I think that most of us consumers understand how the real world works, at least I hope so. Businesses, well, at least manufacturers, agrigiant cooperative farms, processors of food products etc, all are in business for the express purpose of making money. One of the key rules in business is that all things being equal, the guys that pay less for their product, make more money than the competition. Walmart has been the prime company utilizing this basic law of business to the absolute ultimate. And it has worked. Walmart is the largest retailer in the world, sales reached 500 billion dollars last year. Half a trillion. And all of it sold to consumers at what Walmart advertises to be the lowest price available. Anywhere.
So how do they do it. Buy stuff and pay less for it than everyone else. They used the growing economic upheaval of manufacturing in China and other southeast Asian countries to manufacture products, and buy as much, or in some cases, all, of their production. All in all, a spectacular business model. Except last month, JP Morgan downgraded Walmart, to neutral. Yikes, a business that has performed fabulously for 30 years, is suddenly having some difficulties. Whereas small businesses in America this year have seen the largest growth in just about ever; Walmart is experiencing sluggish sales. Where small businesses have had growth in employment, Walmart has not. Where small businesses generally distribute money around within the community, Walmart takes money and distributes it to foreign businesses and rich Wall Street do nothings.
So what does this one bit of info mean? Well it means that maybe, just maybe, Americans are beginning to see the light, to see the path of their downfall, their imprisonment, their slavery to the whims of their rulers, their deaths at the hands of corporate greed. Maybe. Sales of products via alternative methods such as farmers markets, farm stands and retail Internet sales is growing at rates that make retailers in the world salivate with lust and jealousy. Public sentiment is changing, the populace is slowly becoming aware of the GM food problem, that the greed of big business is the reason for the lowly bumblebees dying, which will cause food prices to increase, and that some of the foods we eat, just might not be good for us as we have been told they were. And all that means that consumers are looking toward alternate methods to feed, clothe and maintain the lifestyles for which they have become accustomed.
According to Food Business News, over 1100 new products, mostly beverages, have been introduced this year alone that use Stevia as a sweetener. Not any of the toxic ones approved by the FDA, but plain old Stevia. The USDA has approved a new label for products that are certified GMO free. They claim that they still believe GM foods to be "safe", however they now have an easily identifiable label that allows their families easy access to purchase non GM products for themselves. Oh, and for you as well. Anyway, the world is changing, maybe the Wall Street do nothings are seeing the tides change. The sad part is that I truly believe that those same do nothings are working hard to figure out how to make money on the farmers market industry. That and local small businesses, and Internet sales, and all the stuff that is making them crap in their pants when other people make money, and they can't get a piece of the pie. They should get into the government sector of organized crime, taxation is the way to do all that.
Think local, spend local, grow as a nation.
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