speaking of internet

[blackjedii]

Conservatives, liberals unite against Silicon ValleyThe days of unqualified praise from Washington are over for the country’s biggest tech companies, whose size and power are increasingly drawing attacks from both the left and the right

Comments

[pairatime]

Wal-Mart's devastating on local businesses though.
If the local businesses isn't completive then it needs to either change to become completive or go out of businesses. Being local or small don't matter if you can't give the public the goods or services at the price and quietly they want.

Plus they have a LOT of control over wages which works out well since if you're working at or near Wal-Mart, you can only afford Wal-Mart prices.
The lowest they can pay is minimum wage which they don't set and in a very small town they might be a major employer but most people live in cities that have far more non-Walmart employers then Walmarts so if people can only pay Walmarts prices it's not on Walmart, it's on the wider economy which is far bigger then Walmarts.

As for Amazon they do need to be watched to make sure they never become an monopoly but I'm fine with them having employee-less stores and working with other stores so they don't have to build there own, it keeps their cost low so they can keep their prices low. My biggest issues with Amazon is the way taxes work for online retailers but that's for all online retailers not just Amazon. The Federal government needs to revamp how those taxes laws work and maybe that means a national sales tax.

[blackjedii]

That's short term though. Long term Wal Mart hurts small towns - I LIVE in one. It restricts your choices on goods and others can't srat up businesses, period, because they can't get traction. not saying I don't think Wal mart should exist, but business is a hell of a lot healthier and with more diversity (financially, item speaking here) in places that have said no to big box stores than places that only have Wal Mart.

The Federal government needs to revamp how those taxes laws work and maybe that means a national sales tax.
Agreed. Online retail really does need some overhaul to stay healthy.

[pairatime]

in places that have said no to big box stores than places that only have Wal Mart.

If they only have one choice you may have a point but most of the population (about 2/3) live in large urban areas (50,000+). Which means there is more then an single Wal Mart. So while yes some very small areas might be faced with only a single choice but those are the outliners. Even in eastern Washington where most towns are under 10,000 (half are under 5,000) they are rarely more than a hour and a half drive to a larger city that has a number of choices and given all of these places get mail they can all order online in todays world which under cuts Wal Mart and single stores controlling communities even more.