I sent Stacey Mitchell (the author of the article this thread is based on) an email in regards to her article and here is her reply... and my rebuttal.
You misread that paragraph in the article. My point was that Google, Apple and Microsoft have created products that have improved the productivity and capacity of many individuals and businesses. All kinds of economic activity, wealth and jobs throughout the economy have been generated as result of their innovations. Their founders became wealthy, but their creations also lifted a lot of other boats, if you will. That's not true for Walmart's founders. They did, as I note in the piece, bring new efficiency to the distribution of products. There was some real innovation there. But they made most of their money by squeezing the livelihoods of working people, from those who lost decent paying manufacturing jobs to the those who owned small businesses to those who clerk at retail stores. They gained their wealth, not by lifting other boats along the way, but by forcing them down, if I can strain that metaphor a little further.
Stacy
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Stacy,
And companies like Walmart embraced those innovations from Microsoft, purchased computer hardware and computer software and various information technology infrastructure that would have never existed if Microsoft never existed. And Microsoft benefitted in return. Commodore’s CPM operating system was put out of business by Microsoft. Many competing operating systems and hardware platforms were put out of business by Microsoft. And Apple took up the slack, further pushing the mom and pop software manufactures and major hardware businesses… out of business. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player, but they certainly own that market now. Big, bad Apple. The most installed operating systems and hardware platforms are controlled by two companies… Microsoft and Apple. I don’t see you shedding any tears for the trail of shuttered businesses in the wake of these two technology powerhouses.
And companies like Walmart would never have been able to create the business model they have without the wonderful technology of Microsoft and Apple. The whole of retail business has been transformed by the these technological “bullies”. And Google, even with their biased search algorithms, has driven millions and millions of customers to the electronic merchants and away from businesses like the local used book store and retail giants like Borders. Instead of praising Google for it’s innovations, maybe you should be dropping them in the same bucket as Walmart. Big, bad Google.
If you have any concept of the history of commerce, you should know that as technology advances, there are always some unwitting victims of these advancements. There’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it. On the grander scale of things, it’s business as usual. You narrowly look at a recent decade, add to it some personal anecdotes that you are familiar with and suddenly it’s a “you against the big bad corporate bully”. That’s noble, but your ideology is getting in the way of reality. May I recommend you read some Neal Stephenson, precisely his “Baroque Series”. It’s a wonderful education of how commerce and innovation has moved the world. It is a swashbuckling and humorous historical fiction that really puts the whole world (which you have only been part of for a very short period of time) into perspective.
It’s the “system of the world” Stacey, and even though it may seem unfair to you, that has nothing to do with the over all picture. I’ve had four careers, as the world changes, I change. And so does mankind/womankind (see, even the Political Correctness has rubbed off on a professional Scrooge like me). And it always has. That’s what makes us amazing creatures. We change, we care, we take care of our specie, compassion is a rare quality that is only shared by a few other animals on this planet. But we don’t stop advancing. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Walmart and thousands of other businesses exist only because something else went away. Otherwise we would go stale, stagnate, and eventually die off (then again, I’ve met some liberals who would be happy with that option).
Is Walmart perfect? I doubt it. DO they need to change some of their day to day operating procedures, especially in regards to their employees. Maybe. In each of my professions, other people lost out because I was good at what I was doing. Walmart fills a need as well as Starbucks does, as efficiently as Apple does… as I do too. You’re editorial attempts are to throw the baby out with the bath water (see Aisle 9). I like rich people, rich people like the Walton’s. They have money and I want to take as much of that money from them as I can. And the way I do that is to be clever, hard working, better than the next person, making those rich people thrilled to give me their money. Everyone should strive to do better, shouldn’t they? But every time you or I do better than someone else, anytime we excel over our neighbor or fellow employee… well we do the same thing, on a tiny scale, that Walmart does. We make someone obsolete, or in the least, less valuable. It’s the “system of the world”.
Peace out,
But also because they offer products and service not available from the big box guys.
