I love Walmart's new commercial

[Riccardo]

Of course they are

The Walton family are not greedy bastards?

As is anyone with a net worth more than 1 billion

[Riccardo]

People rarely complain about Microsoft or Apple greed

Comparing Apple to Walmart is ludicrous - they are in entirely different industries.

[Riccardo]

Buffett is the solution? Good Lord you are clueless

Buffett runs a holding company - in itself it makes nothing. Just buys companies, restructures (layoffs!) and then sells at a profit. Would think a lefty loon like you would despise such a concept!

[TerpEagle]

Comparing Apple to Walmart is ludicrous - they are in entirely different industries.

As I said before - Microsoft and Apple provide innovation and at the very least seem to try to cater to their customers with more than cheap shit.

Walmart succeeds because they sell things cheap due to their cost cutting methods. All they offer is immediate consumer value in terms of low prices. Nothing more. And there are very visible effects of their methods (closing down of other retail outlets, poor quality, poor customer service, etc.) The greedy methods of Microsoft and Apple are harder to see because they at least provide an innovative product.

[The Ref]

Buffett runs a holding company - in itself it makes nothing. Just buys companies, restructures (layoffs!) and then sells at a profit. Would think a lefty loon like you would despise such a concept!

Did I say he was the solution? No, I didn't. Am I surprised by your lack of reading comprehension? No. I'm not.

[Riccardo]

Still a silly argument

As I said before - Microsoft and Apple provide innovation and at the very least seem to try to cater to their customers with more than cheap shit.

You can't compare technical innovation of a state-of-the-art electronics manufacturer to a retailer. Walmart's a retailer - they sell products - including products made by Apple and Microsoft. At least they employ millions of people. Do you prefer the Amazon retailer model? They sell the same crap - if they sold all the products Walmart did they'd do it with 25% of the Walmart's employees.

[Drama Queen]

Gates had a lot of pressure to turn around his greedy bastard image. He's doing alright now, but not back in the day.

[Raptor]

Don't know, I've lowered my standards

Instead of China?

Once in the last 10 yrs by visiting one of thier stores... I have little knowledge of the stuff they are peddling. I generally avoid such stores, mostly stick with online shopping.

[Riccardo]

He could do a lot more

The last 5 years his net worth has increased by $20 billion. He claims he will eventually give away 95% of his wealth - what is he waiting for??

[Ellsworth]

Rush is not a great band. in fact, they blow.

[TerpEagle]

You can't compare technical innovation of a state-of-the-art electronics manufacturer to a retailer. Walmart's a retailer - they sell products - including products made by Apple and Microsoft. At least they employ millions of people. Do you prefer the Amazon retailer model? They sell the same crap - if they sold all the products Walmart did they'd do it with 25% of the Walmart's employees.

The under-employ millions of people. I seem to remember you making that distinction when employment/unemployment was discussed in the past.

And you're trying to redirect the conversation. No one is saying that other big corporations aren't greedy. If they're for profit their goal is to make profit. Duh.

This conversation was about Walmart. And Walmart, as I said, has its own special little place among greedy corporations. They're not just hurting workers, they're oppressive/damaging to product suppliers and communities as well.

So keep ranting about Microsoft and Apple if you want. I agree, they're greedy corporations. They're not Walmart.

[TerpEagle]

Instead of China?

Not as long as people are accustomed to paying for things made in China. The ability of Americans to have lots of shit at low prices is dependent on other countries being in stages of economic development and having less.

[Riccardo]

Yeah and Amazon under-employs even moreso

You were the one making the inane technological innovation comparison of Apple vs Walmart. So let's stick to retailers - you didn't answer the question - do you prefer the Amazon model? That's where we are heading.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news/companies/amazon-warehouse-workers/

[TerpEagle]

You were the one making the inane technological innovation comparison of Apple vs Walmart. So let's stick to retailers - you didn't answer the question - do you prefer the Amazon model? That's where we are heading.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/30/news...house-workers/

The Amazon model is where we're going because (to fall back on an old discussion) of robots. Everything is becoming more automated. The need for people to work actual retail is dwindling.

I'd suggest that Walmart is part of the reason that Amazon is so popular. Walmart was the first to significantly cut pricing through sheer size of inventory, automated organization and eventual market share. To compete, places either offered better quality or another method of offering cheap products. Amazon is that method. They offer more and they offer it at some of the best prices possible.

I'm not against retail moving in this direction. It's inevitable. To fight it would be neo-Luddism. With the technology and information available there's little need to interact with a person to make basic retail purchases.

And Amazon is greedy too as well as circumventing laws to make a greater profit. Part of the reason they have their market share is because they don't implement state/local taxes on many consumers and rely on them to do if themselves. Which, surprise surprise, most do not. That alone gives them an edge of any brick and mortar store located in a state with sales tax. Automatic 5%+ savings.

[Riccardo]

See now you get it

The Amazon model, which will cost even more jobs and result in more people getting paid less, is inevitable, just as the Walmart model was an inevitable evolution of small mom-and-pop stores and regional mass merch retailers. Just doesn't make sense to hate on one and not the other