a sample of their practices, eh? http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/chinareport/walmart.shtml


WM does not have any magic formula to deliver the ‘falling’ prices. All in all, it is simply the best at – exploitation. I thought colonialism was out – but apparently is alive and well within the empire of WM.

The ‘collective market’ is ruthless. But perhaps it is time for the masses to come to realization, what is really behind the smiling WM greeter…

And even as the ex-employee movement mounts, at the same time, there are new waves of fresh potential employees, willing enough, some destitute enough, some unknowing enough, about what they are getting themselves into. And some will not care, either way.

At the end, while we can blame WM for whatever we want – the real power is with us – the consumers.
But by exercising that power as we do; by supporting the WM empire – we become the exploiters ourselves; we become the participants in the monstrosity that WM has created.

We, the consumers, are the beneficiaries of the low prices only possible by practices and methods which render other masses, somewhere, beyond our sight and mind, that much poorer, that much more destitute.

But that’s OK. It's not us.

CG

I think CG raises an interesting ethical point, but I'm not to sure there is a solution to it. It all kinda boils down to this question - is the act of shopping - that is - looking for the best price - itself exploitive? Forget WM and simply examine the human condition.

Are we - you and I - not taking food out of someone's mouth by demanding the lowest price? Ergo, taken to the opposite corrective extreme, would it not serve mankind best to shop for the highest price, thereby ensuring that others reap the maximum benefit from your shopping dollar?

Is embedding charity in the shopping experience the best way to ensure the end of the slave shop? There is an absurdity in this line of thought that begs analysis. Does making yourself poor faster change the world for the better?

Did WM create the sweat-shop, or have they always been part of commercial enterprise since the days of slave galleys? If WM were convicted of all its sins and disbanded tomorrow as a result, would the world be better off, or would someone else simply take their place in the vacuum it left? Sears, Kmart, Target, Penneys?

Exploitation of the masses is not a new battle cry. A fella by the name of Marx had a solution about 90 years ago that utterly failed - perpetuating the axiom that no good deed ever goes unpunished.

The Market IS the Matrix.

PS
In defense of CG's point of view - there is something sinister, almost conspiratorial - about a company with so much money at its disposal. If WM ever did try to misuse its vast economic power in the political arena, they ought to be prosecuted and disbanded. They remind me of the ACME Company in the new LooneyTunes film.

By the looks of things, quite of few of you will NOT be using their online music service, no matter how cheap it is - :laugh:

exploitation that happens in countries with a lower standard of living.

Sometimes what we think of as exploitation, is a windfall to some groups in some situations. Most of the time I don’t think the economic policies of of Nike and Walmart are human rights issues.

Seems like it to us...but we probably have a distorted view of how the world works.

Quite right, BC. My inlaws related a story to me that illustrates this point. They come from Indonesia, where it is very common for even the most modest household to have at least one servant - ie - exploited class.

One day, an enlightened fellow from California moved into a nice house in the neighborhood; hired to work for an Insurance company in Jakarta. He wanted nothing of servants, proclaiming to one and all that he was not about to partake in exploiting someone for servitude. The right thing for all the wrong reasons.

He lived alone for 3 weeks, while the exploited masses looked on from the outside.

They burned his car to the ground.

The reason? One is obligated to share the wealth in Indonesia. You do this by hiring somebody, anybody. In their eyes, if you are unwilling to shell out 20 bucks a month to hire someone, you are not sharing the wealth.

A week later, he had 3 servants and a driver working for him. Harmony restored.

You see the problem is that they can rely on us for buying their products. If we cut the cord and stop buying, then what do they do. They are now forced to build up their infrastructure and build a real economy. Sweatshop labor is not a real economy. Then American manufacturers could compete again because the cost of production would go up in those former sweatshop colonies. Harmony restored!!! :D

Actually, the Chinese economy is roaring alone at a pretty good clip - even with sweatshops catering to the Walmarts of the world. The Chinese gubment likes it that way, since they can rely on an endless supply of dirt-cheap labor. They are as complicit in the exploitation of the masses as Walmart is.

What did Marx call it - the workers paradise?

Ya but it hurts us. I am more worried about us than China. I don't want the US to become a nation of burger flippers. Bold statement, I know, but things look grim for the future.


Wouldn't it be an employers paradise actually?

Believe me CD, a 10 trillion dollar economy doesn't just dry up overnight. 80% of that is services/non-manufacturing - burger flippers.

We may be a nation of burger flippers, but we flip one hell of a lot of them.

Bigger service economy means a smaller middle class. That is bad news for the future unless something is done.

Our ”middle” and lower class worker is now competing with the lower and middle class worker on the world market. Our lower and middle class has a fat ass. We don’t compete well. They bring more to the table...and for less money.

Our unions and import tarrifs haven’t made us a more productive workforce. It’s made us lazy and ineffectual. Next time somebody offers you protection from anything...ask yourself what you are being protected from.

The workforce from India, Pakistan, China, and many other places will cut us to pieces in a dollar for effort scrap. We done it to ourselves and we’ll be a long time fixing it.

If you’re like me, you will know we will be the better for fixing it...and we should start right now. We are to blame for our predicament.

I don't know if we really are in a predicament. Biggest economy in the world, so big, it will still take China 20 years just to catch up where we already are now.

We set the standard for big time GDP. No one else even close. Before we start crying about how bad things are, you need to graze in the other pasture.

Believe it or not, other countries send us their national wealth - oil, minerals, labor, cars, televisions - and we send them little paper pictures of George Washington.

Pretty good deal, if you ask me. :grin:

If you’re like me, you will know we will be the better for fixing it...and we should start right now. We are to blame for our predicament

No sir, the unions are not the cause of this predicament. Tell me, why the hell would you not want to be unionized when a corporation will screw you any chance they get. The reason most of these corporations are having a hard time here is because of bad management. You have people at the top making way too much money. Why do you attack the unions? Attack the guys on top who are screwing themselves.

What are you suggesting, get rid of all unions and be at the mercy of corporate america. We are still the most productive workers in the world. Check out the statistics. Also, we are not very unionized compared to many other industrial nations.

I don't know where you get your facts from, but the reason jobs are being outsourced is because it is legal to treat foreign workers like sh*t. Do you want that for us so we can compete.

What we need is for the WTO to be a LOT stricter on workers rights and environmental laws.

They should have taken the lead refining the work force they pretend to support. Do they train their constituency? Do they work to improve the job skills of the workers they support? Do they focus on the development of a better, more skilled worker. The answer is no to all the above. Their focus has been to get more money for less work. An outdated concept. They have succeeded in driving productivity and job quality down, while at the same time driving the cost of inferior work up. As a result, we can no longer compete on the world market.

I think the concept of the worker‘s union is out of date. The modern concept of management is cooperation. The key element is trust. The crisis in corporate management is not related. Those guys are criminals and as such are an aberration that can only be dealt with in the courts. It’s a difficult problem because the problem extends into the political sector...ie., our leaders are also corrupt.

Denial is an other problem. We think a country like ours is so mighty, nothing can overcome our positive attitude. I can see where we‘ve been steadily loosing ground in the world market. As proof, I offer the labor situation here in the States. We are averaging about 5% unemployment which isn’t bad, but if you look at the quality of jobs for the next 5% to 10%, they are poverty level jobs. !5% to 20% of workers here in the States have a diminishing standard of living and it’s getting worse not better.

You say this is temporary, and I ask you what do you see on the horizon that’s going to improve the situation? Where is your future?

People who don’t make money...don’t pay taxes.

Some unions are corrupt, but they are the best bet against the just as corrupt companies. What else is there to keep wages fair. Corporations aren't going to pay fair wages if there are not unions out there dogging them.

Only in times of great economic boom will corporations pay fair wages. But no country goes through permanent boom

Also, why are you so quick to blame the unions. What about bad management? What do these guys at the top do to deserve the irrational amount of money they make?

Bottom line, the only way we can compete in the current climate is too reduce the working conditions and rights of our workers. I would not stand for that and I hope none of you would.

Like I said, if the WTO would toughen its stance on workers rights and evironmental issues, that would be a big help. We are still the world's most productive workers. Where are you getting this we are so lazy because of unions all of a sudden? Too much Fox news for you. :D

What do you think fair means?

If an employer can get the same job here in the States done for half as much in Karachi is that unfair? To whom?

Solly Cholly...you live in the free world...not just America. You can’t hide from it any more.

You gotta belly-up or you’re suk’in wind. Welcome to the third world.

I think the role of unions in American society is changing.

The era of the big union mobilizing a hundred thousand workers to demand better working conditions and higher wages via strike is over. That symbolically ended when Reagan fired every striking air traffic controller in the mid eighties.

I think it's a stage that every industrial country goes through. At first, in the 20's and 30's, it was all about better working conditions - a legitimate purpose. Then, in the 50,s and 60's, it was all about higher wages. In the modern global economy, companies have options - like going overseas in search of cheaper labor - just so they can compete, survive and prosper.

The modern union needs to compete in the marketplace of ideas, just like every other social institution, to ensure equitable harmony between management and its members. They need to be conscious of costs, just like corporations need to be conscious of their responsibilities to the community.

I think you will see the labor movement try to expand to the sweatshop countries as well. Don't be surprised if unions are outlawed in places like China, who depends on the sweatshop for its competitive edge. Strikes though, will get them nowhere.

Unions also have a huge perception problem that they are controlled by the mob. To the extent this is true or not, a lot of people want nothing to do with that, regardless. Union memberships are down for that reason, along with the belief that they add no value to the modern workplace. Unions need dues to survive.

Given a choice between a union job and just having a job of any kind to go to, most people opt for the latter. I think Unions are great for organizing boycotts of socially irresponsible companies.

They should organize into Consumer Unions capable of persuading a million people to avoid companies that no longer invest in American labor or plants. That tends to get management attention.

Increase the cost of flight capital and show them how much money they will lose if they transfer manufacturing capacity out of small town America.

That's a Union I would join.

I think they lack vision.

They lack the vision of their proper place in the labor/management relationship. Maybe they don’t have one.

I think they’re corrupt because they know that and keep taking the money.

Right down the line America needs to get tough. We‘ve tried to protect the weak, and inadvertently nurtured a weak population.

If you hear an echo of Darwin in that...well...I also hear an echo of Marx and Reagan, too.

Some of us are patiently stalking Ronald McDonald and we won’t be happy until we have his throat between our teeth. We don’t want his burgers...we want his jugular.

I don’t blame any of you for wanting to kick back...and take it easy. It’s like a poison in the blood.

What is with you neocons.

Ok answer me these two questions.

1. Why are you simply blaming the Unions. What about bad management? These guys making boatloads at the top are doing more damage to their companies than the unions?

2. The WTO needs to play an important role in universal worker rights and environmental laws? Agree.


Given a choice between a union job and just having a job of any kind to go to, most people opt for the latter.

Are you serious?


These people in the third world would kill for the right to organize. It is a right that everyone should have.

Unions lack vision. What about corporations. Lets ship our good paying jobs overseas and replace them with service sector jobs, while prices stay high. Ya, thats a great vision right there.

1.) Corporate greed at the level that destroys companies is being answered with criminal culpability. Those boys are facing stiff fines, seizure of assets and flat out jail time. I'm all for that.

That's not quite the same as making a strategic business decision to get out of Dodge because the labor rates are too high. Companies must answer to their investors. If the investors believe it's time to move to ArmPit, India - that's where the factory goes.

In this world, you are either an owner or a burger flipping laborer. Sounds unfair but fairness has zilch to do with the circumstances of life. Fairness is not something you are entitled to or otherwise gets presented to you in life as a gift-wrapped present. It is not something a Union can guarantee to you. Life is what you make of it, and fairness falls into the same category as lady luck.

The enemy of Unions is Globalization - not crooked corporate officers.

2.) The WTO is not a Union. If the WTO is going to champion international worker rights, then why do we need Unions in the first place?

Yes, it is true that foreign sweatshop workers would kill to unionize. Unfortunately, the governments of those foreign countries would happily kill THEM if they try it.

Unions in sweatshop countries don't stand a snowball's chance in hell. They're either outlawed or they are legislated out of existence. In those countries, unions are called guerrilla insurgencies.

Unions here have fulfilled their original purpose. We have great working conditions embedded and enforced through legislation, and a per capital GDP of $37,000 - the highest on earth - all thanks to Unions.

The question is - what have they done for me lately. Unions in this country need to define another purpose for their existence - or they run the risk of irrelevance. You can't rest on your laurels and wax nostalgic about the good old days of Union supremacy.

What have they done for you lately that justifies the dues you are paying them.

Now, it’s we.

I wanna partner, so let’s make a deal. I’m not as worried about trusting you, as I am about living up to my end of the deal. There‘s a whole different set of questions. What do I bring to the table? Are my partners competent? Is this a sound enterprise? How can we work out these problems? Can I really evaluate this and that? (Evaluation is tough.)

I sure as hell don’t want some blue-collar shmuck negotiating for me...on any issues like the above.

I also want the responsibility for my success or failure. If I’m worth a lot of money...I’ll get all the protection I need. I also think if you’re screwable...you’ll get screwed.

2.) The WTO is not a Union. If the WTO is going to champion international worker rights, then why do we need Unions in the first place?

That was kind of my point. If the WTO were tough on those things, a country like China which wants to get into the WTO really bad, would have these new laws enforced. Which would higher the cost of production in China which would make American manufacturers able to compete.


Now what was your solution to making America compete in the global market againt?

WTO is a joke. It in fact caused a lot of the problems (along with World Bank and the IMF).

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/rulemakers/topTenReasons.html

and

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wbimf/

Just a couple of quick sources.

A lot more where that came from.

CG

So do you have any suggestions on how to make the US more competitive in the world economy? It is easy to bash cetain institutions, but I haven't heard anyone really give a viable solutions either.

So do you have any suggestions on how to make the US more competitive in the world economy? It is easy to bash cetain institutions, but I haven't heard anyone really give a viable solutions either.

I’m not surprised to hear you come back with that.

Two things that would make us more competitive would be to establish two long-term goals and work for them. One could be universal health care and the other could be something like education reform.

We would have to shift resources, change our thinking, shift a lot of investment, and change our focus to achieve either goal. The fallout would make us much leaner and stronger as a nation. More likeable, too.

Another possible goal would be to shift from a oil driven economy to something else. You can imagine how difficult something like that would be.

As it stands now, the US has some fundemental problems. We are a paranoid, niggardly, greedy, self-centered lot. Kind of like a big, dumb, likeable kid with a mean streak. It’s very difficult for us to come together to solve even simple problems. About all we can do is come together to make war or beat on the black man. We should really try to fix those things and that will make us more competitive.

I’m not really into bashing the U.S. It’s kind of like beating on a dog I really like. I’m more likely to follow behind cleaning up its puddles and faux pas, knowing that it’s only going to last 14 or 15 years and then I’m gonna miss it a lot.

Institutions like the WTO, IMF and World Bank are themselves interesting aberrations in how the US plans on maintaining a competitive edge. Each one of these institutions are explicitly authorized to do what they do precisely because we want to maintain control.

I can assure you, these outfits were not inflicted upon the US in some sinister conspiracy by the League of Extraordinary Gentleman to harm us. The fact of the matter is, they exist to serve our needs, and we use them to pull the levers of power in how the world economy operates. The name of the game is Advantage. I can assure you, nothing we do is done because we're "nice guys" and nothing they do is done for charitable purposes. Were talking billions in filthy lucre here.

There is a reason the American economy is unmatched in size and resilience. There is a reason we have our fingers in everything and our thumbs up people'e noses. There is a reason for Empire, and mechanisms of convenience such as the WTO, IMF and "World Bank" work the way they work because America pulls the levers. When we say "jump", everybody else says "how high".

You may not like those reasons, and you may object to methods of technique or integrity of purpose or fairness or goodness or equity or even decency, but, as Popeye the Sailorman is apt to say "I amz, what I amz". It is how the world works, and all the boycotts, demonstrations, handwringing and ritual suicides will not change the color of white on rice.

It's not a question of changes we need to make to maintain competitive advantage. It's a question of making people and countries ask "how high" when we say "jump".

Others, of course, have caught on to the fact that international power levers are a nifty thing. They like the idea of pulling their own levers. The EU especially wants to play the empire game. As does China. Well, we've had a hundred year head start. Good luck catching up.

Here's a clue on how the Great Conspiracy works. Countries that are net exporters, who maintain trillions of dollars of capital reserves, themselves have a vested interest in maintaining the value of our currency. For a few hundred years, the wealth of the world was tied up in silver coinage of Julius Caesar. For a few decades already, the wealth of the world is now tied up in paper pictures of George Washington.

It's a miracle we have any trees left for all the dollar bills we've printed over the years, defining what the world currency is. It isn't the French Franc, German Mark, Russian Ruble, Japanese Yen or Chinese Yuan that international treasuries are hording. The largest consumer nation calls the shots when it comes to defining the currency of the world. That's us. Some day, China will be, but not now, and not for quite a while. The only thing the United States exports with relentless conviction is what everybody else wants - pictures of dead presidents.

Saudi Arabia has exported almost 30% of its entire oil reserves to us already. What do they have to show for it? Several trillion pictures of George Washington. I can assure you, it is not in their best interest to harm us, piss us off or otherwise devalue their wealth to spite their own noses. It's a lot like the guy in the cartoon sawing the limb off the tree while he's sitting on the wrong end of it. If we fall, they fall.

The machinations of men drunk with wealth knows no end when it comes to figuring out how to create the levers of power. For 90 years, the Soviet Union and PRC have been playing social engineering games, bickering amongst themselves how many angels dance on the head of a pin, while the United States has quietly pursued the path to massive wealth, unlimited military supremacy and the perpetuation thereof. Too late they realize - "it's the economy, stupid!"

In China, it just dawned on them that Hegel, Marx, Mao, socialism, confucianism and the constipation of the proletariat are all crap. The real issue is, how many Shanghai fans can we jam into that shipping container going to Cluster Pluck, New Hampshire! The name of the game is Commerce.

The currency of the world determines who gets to say "jump". What is the formal means of expressing the command to jump? You guessed it - WTO, IMF and .... Walmart.

Will it last forever? Of course not. As the Oracle of the Matrix once said - "Everything that has a beginning, has an end."

Yeah, but what a ride .....

Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhah...

Ok!

Hey, I can babble politics with the best of them! HaHaHaHa!!!! :laugh:

Just want to let you boys know that the dollar index is at an all time low.

six or seven of my dollars are.

As a matter of fact, all mine are. I’m mizobo, too!

Originally posted by Chinese Democracy
Just want to let you boys know that the dollar index is at an all time low.

Time to pull another lever.....:bow:

to stop screwing around and pull ALL the levers. If you have to...go and point to the levers. I’m not sure he can see them.

Also remind him that his ship is sinking.

Some folks are just naturally pessimistic. They see catastrophe at every turn. Every pronouncement by Tom Brokaw is an imminent end to civilization as we know it.

I can assure you all that the ship of state is far from sinking. If a light bulb burns out in your kitchen, you gonna call 911?

The creation of wealth requires up and down cycles. We're just emerging from a down cycle now.

ride, haha.

My dad says it was better in America under Eisenhower. That was before they even had Arabs.

Seems like everything was just fine 4 years ago. Sure don’t take long to slide down the tube.

That lever theory is interesting. Are they actual levers connected to the machinery of State? Are they figgerative levers connected in a fanciful way to the American military-industrial complex? Like a doctor Seuse tank making machine? Can he pull a lever and Detroit clangs out 1000 tanks or 100 F-18s?

Umm...who works on the levers? Who oils his equipment?

Originally posted by Brainchild


Umm...who works on the levers? Who oils his equipment?

"fight club":bow:

The levers of power look more like the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. You poor the money in at one end, let it melt and simmer through the gears and pistons of the MACHINE, and out comes the chocolate out the other end.

So any way, I told George W. to pull the Rat Lever last night, KACHINKA, and wadda ya know, out popped ol' Saddam Hussein, all wrapped up like a Christmas present.

How's that for a lever pulling trick....:grin:

I didn’t think he looked very dangerous. He looked like a panhandler from downtown. Living in a hole. Quite a step down.

His last year in power it seems he spent most of his time writing romance novels. I wonder if there are any of the manuscripts surviving. Can you imagine some GI finding a box full of Harlequin Romance novels by SH? The value of those things? I bet they’re kinky.

Somehow, I don’t think that little man from that hole has much to do with all that insurgency activity. Let’s get this thing wrapped up and get our guys otta that hell-hole.

So anyway, here is the infamous Online Music Service from Walmart, the company everyone loves to hate but reigns supreme in the world of retail everything:

http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/servlet/MainServlet

88 cents per song - any song, every song. Take it or leave it.

PS
Apparently the artists have absolutely no problem with the great Walmart hegemony of world domination.:bow:

Don't forget to remember, every song you buy adds another notch in their billion dollar a day revenue conspiracy.

I'll leave it!
I tried that free download just to see what it was... ewww! 128kbps WMA?! I can see why it's only $.88. Crap encoding with crap audio quality. Unlimited transfer to portable devices is cool and all if and only if your mp3 player supports WMA files.

Another dissatisfied customer! Their current catalog is also pretty dismal. Very little in Classic rock that I can even remember.

You get what you pay for...:grin:

Actually...seems you don't even get that...haha.

CG

at least it downloaded fast... 400KB/s.

But I don't think it'll stay that high once/if people start crowding the server.



They have CTHD. Why do they only allow single track downloads? Should allow the option of album download with a little discount.

And I noticed that some songs are on the site but you can't download them cuz of issues with the artist.:ohman:

Originally posted by SHADOW
And I noticed that some songs are on the site but you can't download them cuz of issues with the artist.:ohman:

They must be holding out for 89 cents ..... :laugh:

no Macintosh support. I wonder about Ipod?

APPLE MUSIC...
www.apple.com/itunes (http://)

Itunes has 400,000 tracs to download...more soon. 99¢/tune. Unlimited cd burning. Work on Mac, Windows, Ipod.

You may have to register. That url isn’t taking me to the store right now.

By the way, the conquest of China is complete. Walmart has 21 SuperCenters located all over The Middle Kingdom, each the epi-center of the world-wide conspiracy to dominate the retail collective.

BwaHaHaHa.....

http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/Investment/BusDirectory/t20030927_39624.htm

http://www.wal-martchina.com/

So, while a few Western and Sino malcontent human-bean merchant-poets are determined to boycott the Matrix, the WalMartians have been busy podding 1.2 billion Chinese.

BwaHaHaHaHa...... Zhao Di is in their grasp..... She's in Aisle 4 - Cosmetics. Their evil knows no bounds; their treachery no mercy; their discounts no end.

Resistance is futile...... Where is Neo when you need him.

http://www.wal-martchina.com/images/welcome_2.jpg

The Matrix is spreading.

Another 1.2 billion are enjoing the 'falling' prices, happy as 'peas in the pod'. HAHAHA!!

CG

The blue jeans are not. Cheap uniforms.

They should hire a Japanese agency to design uniforms and a public interface.

Zhao Di should be the greet-person at each store.

PS: Won’t they need garages to stash all the stuff they buy?

I just have to ask these questions.

Is everything in a Chinese Walmart made around the corner?

Does Yimou buy his baseball caps there?

Is the Big Yellow Smilie used in local television advertising?

If I buy a fan made in Shanghai at a Walmart in Topeka, can I get my money back in Beijing?

Is anyone in China going to download music at 88 cents a pop when they can take it off the Internet for nothing?

Is anyone in China going to download a 2 minute song for 88 cents when they can get an entire 2 hour VCD movie for $1.25?

Does the President of Walmart have his Chinese food flown in from the Walmart Cafeteria in Beijing?

Are they going to have an after-Christmas sale, a pre-labor day sale, a Thanksgiving bonanza sale, a July 4th celebration sale, a President's Day sale and a Memorial Day Extravaganza sale?