For the past 3 years, numerous discussions both public and private have taken place pondering the question, "What will it take to turn our city around economically?
Recently, someone mentioned that 72% of Wal-Marts merchandise comes from China. I haven’t checked that statistic for accuracy. I do know that when I had to replace a curling iron, every brand stocked in Wal-Mart was made in China.
BINGO! SIRENS BLAZING! LIGHTS FLASHING!
Seems like a no-brainer. If Wal-Mart were to purchase locally, what would that do to our local economy?
I’ll tell you what it will do. It will create jobs, create industry, and jump start our economy like nothing else.
This isn’t an original idea. Watch the movie FOOD, INC. In a segment there are two gentlemen from a local Wal-Mart (I forgot the name of the city) asking a local dairy to provide products for their store.
Just imagine for the moment what would happen if the costume jewelry were made by our locals. What about our own dairy and chicken farms. How about creating a "sweat shop" (using the term loosly to explain sewing clothing rather than taking advantage and exploiting our workers). Walk down the aisles of Wal-Mart and list those products that could be produced locally.
Then ask yourself why this isn’t being done? Are we content to sit back and allow China to take away all the economic advantages that rightly belong in our own back yard? Will it take an act of Congress to change this? Or do we simply have to start small and at the local level.
Recently, I was chatting with friends in Southern California. They were fed-up with the high rates charged by their water company. The residents got together and with the cooperation of their local City Council, they are looking at ways to stop doing business with that Water Company. Fortunately, they have alternatives.
What do you think the next steps should be? In my opinion, it’s time for our City Council to bite the bullet and start acting like we’re in an emergency situation. Things are getting worse for our people not better.
What do you think the next steps should be? Should our City Council act like a governing body of the people , step out of their comfort zone and start the process to jump start our economy?
The reason we do not do that is because it would have to be ran like a real business. manufacturers would sell to wall mart. Wal mart would have to create jobs and pay the public wages. Did you hear EVEN ONE TIME THE WORDS SUPERVISOR, OR Authority OR COMMITTEE?
No! I do not think you did! No Supervisor to be the director of economic depletion,
sports events like toxic wasteathons and Our annual cancer The Lilly Growers insist on providing the first place prize…A Fresh Bouquet of 12 Beautiful Lilies for your grave to be changed the second day of each month.The winner can get 24 LiLLies for half price.
Wal Mart DOES NOT GIVE OUT GRANTS. AND Wal Mart DOES NOT WANT to be a SPECIAL DISTRICT AND I doubt Wal Mart wants to pay for self insurance from Trindel. And the supervisor insist they hire DNC employees.Somebody has to be in charge of all the skeletons and closets.They do not want to keep outsiders hear too long. (They might find the closets, and catch on to the POOR, DUMB, COUNTY THING).It took years to learn how to bring in millions of dollars, create a few low paying jobs and keep the county poor. The secret is consultants! Change orders and amendments!We use each other for consultants! Shhh! don’t tell anyone. Its our little bonus! Only poor counties can get grants. If people start getting jobs from Wal Mart they might earn a living wage. There goes the poor county, the tax free low income housing and Barnts unreported,over paid “wages”. Where are the supervisors going to get 15% administration fees If wal mart provided jobs (Plus, that’s the local governments Christmas money). How much sense does it make for the leaders and department managers to be as poor as the citizens. The good news is if Wal Mar were a source of income the embezzling would decrease.And so would the stress.
A win win situation. It gets to be too much for them, all this money to have to account for. solid waste, probation department, DA deals, WWTF. Poor Gitlin tried to balance his monthly accounting and some one tried to eat his face. It’s o.k. Rodger. He was an old timer who is from the old school of guarding the closeted skeletons. They like to put last months total on the top of the left hand page, Next count the money and put that total 2 lines from the bottom of the rt hand page.Subtract Bottom rt. from Top Lt. that tells you what the items you bought last month cost. List those items between the top Lt. and bottom Rt until it’s total is the same as Bottom Lt subtracted from Top Rt. Put that number on bottom RT.under this months total and add the two
together.The Bottom Rt now equals the top Left, right? You are balanced. There is no way you could teach Wal Mart how to do that. Nice try Donna.