posted on Feb, 6 2016 @ 09:45 PM
This may be a fairly long read, and I will not have a TL;DR though anyone else is welcome to make one.
It seems like a whole lot of people do not understand the concept of supply and demand - So I am here to explain what I believe the case to be, and
dispel what I believe to be myths. If you disagree, I'd like to discuss that as well! Open topic, open mind.
Let's get into the meat of this and start with demand.
Demand, in short, is a consumers desire for a product, it is one of two crucial aspects of any economy. In many markets, this is where the entire
process starts. People do not desire to grow gardens - They desire to buy groceries, to buy produce from others.
So, consumers are very important here, as they are the ones with the actual money in their pocket, with a desire for a product. Consumers create
demand in the fact that they do not have something they desire. But what would their money and desires be without supply?
Supply, on the other hand, is a persons ability to obtain or create and then trade, or sell a product which other people desire. Supply is also very
important because it is the other side of this same coin in economics. Supply and demand have a unique relationship to each other in that both must
exist for trade to be successful. All capitalistic/free market economies rely on this relationship between supply and demand.
So, going further than this - Who actually produces that which is sold to other? Where do we get supply, essentially?
Some would say the rich, some people may list some major companies...But how true is this?
How responsible is the Walton family for me having cheetos in my cupboard? What role did they play exactly?
Did they grow the corn which was turned into the crisp?
Did they help in the processing of dairy and other plant products in which are combined to create the final cheese crisp?
Did they help in the process of creating the bag in which carries the cheetos?
The answer to all of these is NO.
The Waltons did not create the supply, nor did they create the demand in any case. The consumers are responsible for demand, and workers in general
are responsible for supply.
Walmart does create a convenient meeting place for a seller to find a buyer, that is all.
So why are huge companies, and billionaires alike praised so often by so many in this country? What did they do, exactly? Plenty of smaller stores
exist in a community before a Walmart comes along and puts them out of business. Plenty of farmers markets and such exist before super-stores come
around.
Now this isn't to say the Walmart alone is entirely to blame for putting others out of business, no, the aspect of "going out of business" is also
attributed to people on all sides of the equation. The consumers are the most important part of any business, and for whatever reason the consumer
chose - The other business no longer viable due to a large enough portion of the "demanders" using their purchasing power to show what is the most
preferred in their mind.
I still do not attribute extreme importance to Walmart, however. People have desired to purchase groceries at a market for a long time, and will
continue to do so for a long time. There is no shortage of people willing to open a store for people to fulfill their purchasing desires. Walmart is
not essential whatsoever - The worker that creates the product is, and the person that desires to buy the product is.
That being said, this next part is where I start to place blame upon Walmart and other huge companies for ills in our economy, including local
businesses failing, including our own livelihoods becoming worse off over the years, including trickle-up economics.
It is my opinion that major corporations have hijacked the system and deemed themselves the most important aspect of the economy. Neither the
producers, nor the consumers of products. The average person is not educated to know how powerful a consumer is, and society as a whole is not the
type to start fighting when life gets hard. We have been put into a position by businesses to "beg" for our very jobs, even if those jobs pay
minimum wage, a wage you can barely live on these days. We have been manipulated into a position where we believe that we cannot afford or find
another way than to buy groceries at Walmart. We have website after website and news channel after news channel saying the economy is down, that
everyone with a job needs to be grateful for that job and that we need to just keep accepting the amazing circumstances we have been blessed with.
This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, really.
WE ARE THE ECONOMY.
No stupid news channel nor stock market exchange can tell us anything about ourselves - We allow it to, for some reason, but it doesn't make it true.
We believe so many things we here in the news and just accept these circumstances as normal. We accept that not being paid a living wage is just
"supply and demand".
Those who create the supply, can also demand. Again, this isn't some corporation, it's not some billionaire, it's not some name brand. We, as the
ones with the money, and we being the ones who do the producing, have infinitely more power than any company could ever hope to have. We are under an
illusion that we do not have this power, we are under an illusion drawn by elites and the rich to believe that we are not the ones in power. That we
have no control, that we must barely make it by and make sure to make every dollar go further by shopping at walmart... The truth doesn't matter when
it's not seen. Ignorance, complacence, denial, apathy, acceptance, there's a lot of reasons that people as a whole do not know their own power...
I could keep going, but for now, I take a pause to see if my message so far has any merit in the eyes of you fellow ATS members. Let me know what you
think.
I hope you all are having a great weekend!
-Deadlyhope.