TWO FROM ALTERNET

The Assassination of Howard Dean

What happened? How could Dean's insurgent candidacy, which had energized and excited voters in every state, come to such a screeching halt?

The pundits claim Dean's "rage" undid him, that voters took a "second look," etc. etc. Nonsense really. The answer is much simpler. Howard Dean was assassinated in broad daylight. Unlike Kennedy's "grassy knoll," Dean's killers are not hiding – it was the Democratic Party itself, and more specifically the Democratic Leadership Council, that successfully went after, and sabotaged his candidacy.

This also includes a pretty good digest version of the history of the DLC, corporate America's stealth organization within the Democratic Party--it's must reading, even if you don't buy the argument about Dean's demise.

Click here.

Remaking America in Wal-Mart's Image

The Safeway, Kroger and Albertsons chains and their subsidiaries claim underdog status, as they grind $10 an hour workers into the dirt. "Wal-Mart is coming, Wal-Mart is coming!" they cry, moaning that the non-union retail behemoth's labor costs are about 20 percent lower than industry norms. Yet, according to the June, 2003 issue of Forbes Magazine:

"The real problem the traditional grocery chains face is weak demand and an inability to raise prices in a deflationary environment – not Wal-Mart pricing pressure. Kroger and Safeway are gaining or maintaining share in about half or more of the top 100 markets where they have a presence. The only two big chains to suffer inroads from Wal-Mart in 2002 were Albertson's and Winn-Dixie..."

The truth is, Wal-Mart does want to take over the world – but so do the managements of its strike-provoking competitors, who swallowed schools of smaller fish to control 70 percent of grocery sales in the top 100 markets. Certainly, Wal-Mart is closing fast, with $53 billion in grocery sales and 1400 "supercenters" in 42 states, but the "real problem" is much deeper than the folks at Forbes can safely grasp without losing their capitalist minds. In the world they have created for themselves, in which corporate death is avoided only through constant increases in dividends, and having eaten nearly all of the smaller prey, the mega-grocers have no one to feed on but themselves – or their employees. They began chewing on the workers in the first week of October – all the while blaming it on Wal-Mart.

In reality, Wal-Mart was simply leading the way down a road that Safeway and Kroger would soon be traveling anyway.

What can I say? Wal-Mart continues to suck, and its suckiness is rubbing off on other retail giants.

Click here for more.

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