Sustainable Development : Economies of scale |
Attempts to implement plans of development that encourage the sustaining and growth of small business and agricultural operations; agri-business versus family farms, small entrepreneurs versus Walmart-type big box store merchandising, independent producers and marketers of every kind of product and service.
1/5/09 "IF THESE BANKS WERE TOO ENORMOUS TO ALLOW TO DIE IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD WE BE PAYING THEM TO GET EVEN LARGER?" Rob Larson's plaintive question about the $700 billion bank bailout, which is not producing the promised stimulus to the economy but has rather been hoarded by banks as hedges against their own solvency or, more to the point, to provide the cash to allow them to acquire ownership of their competitors. Larson calls it "laughing all the way to the bank," but there may be little laughing in the land as the holiday mortgage foreclosure that kept many people in their homes is now expiring. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/116859/why_big_finance_is_laughing_all
INTERNATIONAL
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Analysis & views: 4/14/06 It is not clear whether the biofuel revolution will benefit small farmers or be another aspect of agribusiness domination: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0414-22.htm 3/27/06 Bio-diversity conference in Brazil rejects plan to continue use of Terminator or "suicide" seeds from whose plants farmers could not re-seed further crops: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0325-01.htm 3/27/06 Wal-Mart expanding its presence in China: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/41382.html 3/22/06 Wal-Mart in Mexico (Walmex) has big expansion plans for 2006: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14154453.htm 3/17/06 Britain's largest grocery stores escape the control of the country's Office for Fair Trading: http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=74&ItemID=9915 2/8/06 WTO votes to overturn European ban on bio-tech production in international trading; U.S., Canadian and Argentine agri-business to gain: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020701184.html?referrer=email
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NATIONAL
Websites Co-operatives websites: http://www.webworldindex.com/phtml/Business/Cooperatives/ National Family Farm Coalition: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Websites: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/guides/business/entreprenweb.html Wal-Mart Watch
Analysis & views: 1/5/09 "IF THESE BANKS WERE TOO ENORMOUS TO ALLOW TO DIE IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD WE BE PAYING THEM TO GET EVEN LARGER?" Rob Larson's plaintive question about the $700 billion bank bailout, which is not producing the promised stimulus to the economy but has rather been hoarded by banks as hedges against their own solvency or, more to the point, to provide the cash to allow them to acquire ownership of their competitors. Larson calls it "laughing all the way to the bank," but there may be little laughing in the land as the holiday mortgage foreclosure that kept many people in their homes is now expiring. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/116859/why_big_finance_is_laughing_all 11/25/08 Will Earl Butz be appointed the next agriculture secretary? Not literally, as the Nixon-era head of the USDA, infamous for his support of agri-business and "starring" in the movie King Corn, died earlier this year. However, a congressman from Minnesota, Collin Peterson, is now under consideration for this cabinet post. Peterson is by far the member of Congress with the largest campaign contributions from corporate agriculture interests and his views on agriculture are little advanced beyond those of Butz, whose mantra to farmers was "get big or die." http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/24/134851/03 2/16/08 Plans to merge Delta and Northwest Airlines proceed as pilots of the two companies agree to "blend." 2/4/08 Will America soo owe its soul to the company store? The Wal-Mart store, that is. Proposal by former Bush economic adviser to allow retailers to open their own money-lending operations heads the list of Naomi Klein's continuing studies of "disaster capitalism," the world-wide practice of engaging in opportunistic schemes to take advantage of any crisis. Just so, various business interests in the U.S. are proposing "solutions" to the country's credit crisis by advancing their privatization agenda. http://www.countercurrents.org/klein290108.htmhttp://www.countercurrents.org/klein290108.htm 8/12/07 Arrival of big box stores in Bangor and Brewer Maine is expected to reduce consumer prices in those towns. http://www.bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=153016&zoneid=500 6/19/07 Wal-Mart struggling to get a toe-hold in California, where expansion opposition in communities is preventing its development as in the South. http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0619/p02s01-ussc.html 2/19/07 Smaller is better? GM and Chrysler are not having it, as they begin "serious" talks of merger. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070219/AUTO01/702190365 2/15/07 To merge or not to merge; that is the question: In the wake of the latest "crisis" in the automaking industry, that of DaimlerChrysler, a New York times analyst suggests that the industry should have learned one "lesson" for this decade: that, faced with a struggle to survive in the world auto economy, firms are better off "going it alone" than they are in mergers whose "economies of scale" don't work to their benefit. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/business/15auto.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 1/25/07 Big box stores like K-Mart and Wal Mart remain empty in Greater Cincinnati as their Wall Street owners wait for new retailers to move in. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070125/NEWS01/701250397 10/7/06 Solo medical practice becomes increasingly difficult in today's health care economy. http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061007/REPOSITORY/610070306 8/6/06 Kaiser hospitals meet the Hmong farmer, as the hospital chain begins serving vegetables grown by local farmers in northern California. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/06/MNG43KC7751.DTL 8/1/06 Community banks may go the way of local hardware stores if Wal-Mart's plan to open full services banks is accomplished. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0731-31.htm 5/24/06 Opinion: Has Wal-Mart really gone green? http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/24/DDGN0J0DHM1.DTL 5/9/06 Don't laugh and don't get addicted to emotions http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0508-04.htm 4/11/06 Wal-Mart promises regular regulators it will not open branch banks: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/11/business/11bank.html?th&emc=th 4/7/06 Court rules against Wal-Mart and allows California city to ban big-box retail stores from selling groceries: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/ccalifornia/14278485.htm 4/6/06 It's not just that Wal-Mart is going organic. Ben and Jerry's and other "socially responsible" consumer entities being bought out by large corporations: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0405-21.htm 4/1/06 As fast food giants like McDonald's and Taco Bell attempt to target a college age clientele, students in farmworkers in Florida and elsewhere are targeting them for protest. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0401-27.htm 3/28/06 Pennsylvania proposal, like those enacted by other states, would force Wal-Mart and other large employers to increase spending on health insurance: http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_437465.html 3/28/06 Wal-Mart's plans to go into banking business are met with opposition from a diverse resistance movement: http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2999 3/28/06 In California, demise of older malls creates new opportunities for smart growth development: http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=5323&state=5&res=800 3/27/06 Small farm organizations assert that USDA-backed program to implant microchips in farm animals to monitor meat contamination would work to the benefit of large factory meat producers: http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/33967/ 3/18/06 Legislators in two states draw up bills to block Wal-Mart banks http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/149044/ 3/18/06 Maryland bill would block Wal-Mart from openng bank branches in their stores http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2006/03/13/daily34.html?jst=b_ln_hl 3/14/06 Most farm subsidies go to largest farm operations: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0314-20.htm 3/12/06 Co-Op America Quarterly report on the effects of Wal-Mart on local economies http://walmartwatch.com/img/documents/CoOpAmericaWalMart.pdf 3/11/06 Lawmakers join the torrent of opposition to Wal-Mart bank plans http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-06031101iness-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true 3/7/06 Wal-Mart uses bloggers to help improve public relations: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/technology/07blog.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1141733607-DPx0Utk/OiWjwqr2T83nkg 3/6/06 Ma Bell revived as A.T.&T. acquires Bell South: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/06/business/06phone.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin 2/20/06 Wal-Mart builds Crystal Bridges museum in Arkansas, stocks with expensive paintings and enters the tradition of art patronage of the wealthy: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0219-30.htm 2/20/06 Maryland may extend terms of Wal-Mart bill 2/16/06 Washington Gov. vows Wal-Mart health care bill 20060217:MTFH72657_2006-02-17_00-35-46_N16129895:1 2/15/06 National Family Farm Coalition wants New Deal style loan assistance and government establishment of food reserve banks, not subsidy handouts to agri-business: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0214-04.htm 2/14/06 Big doesn't have to be bad: Costco offers "blue" alternative to Wal-Mart: http://www.buyblue.org/node/721/view/summary 2/13/06 Critical Documentary on Wal-Mart stirs Berlin Film Festival: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0212-05.htm 2/2/06 Marcy Kaptur: saving small farmers: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060206/kaptur
Books: Review: The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Wal-Mart's Everyday Low Prices is Hurting America http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/exclusive_jonathan_rees_reviews_the_bully_of_bentonville/ The Rise and Fall of Oldsmobile, a Division of General Motors (a company destroying one of its own sub-divisions): http://www.project2000.biz/
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Analyis & views: 2/20/06 Citrus groves face an uncertain future http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive4/022006/tp6de6.htm?date=022006&story=tp6de6.htm
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FLORIDA LOCALITIES
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3/13/07 Fire set by a couple at Wal Mart in Palm Coast FL raises a question about connections with a string of arson attacks on the store throughout the country. http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD04031207.htm Miami: 2/10/07 "Hodgpodge of small growers" of market niche products like bamboo is rising among the corporate tree farms and tropical fruit production that dominate agriculture in south Miami-Dade County. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16667253.htm Tallahassee: 7/15/06 Putting a muzzle on the 500 pound gorilla: in a surprise move, Leon County board refuses to allow Wal-Mart to build a store larger than the vacant Sam's Club building it will replace. http://www.tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060714/NEWS01/607140324/1010 Ocala: 4/28/06 Ocala now considering a scaled-back version of a project, linked to the Target Company, for a distribution center located at the airport: http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/NEWS/204270390/1025 Orlando: 4/25/06 Dairy farming in central Florida a dying industry as farmers find their land more valuable for development than are their herds: Cape Coral: 4/13/06 Plans to build a Cape Coral mall are stymied by inability to acquire necessary land to build roadway access: http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060413/NEWS0101/604130410/1075 Ft. Lauderdale: 4/3/06 Residents of Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood resist "big box condo" development: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14248629.htm Orlando: 4/3/06 Building of 14,000 square foot mansion on east shore of Lake Butler in Orange County meets local opposition: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-monsterhouse0306apr03,0,5814596.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-orange Gainesville: 2/17/06 Clark Butler's "vision" for development of Butler Plaza: big, big, big! http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/LOCAL/202170337/1078 Gainesville: 2/11/06 Land is sold for SpringHill, massive development off NW 39th Ave. http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060210/LOCAL/202100326/1078/news
Ft. Lauderdale: 2/11/06 City Commissioner who won seat as opponent of big box developers now challenged for re-election on the same issue: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/states/florida/counties/broward_county/13844983.htm Daytona Beach: Palm Coast developer pays $23 million ffor 1.9 acres of oceanfront property, price doubled in a year: http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD01020706.htm
Other information sources
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Wal-Mart in major legal battle claiming copyright privileges for use of the Smiley Face