Shopping At Xmart
My neighbor used to work at a manufacturing plant down the road and recently lost his job. The company he worked for sold the majority of their products to a giant retailer that we will call Xmart, and over the years had been threatened by the giant with cancellation of their contract if they couldn't produce their product at a lower cost. Finally, the company, at risk of losing the Xmart contract, outsourced their manufacturing to China, costing several hundred of my neighbors their jobs. The item that was formerly produced in the US by my neighbor at about $5/unit is now being produced in China at $3 a unit.

Now, everytime I go to Xmart and buy this product, I am saving $2/unit. But what is it costing me?

Well, now, my neighbor is on unemployment, a benefit that I pay for with my tax dollars which are sure to go up as more and more Americans lose their jobs. Also, his children are now receiving subsidized school lunches. His daughter in college is receiving state and federal grants, all of which, I, the taxpayer, am paying for. He is now working part time "off-the-books" and paying no taxes into the system. Since he used to pay about $5,000/year in federal income taxes, a portion of that burden now shift to me! Food stamps, subsidized medical care, subsidized housing, etc. etc. etc.

Now I could go on and on with this list, but I hope you get the point, and I hope you now can answer the following questions correctly:

- Was the $2 savings really worth it?

- Did I really save in the end?

- Do I want my neighbor to treat me the way I have treated him by choosing to shop at a retailer that has no qualms at all in putting Americans on the government welfare rolls?

- Does Xmart care about me or my neighbor, or do they just care about the bottom line?

- Will I shop at Xmart again?