http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/12/12/letter-from-india-low-prices-every-day Comments On: Letter from India: Low prices every day by Max Brantley en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Thu, 23 May 2013 09:15:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 18:25:24 -0600 Arkansas Times
India has one of the most regulated economies in the world. The ethical and moral people wait forever for permission while the unethical and immoral just bribe the right people.
Posted by Gylippus]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:29:08 -0600 Arkansas Times
When my son was working on a process transfer to Malaysia, he was in KL and associated with other American ex-pats. He was with Baxter but HP, Levi, etc were all there and they sort of had their own community within the hotel. The hotel chefs even got with them and took their favorite receipes and converted them to Malaysian so they could have some "home-style" food since they only got to come home every 2-3 weeks. The Levi plant there made Levi jeans 8 hours a day and Levi-knockoffs 16 hours a day. The contracting, sub-contracting and sub,sub-contracting in that facility that had the fire reminded me of the fact that most of these facilities are very small. Remember the lead paint on the toys where the contract was sub-let to hundreds of mon-and-pop garage operations, some of who cut costs by substituting leaded-based paint for what was specified in the contract, several levels above them.

If Walmart, Target, Penny's, Macys, et.al., are going to go world-wide in their logistic chain for the lowest cost, they need to be sure they have THEIR people in the same places to assure that their quality standard, no matter how high or low, are being met or they should be held responsible.

And we want the Walmart rule for our legislators? Sounds like that is a low standard. How about we make the legislators live on the Medicaid max for their family situation?
Posted by couldn't be better]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:45:23 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by cecil]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:49:45 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Jimmy Crackcorn]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:48:32 -0600 Arkansas Times
I do like a lot of the economic policies that Clinton had and not many people know that Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute is a big proponent of Clinton's actions the last 6 years in office when he did a great job of restraining spending.

Like Mitchell I am a conservative first and a Republican second. When someone does a good job then I give him credit and when someone like Bush runs up the debt by letting spending grow too fast then I am critical of him too.
http://thedailyhatch.org/2012/07/08/republ…
Posted by SalineRepublican]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:42:57 -0600 Arkansas Times
How interesting can you be if you spend your whole career importing cheap Chinese junk while keeping your jackboot on the neck of your vendors and employees? I grew up with a former Wal-Mart VP and when I look back I remember him as colorless, without a bit of creativity, no sense of humor, and glum even as a child. I saw him again about 3 years ago and he looked like he had a lemon in his mouth...a total wet blanket in the middle of a birthday party. He's worth millions but looks and acts completely constipated. I believe I'm 100 times happier living in rubble surrounded by snoring elderly cats and dogs. It apparently sucks to be him.

And of course it sucks to be a blue vested Wal-Mart worker. I think it was eLwood who told me Wal-Mart has fired all their elderly greeters recently. So it's back to McDonalds for all our old people who can't survive on their Social Security checks. And why spend money on greeting people who have no choice but to shop at Wal-Mart because their own paychecks are too small to shop anywhere else? Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. And come to think of it, most Wal-Mart workers won't be able to live on their small Social Security checks so the circle will be endless.

As a little Baptist child I always felt terribly guilty post masturbation and that's how I feel today when I shop at Wal-Mart. I know my purchases are helping to keep American workers down. But now and then I have to shop at Wal-Mart to get the things we really like to eat....since other grocery stores are so beaten down by the Wal-Mart onslaught they've quit carrying a lot of brands they used to carry. By god I want to buy more than just 4 in a pack Jimmy Dean breakfast biscuits! And since mag and I have reached the age where we attract more and more pill bottles like so many flies to a glue strip, we need those 4 buck prescriptions, but sure feel guilty when we pick them up.

Like the Koch brothers, Wal-Mart isn't going to be happy until there's a Wal-Mart in every town in the world. What worries me is what they'll do after they have accomplished total saturation....maybe go into organized religion and replace God with Sam Walton? Or get bigger in banking or try selling new cars again? Maybe get into human organ transplants....Git your kidney on isle 7! Why not oil & gas? And let us not forget the world's oldest profession...will Wal-Mart hookers be Chinese and cost less?
Posted by DeathbyInches]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 13:00:50 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Verla Sweere]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:41:15 -0600 Arkansas Times >Bill Clinton, who increased the top rate to 39.6 percent rather than broadening the base.<

Hey, Saline, for free burger and beer tomorrow, who said this about Clinton's tax rise?

"The tax increase will kill jobs and lead to a recession, and the recession will force people out of work and onto unemployment, and actually increase the deficit."

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/0…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:03:45 -0600 Arkansas Times
Just like any other Ponzi scheme...
Posted by Perplexed]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:17:01 -0600 Arkansas Times
curry favor.
Posted by Eureka Springs]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:50:33 -0600 Arkansas Times > The man who really pronounced the death sentence for the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was Bill Clinton, who increased the top rate to 39.6 percent rather than broadening the base.<

Yes Salty. It was a way to balance the federal budget rather than doing it on the backs of low income folks. A simple sales tax on financial transactions would take care of budget woes in a few short cycles. That would be a flat tax of, say 0.5%. The costs of feeding and care for our financial elites is getting much more than we can afford. See link below.

Bentonville is busy preparing new teams of Indian Walmart mgrs and personnel directors. There are now three Indian restaurants in Bentonville and two Indian food stores. Wally exec's are overflowing with the prospects of another marketplace with a billion happy shoppers. Quality control will be their enemy in India when they enter the Indian food market.

The entire mindset Sam Walton and Company set in motion is premised on GROWTH. All pay above the "floor associate" level is based upon growth. It permeates the walls, bathrooms, every board meeting and the minds of anyone who seeks to get a leg up at Walmart. Hence, all Walmart front men/women will do whatever is necessary for growth which translates into more market expansion, dominance and penetration, bribes and payoffs when essential.

India, once an occupied nation, restricts foreign ownership hence new partnerships will emerge from necessity.
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http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-ban…
Posted by eLwood]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:48:40 -0600 Arkansas Times
Hopefully a few of those ten newspapers are saying this. (Lordy, that's a lot of dead trees or a lot of hemp profits)
Posted by Eureka Springs]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:21:19 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by kateicl]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 10:08:56 -0600 Arkansas Times
Corporations by design focus only on short term gain and do not (by design) concern themselves with worker health and safety nor the good of a country.
Posted by Citizen1]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 09:16:01 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Silverback66]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:28:29 -0600 Arkansas Times
Robert Samuelson, a columnist for the Washington Post noted:

…many politicians support tax breaks for favored groups (the elderly, the poor, small business) and causes (homeownership, attending college, “green” industries). This enhances their power. The man who really pronounced the death sentence for the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was Bill Clinton, who increased the top rate to 39.6 percent rather than broadening the base. As the top rate rose, so did the value of generating new tax breaks. Ironically, many of the people who complain the loudest about Washington influence-peddling and lobbying are the same people who support higher tax rates, which stimulate more influence-peddling and lobbying.

http://thedailyhatch.org/2012/12/12/flat-t…
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Thanks for the updates from India. We have missed you since you have been gone. Your substitutes have done a good job but we want you back because you are the best at blogging in Arkansas in my view. Be safe.
Posted by SalineRepublican]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:28:12 -0600 Arkansas Times
Despite everything the media says about Pakistan, those are some great people. I miss being able to do easy business with them. World politics don't help the world economy much...
Posted by Mean Gene]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2012 07:56:26 -0600 Arkansas Times