Every time you purchase a product, you are voting for the company that makes that product. If you buy a roll of toilet-paper from Wal-Mart, you are voting for their right to pay low wages, discriminate against women and insure that few of their employees have medical care.
And by the way, they do have that right. The rules of the marketplace are pretty clear. In a free country, they can charge what they want for their products and they can pay as low a wage as they can get away with1.
But refusing to buy their products, is also free enterprise.
Isn't there something wrong with the idea of not buying the cheapest product available?
Won't you burn in hell or something?
Ok, even if it's not a sin to pay more than you have to for a product, isn't it a little stupid?
The answer is that there is more to economics2 than the cost of a roll of toilet paper.
Personally I do not want to live in a Wal-Mart world. People who work in dead-end jobs make lousy neighbors. They work too long and too hard. They are grumpy and hard to get along with. Their children grow up undisciplined and ill-educated. And that makes my own life poorer.
And if all of that were untrue, the final argument is that it is simply unfair. A fair days work deserves a fair days pay.
Wal-Mart exports their philosophy to their suppliers. By pushing for lower and lower prices they are creating a whole group of companies who are forced to screw their own employees in order to stay in business.
And someday, if I need a job, or my kids need a job - Wal-Mart will be waiting.
These are the real costs that we pay each time we buy that "less-expensive" product.
Economically speaking - it's a lousy deal
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1 In theory, the minimum wage would put a bottom limit on the wages they can pay, but in the real world, the minimum wage is usually so low that it makes no difference. If it made a difference, it wouldn't pass.
2 The word "economy" comes from the Greek word 'oikos' (house), and 'nomos' (manage); so "economy" really means managing our home. You might stretch the meaning to include taking out the trash and paper-training some corporate puppies.