4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 13, 2004 OPINION 0 + £uan ln +&dI 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JORDAN SCHRADER Editor in Chief JASON Z. PESICK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE Tax rates were not cut enough." - 2004 Nobel Prize winner in economics Edward Prescott, referring to the Bush administration's tax cuts, as reported yesterday by Agence France-Presse. SAM BUTLER Ti A 1 a Cw i 'Behold Carne, beaci3 -these. 4 c +abkA t.. / X1 I V' G ' ? c...... E i , , 1 Always low prices - always ELLlOTT MALLEN RRATIONAl ExU'BERANCE Wal-Mart's quest for global domination is nearly complete. After having planted its banner on the rubble of every independently owned business in the United States, it is becoming increasingly clear that it has become master of the world of men. The next logical step is to challenge the authority of the immortals themselves. Wal-Mart is constructing its latest superstore less than a mile away from the ancient Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihua- can, Mexico, whose name means "The Place Where Men Become Gods." The superstore chain's divine ascension beyond the con- fines of this mortal realm has begun. The new superstore will compete with the splendor of the Pyramid of the Sun, becom- ing equally prominent in the skyline that has been dominated by the pyramid for the past 2000 years. This has rubbed some residents the wrong way, with a teacher from the area saying that, "What they are doing in Teoti- huacan is destroying Mexico's deepest roots for short-term interests like lower prices." Community activists burning incense and blowing conch shells occupied the town hall and refused to leave until the mayor addressed their concerns regarding this cul- tural imperialism. Sure, Wal-Mart is making symbolic efforts to preserve the culture it is uproot- ing. When an altar dating back before the Spanish conquest was found on the site of the new superstore, planners realized that this could cause quite a stir. In order to por- tray an image of historical sensitivity, the altar will be encased in plexiglass and put on display in the parking lot. Everyone wins: The ancient artifact is safely neutralized and preserved for future generations of shop- pers to passively admire while jockeying for parking spaces. In addition, shoppers will have the opportunity to buy a rubber replica of the pyramid along with other goods at the lowest prices know to God and man, further preserving its cultural, religious and histori- cal significance in the form of a shoddily manufactured trinket. Of course, it's not as if anyone has the clout to stop Wal-Mart's audacious move. With more than 4,800 stores worldwide and annual sales exceeding $250 billion, the chain's economic supremacy is unquestion- able. It employs one and a half million "asso- ciates" worldwide and is rapidly expanding abroad. If it were considered a state, it would rank fifth among China's biggest export mar- kets, surpassing both Britain and Germany. Granted, there has been some success- ful resistance to Wal-Mart expansion in the United States. Residents in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago have put up a fierce fight against the superstore's encroachment into their communities. The National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the entire state of Vermont on the 2004 list of most endangered historic places in the United States in order to impede Wal-Mart's expan- sion. In addition, the company has faced a variety of lawsuits, including a 1998 case in which a jury found that a white Wal-Mart employee was fired for dating a black man and a sex discrimination class-action law- suit involving 1.6 million current and for- mer female Wal-Mart employees. However, resistance abroad has been much less fervent than in the United States, leading to projects like the Teotihuacan superstore. With 633 outlets employing more than 100,000 workers, Mexico is Wal-Mart's big- gest market outside of the United States. The business it does has surpassed that of the entire tourism industry and accounts for about 2 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product. The people of Mexico seem to have dejectedly accepted the chain, with one man quoted in The New York Times as saying, "Sure, I know Wal-Mart is a multinational company, but what are you going to do? That's globalization, and Mexico has to play the game, right? Maybe some of the profit leaves Mexico, but Mexico gets back some foreign investment, right?" His statements are saturated with desperation. He wants to believe that Wal-Mart's unstoppable expan- sion will have positive effects because he doesn't have much power to stop it. And after all, why should he doubt Wal- Mart's benevolence? Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton devotes an entire chapter in his book "Made in America" outlining all of the fan- tastic ways in which Wal-Mart gives back to the community. The specifics are sketchy, especially seeing as Walton explicitly states that Wal-Mart "is not, and should not be, in the charity business," saying instead that the low prices offered to consumers through the wonders of the free market serve the com- munity more than any handout ever could. He did splurge once when he built a first- class exercise facility for Wal-Mart work- ers to show his "sincere appreciation to the associates." Everyone knows that the big- gest demand of workers in the stores isn't fair wages or more tolerable working condi- tions, but free access to a Stairmaster. Wal-Mart's brazen expansion onto the site of the ancient pyramid should come as no surprise. The chain has crushed virtu- ally all competition at home and is facing little resistance abroad, giving it both the strength and the audacity to completely dis- regard anything resembling cultural or his- torical value. Mexico managed to fight off Spain and France when it was in the throes of nationhood. Wal-Mart might prove to be too much of a challenge. Mallen can be reached at emmallen@umich.edu. Fast and loose with our futures SUHAEL MOMIN AN ALTERNATIVE SPIN W hen John Kerry says that "America can do better," he's not lying. Unfortunately, he's not part of the solu- tion - he's half the problem. The American president, arguably the most powerful person in the world, is elected in a phenomenally stupid manner, with little regard to anything of substance. Take for example that prior to the first presidential debate, political analysts said John Kerry's chief problem, and thus President Bush's chief strength, was that Kerry couldn't condense his rhetoric into catchy phrases. Can someone explain to me the benefit of a national security plan that uses parallel structure and alliteration? Of course, during the first debate, Kerry shocked the nation by revealing a new line of snappy one-line punches and mantras. Consequently, his poll numbers went up - not because he said anything of any import, but because people thought he delivered his sound bites in a more convincing tone than Bush. This election cycle, the so-called debates have become nothing more than simulcast stump speeches. Because the candidates cannot directly question each other, the best they can do is play a game of "You lie! No, you lie!" Substance has no place in these debates - it was conveniently neglected in the first two presidential debates and the only vice presidential debate, and it will be neglected tonight. The candidates make unrealistic promises, confident that the debate format ensures they will not be directly questioned. During the debates and on the campaign trail, these presidential hopefuls play a fast-and-loose game with our future, misleading us about Iraq, the economy and each other in an effort to skim a few more votes.' Bush, at his worst, is guilty of simply inventing an alternative reality to suit his ends. Bad facts become good facts; dis- couraging news becomes a sign of hope. On the same day as the last debate, the Labor Department issued a dismal job creation report: Only 96,000 new jobs were created in September. The Bush team immediately argued that this slower-than-expected job growth is a sign of an economy on the rise and that an economy on the rise is a sign of a wise fiscal policy - tax cuts followed by more tax cuts. Nobody at the Bush- Cheney campaign even bothered to address economic facts in the real world; at a very minimum, the economy needs to generate 150,000 jobs a month to merely keep up with population growth. On another note, instead of admitting the Iraq war might have been based on faulty premises, Bush turned the Duelfer report, which argued "we were almost all wrong" about Iraq, into proof that immediate, pre- emptive war was absolutely vital to American interests. How does a report indicating that Saddam was a contained threat who had no weapons of mass destruction, and further- more, no intent to use them against the United States, reinforce the case for a war predicated on national security? Apparently, because firm, resolute leadership is politically pref- erable to flip-floppy indecision, reality is no longer relevant. If the facts don't support an assertion, spin the facts until they do. Not to be left behind, Kerry has made his own ridiculous contentions. Chief among them is a promise that is reiterated at every campaign stop and will be reiterated tonight: Under a Kerry administration, outsourcing will not be a problem. His plan: remove any tax incentives that exist for corporations to move their jobs overseas. While this sounds tempting, he pulls a slick trick on voters who are uneducated about international economics but concerned about job security. Corporations do not outsource labor because they have a tax incentive to do so; they outsource because labor costs in America are incredibly high in relation to the developing world. Economists, the majority of whom .view outsourcing as a positive extension of economic globalization and trade liberalization, have reached a fairly unanimous consensus: Kerry is making a very large, very empty promise. Even Kerry, with his talented team of advisors, must know that he is making a fairly impossible commitment. Nonetheless, because focus groups have con- cluded that standing against outsourcing is politically expedient, substance has gone out the window. Iraq will not suddenly transform itself into a vibrant democracy through blind persever- ance alone. The American economy will not return to the glory days of the past decade if a few tax loopholes are closed. Elections are about choosing between differing ideologies and plans, not between different misrepre- sentations and empty promises. Both Bush and Kerry claim to have concrete, factually sound reasons as to why they deserve the presidency. It is time they were heard. Momin can be reached at smomin@umich.edu. LETTER TO THE EDITOR 0 DPS, 'U' take sexual assault very seriously TO THE DAILY: As a follow-up to the news article DPS sees overall drop in crime (10/06/04) and the letter to the editor Comments reveal 'U' is not taking sexual assault seriously enough IAn/n,7/[)n I cary haa rahte-. the commitment of DPS officers varies depending on the type of sexual assault. In fact, during the interview with the Daily, I was trying to convey that the commitment of DPS officers extends to all survivors of sexual assaults and domestic violence - women, men, children - in connecting them with appropriate resources, such as SAPAC, regardless of whether the offend- er is atranger familv member or other DAILY OPINION: ONE SALTY DOG. AW