Lower Prices, Always

Gotta love that WalMart slogan. They do indeed carry the lowest prices, don't they? Here in Elk Grove we've developed a city entirely dependent on the sales taxes generated by these few mass merchants -- the Auto Mall, the WalMarts and the Targets.

The difference with Elk Grove, compared to other cities, is that WalMart didn't have the opportunity to bulldoze the entire city's network of suppliers, distributors, and local businesses that created a diverse, employment-rich local economy. No, we built a city that never had a local economy to begin with and overlaid it with low-wage, low-skilled sales associates at big box stores.

We re-elected Gary Davis to the city council...a guy who wants to bring in 50,000 $55,000/year jobs to the city. The problem is, the only local jobs Elk Grovians have available are working at WalMart or service jobs in support of those working at WalMart. Not a single one able to reach that target wage. The idea that you would pay a little more to keep your neighbor employed is heresy. Not a single Elk Grovian is employed to manufacture any of the products sold in the WalMart.

This is a slow train wreck in my opinion. There is no opportunity anymore for quality made items, not when we demand the lowest prices, always. Either a big box supplier provides volume at a specified price point or the supplier's contract is yanked and they implode, because where else are they going to market their products if not at the WalMart? Product diversity is stymied; we get two suppliers of baby food and only two, and if you don't like it, well, fuck you. A thousand other Elk Grovian mothers will keep buying this low cost shit even if you don't...because it's low cost. They accept the mono-culture of their cheap purchases because they are cheap, and we're addicted to the consumption of large volumes.

50,000 AMI jobs? Gary Davis doesn't have a chance, not with the framework of a spraw-based strip-retail auto-dependent "city" he and his earlier cast of city council members created over the past decade. But hey, he was only enabling us to get what we wanted: Lower prices. Always.