This may be better in the history forum, but since it touches on political issues I will put it here.
Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the interrelationship between living things and their environment from the individual to the ecosystem to the entire biosphere of planet earth.
I think we should borrow the ecological concept of buffering and apply it to politics when it comes to economic matters.
A large ecosystem that has many individual organisms and many different species of organisms is buffered. This means that a single disruption in any part of the ecosystem will not have a major effect on the rest of the ecosystem. If species A can only eat species B, anything that disrupts species B could have catastrophic effects on species A. At the same time if an ecosystem has only 1 population of species A, then the least little thing that affects that population could devastate the entire species. But if species A can eat species B, C and D, species A will have a better chance of survival should anything happen to either one of species B, C or D. And having several different populations of species A will make that species’ long-term survival in the ecosystem more likely.
If we replace species with business, then we can apply the concept of buffering to the economy. For example, the U.S. has only 3 U.S. owned (or is it 2- I don’t know about Chrysler at the moment) auto manufacturers. This means that if any one of these manufacturers has a problem the entire U.S. auto industry is threatened. The more manufacturers we have the less likely a disruption with any one of them will be catastrophic to the economy. In the same vein the more auto manufacturers we have the more consumer choice there is (we wouldn’t all have to ride around in trucks and SUVs because that is what the big 3 tell us we can buy) and the more chance auto workers displaced from one company will have to find work in the same industry.
Jacksonville is a prime example of a failing economic ecosystem. The history of retail trade here aptly reflects the results of letting a single economic species come to dominate an ecosystem.
5 Stores: Here when I was born in 1968, but out of business before Wal-Mart first opened here in 1987 (stores that I am aware of; there may be others that I am too young to remember):
Grants
J M Fields
Woolco
Sun Discount
Atlantic Mills
10 Stores: Not here when Wal-Mart opened, entered market after Wal-Mart opened but now out of business:
Garden Ridge (a sign posted at this store earlier this summer claimed that a new store will be opened in 2012 but no location or date has been given)
Phar-mor
Drug Emporium
Luria’s
Everything’s $1
Circuit City
Hollywood Video
Uptons
Mervyns
Blockbuser
15 Stores: Here before Wal-Mart opened but now out of business:
Montgomery Ward’s (Originally a Sears-type store but it became Jefferson Ward’s, a Kmart-type store just before Walmart opened then it left the market and later returned as a JC Penny-type store and then left again. The Swiss Colony now owns the name but it does not operate as a brick-and-mortar store anymore)
Pic-n-Save
Zayer’s/Ames
Standard Sales/Leeds/Service Merchandise
Diana Shop, Strawberry Fields, Jean Nicole (shared a parent company)
Western Auto
TG&Y, McCrory, Murphy’s/Murphy’s Mart (shared a parent company)
Revco
Coconuts Tapes and Records/Coconuts
Standard Brands (appliance store)
Woolworth
Count Sears/Kmart count as loss of 1 store due to merger
2 stores: Here before Wal-Mart opened, closed then reopened and closed again:
Jefferson Ward’s/Montgomery Ward’s
Linens n Things
16 Stores: Entered the market after Wal-Mart opened and still open:
Big Lots (operates under the dame Odd Lots and McFrugal in other parts of the country; has fewer stores now than it had at its height)
Dollar Tree
Target
Best Buy
HH Gregg
Kohl’s
Bell’s/Bell’s outlet
Auto Zone~
Pep Boys~
Advanced Auto Parts~
Sports Authority# (closed 1 of its only 2 local stores in 2010)
Gander Mountain# (has only 1 store)
Dick’s Sporting Goods# (has only 2 stores)
Pet Supermarket (1 store)
Petsmart
Petco (2 stores)
6 Stores: Here when Wal-Mart opened and still here:
Sears/Kmart
Wallgreens
Eckerd’s Drugs/CVS
JC Penney’s
Family Dollar
Eagle Dollar/Dollar General
3 Stores: Specialty stores (compete with Wal-Mart in a limited number of product categories) that have opened since the 1st Wal-Mart and still open:
Michael’s Craft and Decorating
A.C. More (only 1 store)
Bed Bath and Beyond
4 Stores: Specialty stores open before Wal-Mart but now closed:
Old America Store (general arts and craft and home décor)
Wacamaw (arts and craft, home décor, kitchenware).
Let’s Cook
Rolling Pin
2 Stores: Upscale stores, not direct competitors with Wal-Mart still present:
Ivey’s/Dillards
May Cohens/Maison Blanche/Gayfers/Belk
2 Stores: Upscale stores, not direct competitors with Wal-Mart out of business:
Furchgott’s
Jacobsen’s
# Stores like Zayer’s, Pic-n-Save and Western Auto sold guns and ammo. Both Gander Mountain and Sports Authority sell guns and ammo. But since Walmart no longer sells guns or ammo and Kmart stopped selling guns and ammo once it merged with Sears (I don’t know if Sears still sells guns or ammo), there has been a net loss of stores that sell guns and ammo in my local market since Walmart first opened.
~These stores have partially replaced Western Auto but because of their small size you would need one of each to match the size of a single Western Auto store. Because of that product and brand selections have diminished since Walmart came to town. Furthermore, Kmart has mostly done away with auto parts and has closed its auto service garage since the merger with Sears. Also, JC Penney’s has closed its only auto center in town.
Great comparison.
Thats why when I tell people that you think for one second that we are getting more access and economic opprtunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River we are getting less.
And its happening with legislative protectionism.
2011-364-RAM
2010-675-USS Adams
2010-604 Shipyards/Landmar
2010-239
Palms Fish Camp?
2011-560-Shipyard
Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier-Redman?
Hogans Creek-Gaffney?
FIND subcommittee meeting at 9 4Th floor city hall open to the Public. Topic canoe and kayak launches. This is where your future can be decided.
So will Walmart control the kayak launches?
Quote from: Noone on August 31, 2011, 05:30:38 AM
Great comparison.
Thats why when I tell people that you think for one second that we are getting more access and economic opprtunity to our St. Johns River our American Heritage River we are getting less.
And its happening with legislative protectionism.
2011-364-RAM
2010-675-USS Adams
2010-604 Shipyards/Landmar
2010-239
Palms Fish Camp?
2011-560-Shipyard
Promised 680' Downtown Public Pier-Redman?
Hogans Creek-Gaffney?
FIND subcommittee meeting at 9 4Th floor city hall open to the Public. Topic canoe and kayak launches. This is where your future can be decided.
So will Walmart control the kayak launches?
I think Walmart’s goal is to control everything. Walmart is now the biggest non-government employer in the country. When Walmart goes bankrupt the politicians it owns will say the company is too big to fail and the bailout will make the one for Detroit look like a pittance.
These large corporate entities have become one of the big reasons we have no jobs here in America. We will not get away from this until we realize that we must start paying more for our stuff...we live the cheapest life in the world...dollar stores galore...full of stuff that's cheap and not made here in our country. Jobs are needed but not at the hands of corporate America...they could really care less about the country and its citizens..just their bottom line. Smaller stores owned and operated locally is the only way out of this mess corp. America has put us in. Also i see so many people that closed their business because so many were running their business on screwy rules...lines of credit for this and that and the other...ridiculous. it's like going to the pawn shop every week just to pay the light bill.