Wal mart...good or bad?
The FRONTLINE report about Wal-Mart was extremely interesting to watch. Now I know the question on your mind...."is Wal-Mart good for America?" Well, what do you think? Do you still feel comfortable going into a store that pays there workers 50 cents an hour. This is really all a matter of morals. I feel as though, especially after watching this video, that Wal-Mart is not all it's cracked up to be.
The most interesting part to me is how easily Wal-mart is willing to create jobs for the Chinese sacraficing those at home. For me, watching the part of the video where Tom Hopson talks about how Wal-Mart chose the side of the Chinese over him. Hopson had turned to Washington where he filed a complaint charging the chinese with dumping "high end TV's" onto the American market and selling them at below free market prices. There spokesperson tried very hard to keep neutral comments during this segment of the frontline report, but it was clear they were supporting the foreign suppliers. There is an extremely interesting website that has an article in it called The Walmart You Don't Know. In it they discuss how Walmart is cutting American workers for those over seas. They state, "Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States." This is ridiculous to think about. Millions of people are losing jobs in America and for what? I understand the concept of saving money, but eventually there will be no one buying the products if no one can make enough money to afford it. For such a huge company that makes so much money, its seems ridiculous that they need to cut all these American jobs and leave people with no health plans and no source of income.
As for Linux, well Linux is a computer operating system and its Kernel! Get it? Yea me neither. Ok, well, from what I understand Linux, despite what many think, Linux is a user friendly operating system. On the Linux official website, they state that Linux is: "Apart from the fact that it's freely distributed, Linux's functionality, adaptability and robustness, has made it the main alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other giants of the computing world have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development. More than a decade after its initial release, Linux is being adopted worldwide as a server platform primarily. Its use as a home and office desktop operating system is also on the rise. The operating system can also be incorporated directly into microchips in a process called "embedding" and is increasingly being used this way in appliances and devices." That seems amazing!! Linux is definatly an important part of our technological society today. The Linux distribution is a branch of the linux operating system that is made specifically for companies and organizations. That's really cool that they seperate different Linux programs for different needs. It was interesting to find out that Linux is not the name of the company as Microsoft is. It is strictly the name of the software....THATS IT!!
As for my classmates, I found that Julia's blog did a good job at explaining how the two intertwine. She states that the major difference between the two is, "there is no legal framework so that the people that run Linux have no real ownership of the software, which means bringing in money. Because of this they don’t have complete control of the company, like Wal Mart does. This is the main difference between the two corporations and it creates a more successful, but not as honest or moral while Linux is open and honest to it’s customers including them in the creating process, but it doesn’t make for as a successful business." I agree with her completely because like i said in the beginning it really does have todo with morals and how far one would truly go for success. As Jean states perfectly in his blog as to why Walmart isn't behind bars, "I remembered we live in an arrogant and selfish capitalist society." That is a genius comment that all of us forget to keep in the back of our minds whenever we question anything in this country. Morals is key people.....KEY!!
The most interesting part to me is how easily Wal-mart is willing to create jobs for the Chinese sacraficing those at home. For me, watching the part of the video where Tom Hopson talks about how Wal-Mart chose the side of the Chinese over him. Hopson had turned to Washington where he filed a complaint charging the chinese with dumping "high end TV's" onto the American market and selling them at below free market prices. There spokesperson tried very hard to keep neutral comments during this segment of the frontline report, but it was clear they were supporting the foreign suppliers. There is an extremely interesting website that has an article in it called The Walmart You Don't Know. In it they discuss how Walmart is cutting American workers for those over seas. They state, "Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China. Wal-Mart, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s trumpeted its claim to "Buy American," has doubled its imports from China in the past five years alone, buying some $12 billion in merchandise in 2002. That's nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States." This is ridiculous to think about. Millions of people are losing jobs in America and for what? I understand the concept of saving money, but eventually there will be no one buying the products if no one can make enough money to afford it. For such a huge company that makes so much money, its seems ridiculous that they need to cut all these American jobs and leave people with no health plans and no source of income.
As for Linux, well Linux is a computer operating system and its Kernel! Get it? Yea me neither. Ok, well, from what I understand Linux, despite what many think, Linux is a user friendly operating system. On the Linux official website, they state that Linux is: "Apart from the fact that it's freely distributed, Linux's functionality, adaptability and robustness, has made it the main alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other giants of the computing world have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development. More than a decade after its initial release, Linux is being adopted worldwide as a server platform primarily. Its use as a home and office desktop operating system is also on the rise. The operating system can also be incorporated directly into microchips in a process called "embedding" and is increasingly being used this way in appliances and devices." That seems amazing!! Linux is definatly an important part of our technological society today. The Linux distribution is a branch of the linux operating system that is made specifically for companies and organizations. That's really cool that they seperate different Linux programs for different needs. It was interesting to find out that Linux is not the name of the company as Microsoft is. It is strictly the name of the software....THATS IT!!
As for my classmates, I found that Julia's blog did a good job at explaining how the two intertwine. She states that the major difference between the two is, "there is no legal framework so that the people that run Linux have no real ownership of the software, which means bringing in money. Because of this they don’t have complete control of the company, like Wal Mart does. This is the main difference between the two corporations and it creates a more successful, but not as honest or moral while Linux is open and honest to it’s customers including them in the creating process, but it doesn’t make for as a successful business." I agree with her completely because like i said in the beginning it really does have todo with morals and how far one would truly go for success. As Jean states perfectly in his blog as to why Walmart isn't behind bars, "I remembered we live in an arrogant and selfish capitalist society." That is a genius comment that all of us forget to keep in the back of our minds whenever we question anything in this country. Morals is key people.....KEY!!
posted by Laura @ 6:04 PM
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