For years I have been talking to anyone who would listen about economic literacy. After reading an essay at Inequality.org though, I've decided I need a new term. Economic self-interest is what I've chosen. Between all the Wal-Mart and economic development reports I've been reading lately, I think its a term that applies to our local situation. I first heard 'economic self-interest' after the 2004 presidential election when the country's poor voted en masse for GW Bush. Then the term was used to question why people who fall into the lowest income brackets would vote for someone whose sole economic policy is tax cuts for the rich. Did their 'values' take precedence over their long-term economic solvency? Or is economics such an obscure discipline for the average individual that they make decisions without clear understanding?
Shopping at Wal-Mart or any other large (big box) chain store is an extension of the principle. On the surface you meet your needs for low prices, but when Wal-Mart's sheer size and low prices drive other stores out of business and your property tax rockets upward, are low prices worth it? When local retail shopping options decline, property taxes go up. If the Walmart is out of county, your property taxes go up due to loss sales tax receipts. Since Wal-Marts doesn't provide comprehensive health insurance (and none for older workers), its county tax payers who shoulder the burden through the county's medicaid bill. Then there's the environmental costs (stormwater) of all that impervious surface.
"It’s Wal-Mart in the role of Adam Smith’s invisible hand. And the Milwaukee employees of Master Lock who shopped at Wal-Mart to save money helped that hand shove their own jobs right to Nogales. Not consciously, not directly, but inevitably. “Do we as consumers appreciate what we’re doing?” Larrimore asks. “I don’t think so. But even if we do, I think we say, Here’s a Master Lock for $9, here’s another lock for $6–let the other guy pay $9.” (The Walmart You Don't Know)
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