Very insightful trailer indeed. I am not American. This video let me see a peep of USA.

The video look interesting. Don`t know about the drinking. I hope that it`s not another movie with alcohol and than alcohol rehab and so on. It has to be something funny and interesting, so people can watch and laugh and feel great. Not to with that you have never seen it.

The trailer is good...

The trailer offered me a different perspective of looking at America.

The DVD trailer is interesting. I never thought that there are so many Starbucks outlets.

I am all for capitalism and free-market (Super-Walmarts are amazing (has anyone seen the movie idiocracy)), but not at the price of monopolies and unfair practices. Their needs to be regulation in free-market. Wal-mart has crossed the line and are too heavily involved in predatory pricing.

I can't find the study, but there was a big box retailer (I can't remember the name) that started in Ohio and grew to nearby cities from its original. People really liked the store and often found the prices to be cheaper at first. The researchers went in and analyzed the store's success, and found that when the store moved in to the new market it would price almost 50-70% cheaper than any competitors price, and as soon as the competitors went out of business prices would skyrocket almost 200-300%. This was some time ago, 70's early 80's or so, but Wal-Mart took their strategy from this chain and was shown to use it commonly when it moved into small market areas. Also, there is more than enough information to show that Wal-Mart consistenly underpays it staff and has been subject to numerous gender discrimination lawsuits. I don't think it is a good business, and I just don't like it.

Also, why are mom and pop stores inefficient and expensive? Who says? You will find they are proibably more efficient, because they can not afford to make mistakes where a Wal-Mart can absorb financial mishaps and simply move on. Mom and pop can't afford to play games with their life support.

I can not stand Costco either!

price vs. quality = value - I look for that. I was trying to figure out where is the Trader Joes of clothing? (best value in good food) And I think it's thrift store clothes. I treasure my thrift store clothes because they're so unique and usually of better quality than what is available out there at the mall. But, it's that same kind of value I get from used clothes I get from Walmart on things like office supplies.

I missed that one. But, I saw a great one last week on NOW about Sen. Stevens and his son Ben. Pretty much total corruption in Alaska for many years. I was surprised at the partisanship of the piece. But, I totally agreed with it.

I was totally against a wm being built in Reedley at Manning and the Kings river. I was glad the people there told them no. Reedley is one of the cutest little towns in Fresno Co. and that would just ruin it to have that thing there first thing when you come into town.

PBS had an insightful program on their Nova series regarding WalMart...
one of their merchandising games go like this:
let's say microwaves are on sale...
the microwave in the center isle is VERY cheap BUT not everything you might want in a microwave...well, if that one is so cheap all their microwaves must be less expensive than their competitors, right? nope...the microwaves on the microwave isle are consistantly MORE expensive than their competitors....
some of the bargains at WalMart are merely illusions.
You all should really watch the Nova program...the bait and switch pricing is such a small part of the over all evil.

i have learned a lot of interesting things about the world in which i live through PBS and BOOKS and good coversations.
i don't have any idea who Gaudin at Fresno City is.
you're a gentleman and a scholar Thereminman.

The Walmart controversy is such a complex issue. It just can't be defined with a simple, bumper-sticker phrase. I'll admit there's smarter people than me arguing against Walmart and I sympathize with some of their issues. Like those far-flung factories mistreating their employees. Those workers should be unionized and treated fairly. But, I have to say in spite of the bad stuff about them truth is some of the bargains at Walmart are wondrous to behold. They are so on top of the game when it comes to merchandising. Always a step ahead of the competition. Reminds me of Steve Jobs.

Fezgirl, please accept my apologies. My snarky comment was uncalled for.

To everyone else, I don't particularly like Wal-Mart and I don't shop there (although Super Wal-Marts are really a capitalistic wonder - you can literally buy everything you need from one). I think people should support local businesses, particularly restaurants.

But - and this is the rub - poor people can't afford to worry about these issues. They're busy simply trying to put food on the table. They have to buy items at the absolute lowest price possible. Wal-Mart serves this need better than a local mom and pop because the mom and pop lack the market power of Wal-Mart to drive down priced. Also, maybe working at Wal-Mart is better than not working at all? Believe it or not, some people don't want to be poor and are ashamed to be on the government dole.

My point is simply that it's not a black and white issue. You can't look at it and say, "well, Wal-Mart is bad because it puts mom and pop out of business." On the other hand, maybe mom and pop were bad for the economy because they were inefficient and charged more than needed. Maybe Wal-Mart creates more jobs and reins in inflation. Alternatively, mom and pop kept money around town.

The thing that really gets me is the restaurant businesses in town. I can understand the complexities of Wal-Mart v. the older mom and pops. I get why Wal-Mart might be good. But I cannot fathom why anyone would support a restaurant that is not locally owned. There's no real appreciable difference between the two (in fact, locally owned might be cheaper), except for the fact that supporting a local restaurant is like an investment in your community. The fact that Fresno seems to ignore most of its local gems for some cut-rate chain food disturbs me more than Wal-Mart. But maybe that's just me...

First thing I'd like to say is that I think it's good for folks to discuss this. I wish it was/ hope it is/ hope it becomes part of the mainstream of
folks' conversations around here. I think, often, by the time people start discussing and being concerned about something, we're already in it up to our necks ( i.e. 'climate change'/'global warming').

Kingsburg used to have 2 independent drug stores, now it has one that's barely hanging on in the wake of recent arrivals of Longs and Walgreens.

One of the oldest businesses in Kingsburg (a massive hardware and lumber place) is now gone, in part, because of KMart and nearby-box stores.

Is life better or worse?

Do those of us on super-tight budgets benefit more from saving some pennies on items, or do we loose more in higher paying jobs
and the other benefits of mom & pop stores---not the LEAST of which is
that studies say that 65- 70% of the money spent on local businesses STAYS in the local economy rather than being siphoned off elsewhere...while with chain stores/restaraunts it's more like 35-40%. THAT should make a difference.

Hanford had a big big BIG push to keep a SuperWalmart out of their town. SO far, they've been successful. Hanford has a pretty successful smalltowndowntown that's pretty cool.

I don't think I trust the free market or any sort of letting fate or the economy handle it---I think we should sort of decide what sort of world we would like to live in and try and make it happen.

p.s. to TommyTower----I like hearing your forthright opinions, but please remember to keep it civil, you implied that Fezgrl was parrotting some thing she'd heard---you have no idea whether she's thought about it/ experienced it/ researched it more or less than you have.

Okay, I don't shop at Wal-Mart. However, I can afford not to shop there. Many people cannot.

But you're way off base to say that Wal-Mart is destroying the manufacturing base in this country. That's some liberal psycho-babble that someone told you (perhaps Gaudin at Fresno City?) that you now thoughtlessly repeat.

The truth is that the American manufacturing sector has been going downhill for over 40 years. It's demise was sealed when Wal-Mart was still just a redneck store in the South, moving into rural areas that Sears and JC Penny left behind.

And there never was much of a manufacturing sector here in Fresno county. The few plants that remain will likely leave to other parts of the US. Why? Because Fresno is part of California, and California passes strict environmental and tax laws that make it unprofitable to operate in the state.

If anyone is to blame (not that anyone is, it's simply how economics works - people will generally not pay more than they have to), look at the Unions that made it too expensive to manufacture in America and the Auto/Steel companies that started the idea of off-shoring.

Wal-Mart has its problems. But they are the problems that face every other big box store in the country. It's just that Wal-Mart is bigger, not badder.

how many manufacture/factory based, above average paying jobs are lost in this country for every minimum wage job it creates with it's mega stores.

WAL MART...destroying the maufacturing base / middle class of America one shoddy cheap product at a time.

also, you might ask just how many NIGHTMARE FACTORIES making shoddy cheap products have sprung up in China.

WAL MART = EVIL

if I'd gotten to the wrong video, cuz it was JBiafra speaking mostly
about the poor strategy of invading Iraq---but in the last bits of the clip,
he gets into a bit about supporting the community by giving our commerce to non-box/non-chain stores.
[is that the guy from "hard knock radio" announcing him? It sounds like his voice.]

I don't see how giving someone a job and selling products at rock-bottom prices is exploiting them. I don't know if you've been around this town, but we have double-digit unemployment (and that doesn't count the farm-workers, who are exlcuded from unemployment numbers).

So if it's exploitative to give an unemployed person a job and sell products for less than anyone else, is it not exploitative to keep them unemployed and make them pay more for basic goods?

Just curious...

target="_blank">listen to this Jello Biafra speech from 6 years ago

I haven't seen the video yet, but is anyone else annoyed by all the Wal-Mart talk recently. Clovis is planning on building a Wal-Mart, Kohls, Old Navy complex. Come on Clovis I thought you were better than that ("its a way of life"...right). Fresno is just as bad with I think 2 new Super Wal-Marts (what is so super about them is that they unederpay, understaff, and exploit...create jobs my a**)! Has anyone ever been to the Wal-Mart on Shaw in Clovis. It is like a Tornado went through 5 years ago and nobody is going to clean it up. Gross! There is a reason Wal-Mart is targeting the Central Valley. They know we have plenty of poor people here that will shop there. I can not stand that place.

I haven't seen it, but the closing of locally-owned stores is an issue that people should scare people. But not here. Here it's a mark of progress!

I'm going to purchase this film for showings. Thank you!