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In article ,
says...
Chuck,
I was watching a show about Wal-Mart last night. One of the things they
talked about was a "LOW COST ITEM". The low cost item would be the best
price anywhere, a $29 microwave etc. Once you stepped up in quality, the
price was probably not the best price in the marketplace. I would guess
many of the box stores use this marketing strategy.

Fascinating show. Low cost items from China have buoyed Walmart's
profit and stock price for years. Now that everyone has to go to China
to purchase goods for resale in the states, the loss of jobs is starting
to affect Americans buying power.

The Chinese workers who couldn't afford goods built for America will be
in a better position to purchase those goods than the American markets
for which they were designed.

Just another step in the transition of America from 1st to 3rd world
country. In the 1970s, the US was the biggest exporter of finished
goods and biggest importer of raw materials. Now we're the largest
exporter or raw materials and biggest importer of finished goods -- all
at the cost of our manufacturing base and decent wage jobs - while the
Chinese use currency manipulation to keep the balance of value on their
side. Our trade deficit with China is enormous and growing. The Chinese
are eating us for lunch and we don't even recognize it.

Pretty soon we won't be able to afford the expensive military we
maintain (or try to) and we'll be facing the same gulch the Soviets
faced trying to keep up with Reagan's drunken spending spree.

Short-sighted stupidity of US gov't and corporations whose first
responsibility is to shareholders, not the country in which they reside.

Whoops.

jps