Bethune Catholic

There is a discussion here and here about buying at discount stores. (Discussion starts about buying at a "Goodwill" or thrift shop and migrates to the Wal-marts of the world). It finally becomes a discussion about buying Chinese goods and how small family businesses can compete. More discussion about that topic (and the ethics of a Catholic store buying Chinese goods) here.

I have never had a problem shopping at thrift stores. Part of "Goodwill's" mission is to provide a place where people can learn how to work retail, not just to provide quality used products to the less fortunate. With a large family and one income, even in better economic days, I never felt any guilt shopping at a Goodwill.

Now, Wal-Mart is a different story. Wish I could say I never shop there, but again, today's economy sometimes makes these decisions difficult. I remember when at the entrance to Wal-Mart there would be a huge sign proclaiming "Proudly Made in the USA". Now the sign is gone and very little there doesn't come from China. I am glad that there is no Wal-Mart too close, but even so we still shop there.

You can read about the concerns over toothpaste, pet food, and produce now coming from China and other places overseas. America can't compete on those prices, but it is a product of 'we want everything now'. We don't care if its junk as long as we can have it now. We are materialistic. Yet we don't want to pay much either.

Now there are a couple ways I could go on this post now. One way is talk about what we are trying to do at Bethany. Or I could very easily go into government control of say healthcare (I want everything now and don't want to be bothered with the details, so government can control all aspects of my life.) or I could talk about the book publishing business and how discounts, large distributors, and the like contribute to the demise of small independent publishers like ourselves .

However, I have run out of time this morning, so I will continue the discussion over the next few days, hitting these and other topics.

Oremus pro invicem!