It doesn’t take a degree in marketing to see that Wal-Mart has an image problem among the chattering classes. Few corporations in recent decades have been subjected to more relentless criticism, disdain, and fevered condemnation than what is regularly heaped upon the Arkansas-based retail giant. Wal-Mart has become the poster boy for everything
In the 2001 Polish film Quo Vadis , Nero’s minions secretly set fire to Rome to give Nero inspiration for his lousy poetry. When the Roman citizens, who have lost everything, riot, Petronius, the Roman writer and wit, and also Nero’s courtier, delivers a little speech to the crowd: “Citizens, the city shall be rebuilt. The gardens or Lucullis,
The general bias against Wal-Mart extends far deeper than any generic bias against capitalism or against Wal-Mart’s success. The people who hate Wal-Mart seem to have few scruples about shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond or Target. Even if Target enjoyed a market share similar to that of Wal-Mart, it’s difficult to imagine the same culturally based
Bush has declared that ``I don’t think we’re headed to a recession.’’ And repeatedly uses words like “strong” and “robust” to describe the current state of affairs. The Feds will be clinging for dear life to the “official” definition of a recession in coming quarters in order to declare the current depression to be nothing more than a minor
This MSNBC article notes how the price of wheat is being driven up not just by the devaluation of the dollar, but by “increased demand” for ethanol. The article fails to mention that the demand for ethanol has not just magically increased on its own, but has increased only because massive government subsidies have made it more relatively
One of the chief drawbacks of Latin American Dependency Theory (aside from the fact that it immorally restricts trade) is that it renders domestic industries decrepit due to isolation from innovations in global markets. Such is now the case with Mexico’s ailing, inefficient, and outdated oil industry which is controlled by the foundering Pemex.
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.