Thursday, July 21, 2016

Exchange on Walmart and Markets

Markets don't sort everything out. Affirming market failure I think excludes me from being a market fundamentalist. That said, the left seems very anti-market to me. They don't seem interested in the fact that the typical economic estimate for how much Wal-Mart has saved their consumers is in the 100s of billions. That's effectively no different from a 100 billion subsidy to primarily lower income classes. The potential of normal functioning competitive markets to solve problems is enormous. But it seems absent from leftist discussion aside from leftist economists.
Thomas
5 cents! Too slow 😩
Yes, but that makes Walmart a "company store". No one can ever climb in that environment. Just survive. By the way... I was DEVASTATED that I forgot to tell you guys my new favorite joke when we were on xbox! DEVASTATED! Play soon!
Play tonight!
You're referring to workers?
Thomas
I prob can late
Yes... They get theyre money and goods from walmart
And are many times subsidized by WIC, Welfare, etc... Because of the low wages
Seems like indentured servitude to me
So why do they work for Walmart?
Walmart raises wages of workers on average or else people wouldn't work there. And ultimately production = consumption, which is why we have firms in the first place
Thomas
Why did/do people work in coal mines?
Because working on farms was worse
There is a huge difference between forcing somebody to do something and paying somebody. When you pay somebody to do something, its reasonable to infer that doing it is better than their alternatives. When you force somebody to do something, its reasonable to infer that doing it is worse than their alternatives.
Thomas
Many indentured servants had better lives in that employ... And thats sad! Likewise with Walmart.
Yeah, it is sad. But taking away the thing that people actually do choose makes it worse!