The Lead in the Paint of my Chinese made Toy made your Bridge Collapse

There are 6 miners trapped in a hillside that we truly don't know to be alive or dead.

The are still some people missing from a bridge that collapsed 2 weeks ago.

There is a soldier in Iraq RIGHT NOW fighting for survival from some extremist Muslim.

There are actual news stories being made throughout the country and the world.

And the fact that the Chinese are cutting corners in making the toys that our spoiled children are playing with, and it makes the top story on MSNBC.com.

The same toys that used to be made here in the USA with pride by US citizens who spoke English, and who took pride in the fact they had joined the great melting pot to get away from whatever oppressed their ancestors in their original country of descent.

The same people who refuse to pay an extra $1.24 for a toy made by US workers in the US because it is too expensive.

And yet they allow LEAD PAINT to be put into the mouths of their children because they saved that same $1.24 by buying a Chinese product over a US produced product.

I personally don't have a problem with Wal*Mart, I try not to shop there due to the lousy service you get, but as a whole they have done what capitalism is designed to do, allow those who work their butts off to get rich. Where I do have a problem is with people choosing to shop there solely for the purpose of saving what sometimes amounts to mere pennies. Let's put this into perspective.

At a Super Wal*Mart near my house, they have everything under the sun. Yes, the prices as a whole tend to be cheaper. But how cheap is cheap. You may be saving a dime here or a nickel there, but buy 1 12-pack of Coke, and I bet you lose most if not all of your savings that you achieved with the other items you buy.

Why is that, well soda in our area is ALWAYS the most expensive at Wal*Mart. And when you can buy a 12-pack for $2.50 elsewhere versus $4.59 at Wal*Mart, how much money are you really saving. If shopping at Wal*Mart saves you $2.00 on $100 worth of purchases, you save roughly 2% over a competitor. Add Coke to that equation, and I argue that in reality you didn't save any money, but rather ended up spending more money.

For arguments sake, lets assume that of that $100 purchase, you included 2 12-packs of Coke. (Just for the record, if you drink Pepsi, you deserve pay more for everything as all you need to do is dip your glass in any toilet and drink that to get the same flavor, but I digress) If you buy 2 12-packs, your actual purchases would be $90.82. If you have shopped elsewhere, bought the same 2 12-packs, your total would have been $95.82. Even if shopping at Wal*Mart would have saved you $2.00, and you add that onto your purchase elsewhere, your total would only be $98.82 versus $100 at Wal*Mart, which is 1.18% cheaper at the other store versus Wal*Mart.

Makes you think, doesn't it???

The smartest shoppers use coupons and only buy things on sale from the stores that have the items or brands they want on sale. We shop at Publix exclusively, but when a competitor has Coke on sale, we stock up on that item there.

Not sure if any of this makes sense to you, but it sure makes sense to me.

For now, take care...