A strict separation of state and economy sounds nice, but it’s complete hogwash. Not only won’t it ever happen, it CAN’T ever happen. Private enterprise has always relied on the state to remain afloat, through subsidies, bail-outs, unfair trading conditions imposed on other countries, adjustments to the currency, and military interventions. Without these “market distortions”, the whole system would have collapsed long ago. The answer isn’t to acquiesce to the ideological fantasies of those who hypocritically talk about “free markets” - fantasies that are never going to come true - it’s to restructure the whole society so that resources are in the hands of the people rather than concentrated in those of a relative few.

And I agree with HR’s assessment of small businesses, generally. As the co-owner of a small construction business which chose to be union from the get-go out of principle, I find that it really pisses me off to observe other small construction companies get ahead by expoliting the workers. We barely get by, and believe me, there’s no government subsidy, new truck or vacation or house in the picture, but the other guys are seemingly living the high life. It sure would be nice to have a level playing field that was based on workers’ rights and good pay and benefits. I don’t know if we’re going to make it, but we figure if you can’t do it right, you shouldn’t do it at all, and coming to it as working people ourselves, we understand about being exploited by the boss.

A. Buy Indie (http://www.buyindie.net)

Anyone can get involved.. every dollar is a vote.

Go on, love your cheap imported goods, but please try not to be blind to WHY you get these goods, or WHAT the effect of big box is on the local economy.

Your claims of how much you “know” and how much you “have seen” are belied by your ignorance of what is going on. Whether you like one side or the other, it is stupid for you to talk like corporate welfare is not going on.

I grew up in a rural area where the livestock industry and the Chamber of Commerce ruled absolutely. The local merchants tended to look down their noses at customers who were not members of the old local ruling elite. They were also among the first to oppose bond issues to fund public services, particularly schools. Additionally, they paid the lowest possible dollar for employee wages, with NO benefits. As a result, my opinion of the Chamber and its members was formed early. Nothing since has made me change that opinion.

Following graduation, I moved to a metropolitan area and enrolled in a public university, which in those days was easily affordable for a working-class kid like me, willing to work part-time. The hard part was meeting the scholastic requirements for acceptance. Even failing that, almost anyone could get accepted by a state college, even cheaper, or a junior college, practically free and, for most, the best way to complete lower-division classes before advancing to a 4-year college. During that time, I worked for small businesses. The experience reinforced my earlier opinion, as I constantly heard the bosses’ cry about losing money, or employees tapping the till, not being able to afford raises, not being able to afford benefits as basic as sick leave and vacation, even as they bought new vehicles, new toys, new houses, and basically lived as minor lords of the manor. I vowed then to avoid small businesses, or business in general as a means of employment following graduation. I also avoided small business like the plague when making purchases, since now I had access to real stores, like Sears and Penneys, which sold goods at reasonable prices and which paid a living wage, with benefits, to their employees.

As time went by, I welcomed big box stores, like Price Club, and the various home supply stores. I encountered my first Wal-Mart in 1990, and was delighted. They sold the same imported goods proffered by the vaunted small businesses, but at a price I could afford … and they treated their employees no worse than the small-business “saints”, who would hire part-time to avoid paying benefits, who “let go” employees after 5 months and 29 days for the same reason, and who expected employees to arrive early and work late, with no compensation for the extra time put in. You were off the clock when the business closed, even though it might take a quarter hour or more per shift to count the change, bag it up and lock it away, turn off the lights and lock the doors.

More time went by, and I noted that most elected local government officials – you know, the ones who use public (your tax) money for airports and stadia, which primarily benefit the business community, and who cut deals with outfits like Wal-Mart – were small business owners, or self-employed professionals, like doctors and lawyers. An example of the willingness of small business owners willing to do anything for a buck.

I also began to wonder how outfits like Wal-Mart could find employees if the saintly small businesses were doing such a fine job of providing employment in the areas where Wal-Marts went. I concluded either that Wal-Mart imported all its employees (unlikely, given what they pay), that unemployment was high in the wonderful world brought to us by small business, or that people working for our illustrious small businesses saw even the lousy wages and benefits of Wal-Mart as a step up. I suspect the latter.

So, small business owners, don’t look for a damned bit of sympathy for me, and there are plenty who share my opinion of you. It just aint there. I hope that Wal-Mart gets its ass kicked, and hard, for the way it treats employees, but I hope the same thing happens to whining small business owners … you’re just as bad, or worse, given your numbers.

The answer is ‘limited government.’