February 28, 2005 at 11:33 am
(Social/Economic)
The New York Times > Opinion > Robert B. Reich: Don’t Blame Wal-Mart
Yet the prices on sales tags don’t reflect the full prices we have to pay as workers and citizens. A sensible public debate would focus on how to make that total price as low as possible.
Yes! The past couple of years, while I’ve been working with the supply chain of a Wal-Mart supplier, I’ve felt a little conflicted by this. I know that serving Wal-Mart makes our service to everyone better and cheaper–this is good business for my company as well.
Still, I won’t shop at Wal-Mart because I just get a bad vibe from their products and stores. Reich puts that vibe into words: the price tag is cheaper, but there are hidden costs that we pay down the road that make the price of “Always Low Prices” higher than the “high prices” they replace.
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February 25, 2005 at 11:20 pm
(Personal)
Warning: long pointless post below. I’ve been doing the stream-of-consciousness web surfing thing this evening…it was going to be a night out, but alas these things don’t always pan out. So I’m here at home in front of the computer.
This started with a Simpsons episode, which more often than not leads Mel and myself to check out IMDB. We found a host of Simpsons trivia, which occupied us for a while. A question that one might ask is: Where is Springfield? An old roommate of mine from Enon, OH (near Springfield) said that Matt Groening was from Ohio, and hence it was Springfield, Ohio. Which may or not be true. However, there do seem to be lots of Ohio references, and the episode we saw tonight (Bart the Murderer) included the spitting image of the none-too-politically correct Chief Wahoo, the mascot of the Cleveland Indians. So this got me on a Cleveland thing, which happens every so often, and there I was looking up Daniel Thompson and d.a. levy to see if there was anything new on them, (and confusing my fiancee. Daniel, unlike Hunter S., about whom one might logically conclude you were talking given his recent demise, died of natural causes. levy also shot himself however.)
I decided to call on my old fraternity (yes I was a frat boy believe it or not) to see what nefarious things they were up to, and found a 360-degree tour of the ol’ fraternity house. So by this point I was solidly in the grasp of slightly melancholy nostalgia. I continued on and discovered that the fellow who did the tour, who I knew, has a larger site–ooh, nostalgia central! But not quite, because most of the content on his site is post-Spring-2001, which was when I finished. But I recognize people and places in the photos.
It is said: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But I know that if and when I go back to Cleveland, the people and places there will be very different. Four years is no time when you are close to something and in tune with its changes, and it’s an eternity when you are 2000 miles away. It’s hard to fathom, but in May another cycle of kids will have come and graduated. Yet I still recognize many of the names and shows on the campus radio station. Who knows how many people have lived in the dorm I first moved into nearly eight(!) years ago. But the burrito place where I ate my first Cleveland meal is apparently still beating off the competition (from places like Chipotle.)
And how about me? I’ve cut my hair, bought a car, found a good job and a nice girl, bought a home, become engaged. I hope I’m somewhat wiser than I was four years ago. Would my old acquaintances recognize me? Would they slam the door in my face or welcome me? Do they have big homes and fancy cars? Does it matter?
I think the big thing is, looking back, it seems like we all had this huge potential. And just as much so looking at my high school class. And it would be nice to get a reality check–I mean, how are we all fulfilling this potential? Are we on the right track (advising the President on economic policies) or the wrong one (panhandling on a street corner in Seattle?)
I don’t know, and I guess my only conclusion is: Time is weird.
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February 25, 2005 at 10:20 pm
(Personal)
This has been a big month. I proposed to the lovely Melanie and she said yes! So now we are finding out how much weddings cost and why most people wait a few more years before having them.
But I’m happy–happier than I would have thought I’d be when I was engaged. I’m also a little dazed. I don’t think I expected to find someone so great while I was so young. I feel more than a little lucky.
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February 25, 2005 at 1:12 pm
(Social/Economic)
DenverPost.com - Loveland Wal-Mart workers reject union
I’m a little disappointed in this, but given the poor job the UFCW Local 7 (the local that was pushing for the vote) has done representing the grocery workers in Denver, I don’t blame anyone who rejects their leadership. I really think it’s in the best interests of customers and union members that the members take another look at their upper ranks before trying to negotiate their contracts or get representation with Wal-Mart.
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February 24, 2005 at 5:40 pm
(Privacy, Social/Economic)
The New York Times > AP > Kansas Attorney General Seeks Records of Late-Term Abortions
See this article for an example of how not to protect the public interest. AG Kline perhaps has an inferiority complex–he isn’t Elliot Spitzer. But his search for crimes that may or may not have occurred likely puts many innocent women in the crosshairs.
Let me try to draw an analogy: imagine having your entire medical records dug up and looked at by bureaucrats because another patient at your clinic is suspected of having been given prescription drugs without a prescription. Or worse, that they were assaulted and didn’t report it.
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February 24, 2005 at 8:14 am
(Social/Economic)
DenverPost.com - No Child law gets an F
I’d guess I’d like to know more about the National Conference of State Legislatures before I make too much out of this, but wow!
It’d be nice if the States started taking some power back from the Federal government. There are a whole host of things that the Federal branch has hijacked, from Education to driving laws, most of which would ordinarily fall into the category of coercion.
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February 23, 2005 at 5:26 pm
(Colorado, Urban Design)
So that’s what they’re doing.
Our neighboring county has approved a development plan for a large chunk of land that I drive past every day. I have mixed feelings about this. Probably not too many people who live in a city and work in one of that cities bland suburbs get the chance to drive past horse ranches. Some of this land is open and has a certain quality to it…it’s not beautiful in the traditional sense, but it doesn’t have the drawbacks to that fake beauty, to wit, all the ugly infrastructure hidden just below the surface, the parking lots, etc. I doubt this land has ever been developed, and considering it is just outside the city limits, that is amazing.
So some middle-class people are going to come in with some new houses, and who knows what else. I’m actually relieved. You could tell something was happening on one particular plot of land and I was afraid that Wal-Mart had its eye on it. My second fear was that they would build more apartment buildings. You can imagine that either of the two would drastically increase traffic and neither would likely improve the quality of life (as would, say, a park–wishful thinking.) On the other hand, I won’t be surprised if the new developments put up huge brick walls–not everyone is into smart development yet. Oh well.
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