Quote:
The true democracy of America is the consumer dollar though, and millions have voted the likes of Wall Mart and Home Depot into the positions they enjoy.


Sadly I am seeing a very bad part of this. The area of town I live in is pretty new. About probably 10 or so years ago, some large companies came through, bought up tiny pieces of land from mostly farm owners and other people, and started then reselling the land out to large commercial developers and also to large home builders. In came the home builders to develop the land into communities, and then came in the large commercial chains to build their stores. The price of the land, and also the shop space was set at such a high price, no local business could afford such prices in almost all cases. Contracts were written by the land owners that insured that other companies couldn't come in, buy a building, then lease the space back cheeper.

Average price for a square foot of space is $25. Areas of town here that aren't so new are much closer to $10. At the price of $25, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowes, and so on have no problem affording it. Where as some of the local places that try usually close quickly, or are confined to such a small space as to be useless. A local hot wing store that opened has room for 4 tables for customers to sit at. The only sizable locally owned restaurant I can think of our here is a sushi place, and they have another store to help their bottom line in a part of town with much lower retail prices.

In the end, beyond lack of local selection, I fear it will just end up ruining much of the town. Since there is plenty of land still to the east and north of the city, it will continue to expand, driving growth out of the central part of town, and leaving abandoned neighborhoods with housing values plummeting. I'm already reevaluating my house purchase on the eastern side of town with the new growth push rapidly to the north. I fear once the developers leave this area and keep commercial contracts still stuck at forcing $25 sq/ft prices, values will end up falling quicker then I can pay the house off. The new aspect will wear off, the smaller stores in the shopping centers will be closed, and the place will be abandoned. Even WalMart here has closed stores leaving derelict buildings to sit, as they moved the resources from that area to a newer area.

Your statement is true, people voted them into these positions with their dollars. And now, they are running rampant, enjoying a massive profit surge from things like this, and in the end screwing over the local city residents. Many of the big developments have been started by WalMart and Home Depot here, with them turning around and reselling space on what is their property for other retailers.