Category: default || By jt3y

News and notes you may have missed:

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College senior and White Oak native Adam Striegel has secured a piece of immortality. A previously-unknown species of amphibian is going to be named for him.

While on a field trip in the west hills with a geology professor, Striegel spotted an interesting fossil and showed it to the instructor. The rock, which was examined by experts at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, was identified as the skull of a salamander-like animal that probably lived about 300 million years ago.

More in Bill Zlatos' story in the Tribune-Review and in this press release from Pitt. (Standard disclaimer: I do not speak for Pitt, and Pitt does not speak for me.)

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Mark Stroup passes along links to pictures of signs that were photographed during a summer walking tour of Braddock, along with news (via Ann Belser in the Post-Gazette) that a group of buildings dating back to the 19th century are about to be demolished.

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PBS's always-excellent "Frontline" last night revealed that the star in the Wal-Mart logo is apparently a red one, signifying the retailer's increasing reliance on Chinese-made goods, produced by subsidized labor below the world market price. Jon Lehman was a Wal-Mart manager for 17 years; he now works for a union trying to organize Wal-Mart stores:

(Question:) So who's driving the process? ... What does it look like to you? You've been inside Wal-Mart. You've seen it. You've talked to Wal-Mart buyers; you've seen suppliers; you've heard the story. ... You just said these companies are having trouble bargaining... I mean, it's pretty hard to escape the conclusion, isn't it, that Wal-Mart is a factor pushing the jobs to China?

(Answer:) Absolutely. The company's completed (sic) shifted its focus again from the founding principles of Sam Walton, who, by the way, used to really enjoy and take a lot of pride in what's called the "Buy America" program, "Made in America," "Bring it home to the USA." He was all about going to factories in America that were closing, like a flannel-shirt factory. I remember one example of that. They couldn't make flannel shirts in America as cheap[ly] as they could in China, so the factory closed. Three hundred-something jobs went down.

Well, Sam went to that owner of that manufacturer and said: "Look, if you'll make flannel shirts just for Wal-Mart exclusively for the next three years, I'll retool your plant. I'll give you a loan ... get your business up and going, and you just sell them to us." And that's what he was all about.

I recently heard a speech by Lee Scott, the CEO, and in his speech, what was disturbing to me is he said -- somebody questioned him about China: "Why are you doing so much business in China?" And he just kind of resigned himself to it and said: "Well, it's just the way it's got to be. This is a global economy now. We've got to do business with China. We have no other choice."

What happened to Sam Walton's founding principles? What happened to "Buy America," "Bring it home to the USA," good, American, union jobs? What happened to that?

Even as a supporter of organized labor, I would never claim that all good, American jobs are union jobs. But before you write off Jon Lehman as a crank and a union activist, listen to businessman Tom Hopson, president and CEO of Five Rivers Electronics, the last American owned and operated TV manufacturer, based in Greenville, Tenn. (and by the way, Greene County, Tenn., went for George W. Bush by a 68 to 32 percent margin --- much bigger than the rest of Tennessee --- so it's hardly a hotbed of leftist ideology):

(Question:) Was there something fishy in the competition you saw from China?

(Answer:) This business is a very low-margin business to start with, and we know that. But when we started looking at the competition, and we compared feature levels and screen size, and we know what labor costs are, we know what material costs are, we know all the different shipping costs, we know what that is. So when you started adding all those things together and you said, "OK, Chinese have lower labor; we'll discount it for that labor, but we're going to add shipping costs," and you take all the other costs and add them together, you know there was no way that they could be meeting those price points on a fair playing field.

And I can't explain what was going on, because I don't know what goes on inside of China, but I did know that when you take a tube cost, what it costs to make a cabinet, what it costs for electronics, and you put it all together, you can't sell it for less than you make, and that's what it looked like to us. So that got our attention.

So we got together ... with a law firm and said, "This doesn't look right," and they looked at it, and of course Georgetown Economic Services got involved and looked at it and came back and said: "No, we believe this is a reasonable case. We think that there in fact is dumping going on." ... [...]

(Question:) And where was Wal-Mart in your case? What side did Wal-Mart come down on?

(Answer:) Wal-Mart chose the side of the Chinese. And basically Wal-Mart spent a lot of time and effort at the International Trade Commission hearings testifying against us and our case.

So they're testifying against you. I thought Wal-Mart was a "Buy America" company.

Well, I think that's the old Wal-Mart that we used to know when Sam Walton was alive. I don't think today if you walk in to Wal-Mart and you probably did a count, you wouldn't find a lot of American products in Wal-Mart. I think they've changed that direction over the years.

Since Hopson was interviewed, by the way, Five Rivers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ("Frontline" either didn't know, or the piece was produced before that happened.) The reasons cited? Foreign imports and unfair Chinese competition.

You can read the transcripts of the interviews for yourself. Personally, I avoid Wal-Mart when at all possible, but as other stores fall by the wayside, it becomes harder and harder to do so.

And why do they fall by the wayside? Well, a Chinese businessman who Hopson talked to nailed it: "'Tom,' he said, 'American people say they want to buy American, but,' he said, 'really they don't.' And he said, 'If they did, why would Wal-Mart be the world's largest retailer?' He said they don't buy American; he said Americans really buy price. He said even though they want to feel patriotic, and in their hearts maybe they really want to be that way, he said they really have a hard time when it comes to voting with their pocketbook. And he makes a good argument, actually."

"Frontline" asked the question: "Is Wal-Mart Good For America?" It's good for those Americans who are Wal-Mart executives, I'll bet.

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Meanwhile, speaking of our favorite Arkansas retailer, rumors continue to circulate that Wal-Mart is going to purchase the old Kennywood Plaza shopping center --- or that it already has.

A new variation on the rumor claims that when the Wal-Mart in Duquesne opens, the one in North Versailles Township will be converted to a Sam's Club.

Obviously, Wal-Mart isn't talking --- the company doesn't speculate in public on its store opening and closing plans. Frankly, converting the store in North Versailles to a Sam's Club doesn't make sense, unless the company wanted to build a new, larger Wal-Mart nearby. There isn't another Wal-Mart on Route 30 in either direction until you get to Hempfield Township (though it is increasingly likely that there will be a Wal-Mart soon in North Huntingdon, near the Turnpike).

Another rumor rampant in Duquesne and West Mifflin says that the old Taco Bell and Ponderosa have also been sold, and that the property is going to be converted to a large gas station and convenience store.

None of these rumors are supported by reported sales at the Allegheny County Recorder of Deeds office, nor has anyone gone to the Duquesne planning commission with blueprints or diagrams. Until some hard evidence is produced, you might as well be speculating that little green men are building a Martian spaceport in Dravosburg.

And by the way, feel free to start that rumor next.