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A letter to the editor from Doug Wood in Scotts Valley
EDITOR,
The Scotts Valley Target debate should focus on economics.
Most of the annual $35 million in sales (Target’s estimate) the store will generate will be shipped overseas — buying design, engineering, materials, manufacturing, packaging, and transportation. What is America’s share?
Global retailers and brands (Wal-Mart, Target and others) have driven the U.S. from supplier to consumer. Negligent Wall Street produced wealth that is evaporating weekly. We have the greatest foreign debt, energy needs and job outsourcing in history. We are witnessing the leveling of the global playing field.
Overseas production destroys countless American industries and causes underemployment of millions of our citizens. Our middle class and poor suffer and struggle with fewer opportunities. Where is America headed?
We have replaced the idea of living wages and affordable housing, once exemplified by General Motors and emulated nationwide, with low-wage employment and exorbitant housing costs. Pursuing quarterly earnings and claims of low prices, we have sold our industrial souls away, replacing quality-driven, innovative product development and manufacturing in hundreds of sectors — including textiles, plastics, machinery, clothing, and electronics — with mass-driven sales targets.
Our “new economy” American biotechnology, software and computer industries are migrating overseas.
America is being sold away, and with growing offshore production, we slowly become less relevant. What will our children have — a minimum wage Wal-Mart or Target job? No, you say, I’m sure there will be better jobs — they’ll get an education and a good-paying career. But with what American company? Producing what?
By allowing Target, an offshore merchandise retailer, in Scotts Valley, we will contribute to the productive decline of America.
There must be better development ideas. There must be better opportunities for Americans than standing in line at a retail store, waiting for a miserly paycheck or a good deal on toilet paper.
Doug Wood, Scotts Valley
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The cheap toilet paper you cite as an example is, ironically, one of the few products still made in America.
The GM comparison is probably not the best given their declining sales and poor quality.
We buy too much crap and most of it is bought on credit. Just look at the tanking credit markets and the growth in the mini storage industry for evidence of both. If you can't pay cash for it and need a mini storage to store it you probably didn't need it to begin with.