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So much for free trade


Pete

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many. For example my friend bought a fishing pole there and some tackle at Walmart and told me what deal he got. I ran the deal by a friend of mine who owns a tackle shop. He checked the numbers for that model, and it was below cost. He said he couldn't even get it at that price

 

Ooooooh Walmart evil.

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So it is ok for Walmart to sell below costs, but not ok for China to sell us solar energy panels below cost. Hypocrisy has it's own elegant symmetry

 

Well of course it's ok for Walmart to sell below costs. They should even lower costs more so that they can expand and grow their business. Just think, if we get enough Walmarts then they can become the new corner/neighborhood store and everyone will be happy.

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In the short term we'll take reasonable steps in the name of protectionism. In the long term China won't be able to artificially keep wages low and dump whatever they want on whoever they want... ultimately the answer to China's "cheating" will be China...am I wrong?

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In the short term we'll take reasonable steps in the name of protectionism. In the long term China won't be able to artificially keep wages low and dump whatever they want on whoever they want... ultimately the answer to China's "cheating" will be China...am I wrong?

Sure, we don't subsidize corn and cotton anymore........oh wait

 

Free trade is a myth ..... free-ish trade is possible between countries of relatively equal technology levels and economies but vanishes the moment one party feels disadvantaged in an industry they consider vital.

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So are you saying Walmart negotiates a price, and the producers sometimes sell below their price point ("dumping on the market below cost")? Thank you for making my point

Nope. What Walmart does is tell companies their price point and the company then develops a separate line for Walmart that uses cheaper materials to get there, or takes a much smaller profit per item.

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Nope. What Walmart does is tell companies their price point and the company then develops a separate line for Walmart that uses cheaper materials to get there, or takes a much smaller profit per item.

 

And regarding the smaller profit per item....why not? It's the McDonalds theory. We'll make less profit per burger but sell a brazillion of them every day. Getting your product into Walmart is a dream for many companies. There was a show on CNBC about Target and manufacturers and clothes designers doing whatever they could to get into Target.

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And regarding the smaller profit per item....why not? It's the McDonalds theory. We'll make less profit per burger but sell a brazillion of them every day. Getting your product into Walmart is a dream for many companies. There was a show on CNBC about Target and manufacturers and clothes designers doing whatever they could to get into Target.

Yep. I believe there was a poster here who/whose company agreed to take just a penny profit so that they could have their product in Walmart because of the volume they'd move.

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