11/03/06
It's not just Peak Oil where Dan Ferris is stirring the pot. His thoughts in Thursday's DR about Wal-Mart prompted this pithy comment from Long Emergency author James Howard Kunstler:
There is nonsense and then there is f—ing nonsense.
The damage that WalMart and other chains have done to the social and economic infrastructure of American communities is out-of-this-world.
The "bargain" in "bargain shopping" is that Americans saved nine dollars on a hair dryer while they threw away nine trillion dollars worth of civic amenity. Dan Ferris's bean-counter view of the phenomenon is limited to an extreme.
Dave Gonigam
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The simple fact remains that, insofar as their business model does not involve the lobbying of government, Walmart has done not only done no wrong as its critics insist, but has greatly benefited consumers and employees per Dan Ferris’ comments.
But having said that, however, I have to agree with the spirit of Kunstler’s comments to the contrary. The characterless, big box, fossil fuel dependent, consumption-at-any-cost- mentality, landscape that Anyplace America has become is pretty depressing.
So my question is, how can these two seemingly antithetical ideas be reconciled?
My hypothesis has to do with the fact that, as perceptive as I consider Kunstler to be, he appears to be conspicuously lacking in the area of Austrian economics.
Government misallocates 58% of the national income in the form of taxes and regulatory costs. So perhaps one of the consequences of this enormous misallocation of wealth comes in the form of the types of business models which are able to come about and thrive in the enormously government-distorted economic landscape.
And what we do not see, are the business models and consumer tastes—probably much more to my or Kunstler’s tastes—which would come about in the absence of the government-distorted economic environment.
So, indeed, you can’t blame Walmart—it’s really just a case of “what is seen, and what is unseenâ€â€”and the real culprit is big government, and the economic distortions it wreaks on the economic milieu.
Is my idea just baloney? Anyone care to pick up on this idea?