Buffett to Perform for Wal-Mart Rumor

[Ilph]

Here's the discussion about it

http://www.buffettnews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35805

[Bwana Paul]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

[Quiet and Shy]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

I had the same thought...I know there are a lot of chickens in Arkansas, but Buffett joining a rooster???!!!

Now I've heard everything!

[Ilph]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

I totally missed that when I read it the first time!

[Mo2]

Buffett should be boycotted for doing a concert for Wal - Mart! He is proving to all of us that he does not have a social contains and that all he cares about is money! It is because of companies like Wal – Mart that the US economy is in the tank! By performing for Wal – Mart he is showing that he supports a company that has the most employees living below the poverty line, knowingly hires illegal aliens, ships your American jobs over seas, and that is just a small portion of Wal – Marts ills!

[Desdamona]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

And just which "part" of this rooster is Jimmy anyway?

And please calm down, Mo2. Just because he's taking their money
doesn't mean he supports all they do. Heck, I even own WM stock!

[Bwana Paul]

I actually agree with a lot of what he says.

Wal-Mart is a company that should be totally boycotted. I don't buy their s*** and I hate what they are doing to the world.

Fricken Wal-Mart![/list]

[Bwana Paul]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

And just which "part" of this rooster is Jimmy anyway?

And please calm down, Mo2. Just because he's taking their money
doesn't mean he supports all they do. Heck, I even own WM stock!

Yes, but you are judged by the company you associate with. Wal-Mart exploits people. Plus their customer service and policy is more than s***ty.

What a piece of crap company. Jimmy Buffett is a humanitarian, and Wal-Mart certainly goes against most good morals.

[Sidew13]

I shop Wal-Mart each and every week.

[Bwana Paul]

Is Wal-Mart good for America?

... I don't think Wal-Mart is good for America because what's happening is, yeah, you can get maybe a bag of groceries more, or you might spend $50 at Wal-Mart and spend $50 at Target or Kmart and you might get a few more items at Wal-Mart because of the prices.

But there's a cost to low prices. And the cost is [that] good, American jobs are being shipped overseas. … Many times union jobs are going away, and those same people are having to go to work at Wal-Mart, making a fraction of what they made there and not getting good health care; not getting a good company-paid pension, company-paid health care.

So no, I would say Wal-Mart is not good for America. I think the average person out there that you run into in a Wal-Mart store may say: "Yeah, I love this place, because look at the stuff I can get. Look at the cheap prices." But there's a cost for these low prices, and many people don't realize that.

[phjrsaunt]

Buffett should be boycotted for doing a concert for Wal - Mart! He is proving to all of us that he does not have a social contains and that all he cares about is money! ......... [sic] etc. etc. etc.

Regardless of my opinion about WalMart, what are "social contains?"

[Desdamona]

Tell me a little more about this Rooster...I'd like to meet him.

And just which "part" of this rooster is Jimmy anyway?

And please calm down, Mo2. Just because he's taking their money
doesn't mean he supports all they do. Heck, I even own WM stock!

Yes, but you are judged by the company you associate with. Wal-Mart exploits people. Plus their customer service and policy is more than s***ty.

What a piece of crap company. Jimmy Buffett is a humanitarian, and Wal-Mart certainly goes against most good morals.

Hey, I was first subjected to sexual discrimination and forced
to work unwanted overtime at regular pay by the company and
then discharged with claims that I was "grossly incompetent"!
But I'm not one to cut my nose off to spite my face. I shop there
and am a shareholder.

[Key Lime Lee]

I love when people in a democracy cite communist ideals....

Walmart just happens to be very good at finding ways to beat the competition. If you're willing to pay more for your goods in order to protect American jobs, you're certainly free to do so. But it would seem (judging by Walmart's per quarter profits) that a significant portion of Americans would rather pay lower prices.

This is just how capitalism works - some folks win, some folks lose.

[ZeroDuval]

Who made that last post?

[Desdamona]

I love when people in a democracy cite communist ideals....

Walmart just happens to be very good at finding ways to beat the competition. If you're willing to pay more for your goods in order to protect American jobs, you're certainly free to do so. But it would seem (judging by Walmart's per quarter profits) that a significant portion of Americans would rather pay lower prices.

This is just how capitalism works - some folks win, some folks lose.

And some do BOTH!

[Ilph]

Buffett should be boycotted for doing a concert for Wal - Mart! He is proving to all of us that he does not have a social contains and that all he cares about is money! ......... [sic] etc. etc. etc.

Regardless of my opinion about WalMart, what are "social contains?"

My thoughts exactly

[Bwana Paul]

And some person in Communist China gets 4 dollars a day.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart is generally NOT the lowest price, as they were exposed. Furthermore, talk about horrible customer service.

I won't shop there.

[Lightning Bolt]

I love when people in a democracy cite communist ideals....

Walmart just happens to be very good at finding ways to beat the competition. If you're willing to pay more for your goods in order to protect American jobs, you're certainly free to do so. But it would seem (judging by Walmart's per quarter profits) that a significant portion of Americans would rather pay lower prices.

This is just how capitalism works - some folks win, some folks lose.

And some do BOTH!

We'd like to think we're winning (and in the short-term, we are).

Wal-Mart makes its profits selling cheaper-to-produce foreign-made goods.
Just wait for the U.S. protectionist trade policies to kick in later this decade,
and we stop stocking our shelves with S.E. Asian/Chinese-made goods,
and you'll see how Wal-Mart won't look so hot

[Bwana Paul]

Exactly, Wal-Mart is beneficial in some ways...but, short term.

Selling crap to the public, and eliminating American jobs will catch up to them.

[Quiet and Shy]

Interesting perspectives. Although a Chinese person may only get $4 a day, that may be sufficient to survive in China where the cost of living is vastly different from here. That said, their quality of life isn't going to be close to typical US levels, and labor laws are almost non-existent there (e.g. length of work day, safe working conditions, etc.) The fact that the Chinese currency is kept artificially low also provides an advantage beyond the low labor prices. Given all of this, I am generally supportive of companies that can find more efficient ways to compete, but Wal-Mart, to me, has crossed the line.

I don't recall the exact details, but there was a good PBS Frontline program a while back asking the question "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" In addition to the previously posted concerns, the program gave examples of how Wal-Mart has been caught in (at the least) unethical and (probably) illegal trade practices to force competitors out of business. Wal-Mart has been taken to court (and I believe penalized) for trying to undercut the last US manufacturer of large-sized TVs.

Bottom line for me, compete, but don't cheat. In fact, I believe WM just fired a bunch of execs for doing just that. And then, of course, there was the 60 Minutes story about the daughter of the WM exec who paid a poor student to do her homework and get her through USC. I'm fortunate to be able to shop at places other than WM -- besides, their long, long lines at checkout drive me nuts! It will be interesting to see if the US Government ever goes after WM for monopolistic practices -- not so much on the sales side as on the purchasing side (which then enables them to underprice others).

Oh yeah...Jimmy...he loves to perform, playing shows keeps him in the game, and well, he's got to live with the decisions he makes. Not my favorite company, but he could do much worse things.

This talk that Jimmy contains a rooster is really messing me up, though!