Article: Hard numbers: The economy is worse than you know

[Vasska]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

I'm from North West Arkansas. I've seen Wal-Mart headquarters many times. As you drive north on 540, through Bentonville, you will see the homes where these executives live. The neighborhood is immense, and the houses there are all quite expensive.

Maybe you have to go there to see what I mean. But try to imagine - tens of thousands of well paid executives pulled into the area by Wal-Mart. Their massive homes, the stores and restaurants to serve them. It's quite an industry.

Executives! of the 2,100,000 employees Walmart has how many of them are high ranking executives? The local walmart manager and cashier cannot afford the houses you see in Bentonville, they live of a normal salary, just like you and me.

The whole idea of having all the executives living together is great, but it centralizes work and income in one place instead of spreading it evenly on a larger scale. The sole reason why Walmart does it is efficiency.

The whole effect you are speaking of is common, place an airport and you provide work for thousands on a daily basis.

True - but considering the fact that Wal-Mart is the world's largest company, it's hard to ignore them. There are many powerful companies. ExxonMobile is another.

True.

The reason I mentioned these companies is that when a corporation becomes as large as these, they naturally develop immense political power.

I expressed the same idea with other companies and funds, and I can agree with you, just found it strange that you needed to insert other companies to make your point.

[Didymos Thomas]

Executives! of the 2,100,000 employees Walmart has how many of them are high ranking executives? The local walmart manager and cashier cannot afford the houses you see in Bentonville, they live of a normal salary, just like you and me.

The whole idea of having all the executives living together is great, but it centralizes work and income in one place instead of spreading it evenly on a larger scale. The sole reason why Walmart does it is efficiency.

The whole effect you are speaking of is common, place an airport and you provide work for thousands on a daily basis.

I'm not describing anything uncommon. The principles involved are straightforward. I have no idea just how many live in those neighborhoods in Bentonville, but having seen the sprawling neighborhoods, I know they are numerous.

I'm not sure what the trouble is - Wal-Mart brings these high paying positions to northwest Arkansas and in the process supports a massive consumer based economy in the area.

I expressed the same idea with other companies and funds, and I can agree with you, just found it strange that you needed to insert other companies to make your point.

You can go to the Forbes web site and look up the world's largest companies for a more comprehensive list, if you like.

[Poseidon]

You also need to mention how the exchange rates are skewed in favour of the Western White world by as much as 300%. Thus, when the real exchange rates kick in, you can see just about all those cheap imported goods multiplying in price by about 3 times.