[at-l] NOW Wal-Mart... WAS Confusering in VT

[Bror8588 at aol.com (Bror8588@aol.com)]

In a message dated 5/28/04 12:30:10 Eastern Daylight Time, ellen@clinic.net 
writes:


> The thing that puzzles me is that with Walmart selling stuff so cheap and 
> with much of the world's population working for a dollar or two a day making 
> stuff for us, how come Americans work longer hours and have shorter vacations 
> 

We Americans like to live large (as my Son puts it) and so we work to have 
that affluent life style.  We like to travel, drive nice cars, live in beautiful 
homes, but the best equipment for our recreational needs/desires, save for 
our retirement, drink fine wine, wear nice clothing, and so on. 

 The rest of the world is too large a concept for me to put in one paragraph. 
 In Europe and other developed nations there is the same need to accumulate 
wealth but there is also a sense of what is important -- living life -- and so 
vacation time is at least double what we enjoy in this country.  Taxes are 
higher and so some basic needs are taken care of by the government.  I am 
generalizing, but for instance Health Care is better in many European countries.

In places where wages are very low compared to our standards and people work 
for a dollar or two or five or ten a day, there is a better living obtained 
for their families because of the work.  Often there are complaints that we are 
exploiting those who live in poor nations but the offer of work which pays 
what it does, raises their standard of living and gives opportunity for them to 
care for themselves and their families.  

The American "Dis-ease" has screwed up many families who have everyone 
working to make money but no one home to care for the children.  The 9-5 job is just 
a dream for many.  Too often a parent leaves one job to go to another and 
then they wonder why their children are becoming drug addicts or getting into 
trouble in other ways.  Families tend to neglect opportunities to dine and 
converse because everyone is scheduled to be somewhere else.

So, Thank God for Wal-Mart and the good prices they offer to the buying 
public.  It won't solve the dis-ease but it may help with the family economics a 
bit.

Skylander