Watermelon: (Ever)Green on the Outside, Red on the Inside

Couple of interesting quotes from the Opinion page of today's Summer Watermelon, "Pullman's paper of record:"

“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”

– Karl Marx

Depressed about the elections? So is Karl.

And

The American people themselves are “the greatest obstacle to progressive change” in America.

Still not too late to stage a takeover, conservative Cougars.

PALOUSITICS EXCLUSIVE - Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Three

This is Part Three of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

The information contained below is being made publicly available on the web for the first time.

I've always dreamed that one day the opponents of Wal-Mart in Pullman will make a factual argument to support their case, rather than resort to "special-interest propaganda," "symbolism over substance," "pejorative labels," and "playing on the average citizen's distrust of corporate America," as detailed by Richard Carson. I'm still waiting.

"Progressive" Amir Hassan writes in today's Summer Watermelon:

Likewise, small businesses find themselves unable to compete with Wal-Mart’s rock-bottom prices. A Pullman Supercenter will choke and kill much of our beloved local commerce.

I suppose one can't argue with a self-styled "expert" on Pullman economics who is also a Rhetoric and Composition grad student from Seattle who uses apocryphal stories and far-left websites to support his arguments. Nevertheless, let's take a look at some hard data anyway.

The Simeon Partnership, an economic and public policy consulting firm in Bainbridge Island, WA, prepared a study in 2005 of long-term economic impacts of the Wal-Mart that opened in the small coastal Washington city of Aberdeen back in 1994. The study examined impacts on local businesses, as well as tax revenue and worker wages. The brief summarizing the study can be downloaded here.

Some highlights:

“Not one business went out of business because of Wal-Mart,” says Michael Tracy. He should know. Tracy heads up the Grays Harbor Economic Development Council. His organization has tried to identify and help businesses affected by Wal-Mart’s decision to locate in Aberdeen in 1994.

“Understand,” says Tracy, “there was high unemployment at the time and businesses were going out of business right and left. But, not because of Wal-Mart.” Wal-Mart slowed the flow of people leaving Grays Harbor to do their shopping in Olympia, he says.

Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County had real gains of 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively in taxable retail sales from retail trade from 1995 through 2003.

“The threat to locally owned businesses is not Wal-Mart,” Tipton says, “it’s I-5 to Tumwater, Lacey and Portland. Wal-Mart has slowed [Aberdeen’s retail sales leakage] considerably.” When local shoppers stay in town to buy their basics at Wal-Mart, he says, they are more likely to look locally first for their other needs and to comparison shop at home, given the opportunity.

Wal-Mart captured an increasing share of a increasing retail sales base in Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County between 1995 and 2002. As Figure 3 shows, taxable retail sales from retail trade in Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County kept pace with inflation even without Wal-Mart over this period, demonstrating that Wal-Mart not only increased its market share, it helped grow the size of pie.

...the city’s revenues have grown in all categories since 1994. Sales and Use Taxes have been a good source of revenue growth – up 9 percent after inflation from 1994 through 2003 – but the big growth category for the city’s general services has been Business and Utility Taxes, which was up 16 percent after inflation. These are taxes levied by the city on various special services like water, sewer and garbage.

Adjusted for inflation, Wal-Mart’s sales tax contribution to the city grew 89 percent from 1996 to 2002. At the same time Wal-Mart’s share of city sales taxes paid doubled as its tax contributions grew well ahead of overall city sales tax growth.

Total wages in Grays Harbor County paid by stores in the general merchandise category, like Wal-Mart, grew from $4.6 million in 1993 to $6.5 million in 1994 the year Wal-Mart opened – a 39 percent increase after inflation. And, average general merchandise employment went from 345 to 477 jobs.

On average general merchandise stores in Grays Harbor County paid their employees about $13,263 annually in 1993 before Wal-Mart came to town. By 2003 this average annual wage had grown to $21,432. Even after adjusting for inflation, general merchandise workers experienced 21 percent growth in their real average wages.

Tuesday: We'll take a look at what happened over in Sequim, after much controversy in opening a Wal-Mart Supercenter there.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Say What?

Sadly, the reality of living in a capitalist society is that not everyone can “make it” the way Rossi did. A lot of people work their entire lives and never see the same type of success. For that reason, it makes little sense for someone in Rossi’s position to represent a working-class public.

- Amir Hassan, "Rossi needs to tell the truth to voters," Summer Watermelon, June 23, 2008

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

You see Amir and his fellow Marxist-Leninist "progressives" wish to turn the words of our Founding Fathers around completely backwards. They believe that all men are not created equal but all men are guaranteed equal happiness (at least happiness as the government defines it.)

Rather than someone from an immigrant family who has "made it" in the private sector like Rossi, Mr. Hassan would prefer Queen Christine, who has never worked a day in her life outside the bureaucracy of state government, to represent the "working class" as Governor.

And they say Republicans are bigots.

"College Republicans wrong to complain"

Here is a letter to the editor from Friday 4/25 in response to Danny's letter and my own letter to the editor on Thursday.

"Editor: Concerning the whining of College Republicans about why they were not awarded among the 20 of the most influential students list, I think it shows a serious lack of respect for those who were awarded to complain that no members won the award......The Evergreen has more than done its job to appease the College Republicans. As most people who have been reading the Evergreen for more than 3 years have noticed, the number of conservative articles has dramatically increased, and the page space for conservative writers overlaps that of the liberal ones by leaps and bounds. This year alone, a person could not open the Evergreen without reading some lowbrow attack on liberals, immigrants, gays or minorities in every opinion column, only to be followed by a far-right diatribe on why we need Jesus and no other god in our lives. Leave the podium with dignity, College Republicans, you’ve had more than your fair share of the limelight."

-Isaac Harrison alumnus, 2005

First off, my letter to the editor did not refute those on top 20 most influential but rather stated that it is ridiculous that the most influential and active group on campus had no members on the list. Of course, today they continued to add the great influential Liberal students such as Alex McDonald to the list, the Evergreen then tried to save face and state that they wanted to add Chris Del Beccaro, but due to time constraints and space they could not. Mr. Isaac Harrison believes that the Evergreen has in the last 3 years seen "the number of conservative articles dramatically increase". He is correct in the fact that maybe they have increased simply because the newspaper slanders the College Republicans even more than they used to. There is 1 positive article for at least every 20 negative ones about us in the newspaper. So congrats Isaac you are correct there are more articles demeaning the most influential group on campus.

Secondly, there is a difference between the Evergreen hiring opinion columnists and those who actually write news articles and do other jobs for the Evergreen, they try to hire 1 Conservative columnist on staff to try to be "balanced" - 1 to about 15 isn't very balanced in my mind though. Also, Isaac your information is a little incorrect in believing that you could not open the "Liberal Green" without reading "some lowbrow attack on liberals, immigrants (illegal aliens is what I think you are referring to), gays or minorities". I was the only Conservative opinion columnist last semester Isaac, and for some reason I don't remember ever attacking gays or minorities - and I never attacked Liberals, just stated the truth. Get a life Isaac and stick to reading your Liberal propaganda rather than attempting to write your poorly thought out letters with complete fallacies and figments of your imagination.

"Competition from Wal-Mart lowers prices at local retailers"

This is another story about one of those "no-duh" studies. University of Massachusetts researchers have found that Wal-Mart supercenters affect the prices of conventional supermarkets located within a five-mile radius, resulting in lower prices for consumer goods.

And of all places, I found this story at the Wal-Mart Watch website! According to the UMass Daily Collegian:

Lavoie said that from the results, she could conclude that "families that shop exclusively at supermarkets within five miles of a Supercenter can expect to save between $37 and $104 per person each year, since Wal-Mart will cause these stores to lower their prices."

Families that shop exclusively at Supercenters "can save $88 to $223 per person," Lavoie said.

For towns and cities that do not have a Supercenter nearby, the supermarket prices did not lower in response to the competition. Shoppers who are willing to travel away from these towns and cities to Supercenters can expect to save from $186 to $298 per person each year.

Plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter near the UMass campus recently fell through. So, insert brainwashed co-ed comment here:

"I try my hardest to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart and giving them business, because I know now how evil of a company it is and I do not want to support that."

Obviously the writers of the Collegian are not like the writers at the Watermelon, as they conclude:

Although it is a fact that some students would rather support local businesses that shop at big chains, it is also a fact that individuals and families can save money if they shop at Wal-Mart.

Refreshing. Thanks Wal-Mart Watch!Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Quote of the Day

The ultra-religious, conservative Republicans generally can’t stand John McCain because he’s too liberal for the majority of the party. Though McCain is hated among staunch conservatives, Clinton is loathed, despised and the bane of many conservatives’ existences.

The next natural and logical choice would be Barack Obama. But this is politics, there’s no place for logic, and in the primaries people want a show – enter Huckabee.

- Dominick Bonny, "You can kiss Huckabee goodbye," The Daily Evergreen, February 21, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings. The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate.

- The National Journal, January 31, 2008

Yeah, Obama is the next logical choice if you're an ignorant, intolerant, know-it-all college student. Luckily, us "white, super-Christian and moral voters" can tell the difference.