collisionbend.com

I received this comment to my previous post this morning. What I find interesting is that this post came on Memorial Day, from someone who is old probably enough to remember World War II. My reply:

Tom,

I think you may have missed my point: 1) I was not making a union/anti-union point here; and 2) I’m not saying that Wal*Mart or Home Depot or Lowe’s are the Devil or Darth Vader (whomever).

You point out, quite correctly, that lower prices — especially those prices paid by seniors on fixed incomes — are welcome. In fact, I *do* shop at all three of those stores — for certain items only. My last purchase from Wal*Mart? A $4.96 chicken beer can tripod. For that price, seeing as long as it will last, it’s not a bad deal.

My last Home Depot purchase was last week: five 60-watt GE Reveal light bulbs (clear, round) for my kitchen chandelier at $2.84 each. Not the best price, but it wasn’t worth driving an extra 5 miles each way to save a buck — not at the current price of gas.

My last purchase at Lowe’s was this morning, when I bought a new heating duct termination for my bathroom. In fact, I have a charge account at Lowe’s — I happen to like the store — but I wouldn’t buy everything I need for my home there. In fact, I can’t.

“You get what you pay for,” in this context, however, is correct — especially with Wal*Mart. Look no farther than this article in the Akron Beacon-Journal from December 2003. Consider Rubbermaid, an Ohio company born-’n-bred: what they were, where they were going, and what they are now.

Rubbermaid is gone, my friend, gone. 850 high-paying jobs with a future in each one of them. Gone. Nothing but dust in the wind, courtesy of your friends at Wal*Mart. They are running manufacturing out of the States, Tom, and that is the single most dangerous thing that could happen to this country.

This being Memorial Day, the day we pause to remember those who gave their lives to protect and defend this country, I think this point is more than apt: we need to remember that the single major factor in our favor during WWII was our ability to design, produce and manufacture the highest-quality materiel on such a scale that the rest of the world — even Hitler — underestimated.

And if we lose the ability to do this — and we’re losing it by the day — we’re in a heap of trouble.

Rubbermaid is not alone, either: the media has filled tomes on the ravages of Wal*Mart in community after community around the country. If we allow this to continue, then what are we saying to our children? “Hey, you’re on your own — I don’t give a crap about your troubles”?

Somehow, I find that level of selfishness quite distasteful.

“Think Global — Act Local” is not only a sound environmental practice, it also happens to be the single most patriotic thing we can do to support our country, our children, and our forefathers.