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Thank you. I agree with the systemic critiques, I just don't see how they move us closer to a workable solution. This is just more of the division that we do t

Thank you. I agree with the systemic critiques, I just don't see how they move us closer to a workable solution. This is just more of the division that we do to make ourselves feel morally superior. It's the "I don't shop at Walmart like the poor's" mentality that seeks to elevate the status of the critic while ignoring the very real issues that make people want to shop at a giant big box Walmart store rather than their local downtown.

xmprt 5y ago
I can almost assure you that poor people would love to shop at their local downtown if they could but right now with the lack of accessible public transportation and cheap housing near downtowns, shopping at big box stores is the best they can get. Cars are a requirement for living in modern cities if you're poor (with more money you can afford to live closer to work and public transportation). That fact alone is extremely hostile to poor people because it add 100s of dollars to their monthly bills in car payments, maintenance, and insurance.
- iammisc 5y ago
  That doesn't fit in with the empirical data that has shown us that -- country wide right now -- people have fled the cities for the burbs. You can make up an anecdotal poor, but that doesn't mean it matches reality. By and large, those with means have left the city, and it shows
- wutbrodo 5y ago
  > I can almost assure you that poor people would love to shop at their local downtown if they could but right now with the lack of accessible public transportation and cheap housing near downtowns, shopping at big box stores is the best they can get. You don't think people get any value out of a single store, with every product you may want, and much lower prices? This runs contrary to every piece of anecdotal and non-anecdotal evidence I've seen about the way consumers behave en masse. Hell, there's even an upper-income analogue in Amazon's explosive success over the last decade.

xmprt 5y ago

I can almost assure you that poor people would love to shop at their local downtown if they could but right now with the lack of accessible public transportation and cheap housing near downtowns, shopping at big box stores is the best they can get. Cars are a requirement for living in modern cities if you're poor (with more money you can afford to live closer to work and public transportation). That fact alone is extremely hostile to poor people because it add 100s of dollars to their monthly bills in car payments, maintenance, and insurance.

iammisc 5y ago
That doesn't fit in with the empirical data that has shown us that -- country wide right now -- people have fled the cities for the burbs. You can make up an anecdotal poor, but that doesn't mean it matches reality. By and large, those with means have left the city, and it shows
wutbrodo 5y ago
> I can almost assure you that poor people would love to shop at their local downtown if they could but right now with the lack of accessible public transportation and cheap housing near downtowns, shopping at big box stores is the best they can get. You don't think people get any value out of a single store, with every product you may want, and much lower prices? This runs contrary to every piece of anecdotal and non-anecdotal evidence I've seen about the way consumers behave en masse. Hell, there's even an upper-income analogue in Amazon's explosive success over the last decade.