Huckabee to Michelle Obama - we need more wal-marts
Pepe Silvia
Posts: 3,758
HUCKABEE: We are back with First Lady Michelle Obama.
Mrs. Obama, I want to talk about one of the elements of Let's Move. It's empowering the consumer to be able to get access to food that is healthier.
OBAMA: Absolutely, right.
HUCKABEE: Now, in some inner cities, there has been problems for people in big areas getting access because neighborhood groceries don't allow some large supermarkets and Wal-Marts to come in and yet, that would open up consumer choices and lower prices.
OBAMA: Right.
full transcript here
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02 ... lle-obama/
Mrs. Obama, I want to talk about one of the elements of Let's Move. It's empowering the consumer to be able to get access to food that is healthier.
OBAMA: Absolutely, right.
HUCKABEE: Now, in some inner cities, there has been problems for people in big areas getting access because neighborhood groceries don't allow some large supermarkets and Wal-Marts to come in and yet, that would open up consumer choices and lower prices.
OBAMA: Right.
full transcript here
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02 ... lle-obama/
don't compete; coexist
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
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Comments
I am curious why people always act like Walmart if the only place in the world that imports goods from China. I mean it is not like the average grocery store isn't selling the exact same stuff walmart is.
Plus people in China need jobs too, probably as badly if not worse than people in the United States do.
I don't think much of your food (if any) comes from China... yes there are other stores that sell chinese goods but that wasn't my point. It isn't even about China. It is about a big-box store that gets cheap imported products to sell to Americans...
Yes chinese people need jobs, too. Because they are now competing in a capitalist world market whereas before over HALF the population were subsistence farmers living an uncomplicated and free lifestyle... but now they are moving to the city to make shoes for $1 an hour.
I'm mind-warping myself to come up with an explanation for why that is... It doesn't matter really it is just an obvious absurdity.
You are correct, most food in a grocery store doesn't come from China, but most other consumer type goods so, so why is Wal-Mart the one most criticized when everyone else is basically selling the same thing.
As far as workers in China only making $1 an hour. Sure that sucks, but factory workers in the United States in 1900 were only making about $400 per year. It took time for workers wages to increase, so why would it be any different for other countries?
because Wal-Mart is the archetype... they're the biggest (by far) and most aggressive. They do the most damage. They deserve the most criticism.
First, your example would mean that a chinese worker today makes LESS than a US worker in 1900 (I don't know if that is the case). Adjusted for INFLATION... how is that not a fucking travesty?
Second, your claim that "wages increase" over time is questionable at best (in the world economy). In the domestic economy yes, but it will be adjusted every 30 or 50 years en masse by revolution, war, recession, disease, etc etc Wages should do the opposite over time in the world market. So the China-man (sorry for the inappropriate nomenclature, dude) who makes $1 an hour today will be replaced by the Nigerian who makes $.50 per hour (adjusted for inflation) in 2020. Why is this a problem? because labor is immobile... for world trade to work labor has to be mobile.
actually your food might come from china:
The amount of food imported from China has grown dramatically in the past decade. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the United States imported $4.1 billion worth of seafood and agricultural products from China in 2006. In 1995, it was $800 million.
Some of the food products that come from China may surprise you. Take an American staple like apple juice. The USDA says 50 percent of the apple juice imported in the United States today comes from China. That's an estimated 161,000 tons of apple juice compared to the 110,000 tons produced in the United States, according to the USDA.
Garlic and pine nuts are also big exports. So are instant coffee and dried berries like the ones found in breakfast cereal.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflif ... index.html
That equals $13.67 of food per year per person in the USA (assuming 300MM people, which is a low estimate I think).
I don't know about you, but I eat that much food in ONE DAY...
so I stand firm, "I don't think much of your food (if any) comes from China"
it depends on what it is, check the fish like tilapia, most are farm raised in china
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
I didn't read the article but I've heard of this push because the complaint is inner city poor people can't get quality nutrition because they only have liquor stores and convenience marts. Instead of pushing for another big box corporation to open shop Michelle Obama should be encouraging minorities to open up mom and pop groceries and get her husband to give grants and tax breaks to do so.
This keeps the huge mega box store out and keeps the profits in the neighborhood.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
So what you're saying is, you didn't read the article which provides information about Michelle Obama's initiative and yet you feel armed with enough knowledge (based on a message board thread headline, it seems) to criticize her efforts?
HUCKABEE: Now, we’re really talking a cultural transformation, not just sort of a program change.
OBAMA: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, this -- the pillars of Let’s Move, you know, attempt to hit on an array of approaches. Information to families so they can make better decisions, you know. Sometimes when you walk into a store, it’s hard to look at a label and know, "Well, is this good for my kid? Does this make sense?" We have to make that easier.
Families need to work with their pediatricians and their family doctors so that they’re all talking about the same issue, they're looking out for the same signs.
But when they see a sign, it's not just telling a parent, you need to make some changes, but it's giving them a prescription, step-by-step guide to what they can do. You know, it's what our kids see in the media. You know, so what is Nick saying on those commercials and what are the Disney characters talking about and how do we, you know, increase the public awareness that families are getting and kids are getting.
But it's also what's going on in our schools, cause most of our kids get the majority of their calories that they eat in school. So we have an opportunity to work with the federal government and the school lunch providers to figure out how do we make those meals healthier. You know, how do we take out fat, sugar and salt and put in more fruit vegetables and whole grains.
and from right after the exchange in the op
HUCKABEE: Is that something you hope will be addressed? And isn't a free-market solution here maybe a good idea?
OBAMA: Yes, well, the third pillar in the initiative is accessibility and affordability. Because the truth is, is that if we just look at families and tell them, feed your kids differently, get more fruits and vegetables and they have no place to get them because their communities are in food deserts, then it's just -- we're just creating more frustration for families that are already overwhelmed and frustrated. So we have to deal with the affordability and accessibility issue, and that's one of the reasons that I've come to Philadelphia cause they've actually worked to tackle that problem.
There are 23.5 million Americans who live in food deserts, and this isn't just in urban communities...
HUCKABEE: When you say "food desert," define that for me.
OBAMA: This is areas where there are absolute -- there's no access to a grocery store. So there are places, like in the communities that we visited in Philadelphia, they hadn't had a grocery store in their community in a decade.
HUCKABEE: Wow.
OBAMA: All right, you think about a decade of a community. So that means that if a mom in that area wanted to make a salad for their kid -- right? -- even if she was geared up to do it, that means she would have to get in a cab, take a bus, get on a train to get to a grocery store to do that. And you're just sort of -- think of families that are busy, they don't have resources, they just don't do it.
So we have to eliminate food deserts, and one of the goals of Let's Move is to eliminate food deserts in this country in seven years. And the reason -- ambitious goal, but I think we can do it if we work together, and Pennsylvania, Philadelphia is a model. They essentially have started a food -- healthy food-financing initiative where they take a modest investment and they leverage that to create an incentive for local businesses to locate an underserved community. And we visited this beautiful store where they did just that. This community that hadn't had a store in 10 years now has a fresh grocer there. Beautiful store, it's employing local community members, and it's created an economic engine in an underserved area. So it's a hub for other businesses to come in.
So the point is, if we can do that in Philly and we can do that in Pennsylvania, cause they're implementing this all throughout the state, then perhaps this is a model that we can look at for the rest of the country. So Let's Move, a piece of that is creating a healthy food-financing initiative, investing $400 million to try and leverage some additional resources for states and communities that want to replicate that. So it's giving governors and mayors some support to figure out how do we attract more grocery stores here, how do we change the mindset, because it's really not about what our kids eat, it's also about what their communities are like. You know, you can't live in a community that doesn't have food in it, right? I mean, that's basic -- the basic foundation.
HUCKABEE: And good and wholesome food.
OBAMA: Good and wholesome food. So that's one of the really important pillars. And again, because we already have models out there where states are doing some really amazing things, this platform can shine a light on some of those, those success stories and give communities and local residents and elected officials some idea of what they might do.
HUCKABEE: You can imagine that when everyone found out that you were going to do an interview on the FOX News Channel that there were a lot of people who said, "oh, really?" Including a lot of our anchors at FOX.
And you are going to be surprised -- every one of them had many questions they wanted me to ask you.
Do you know what the number one question --
OBAMA: What was that?
HUCKABEE: -- that they wanted me to pose to you?
OBAMA: What?
HUCKABEE: You're not going to believe this.
OBAMA: What I was wearing?
HUCKABEE: No. They want to know, how do you have such wonderfully toned arms.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Most people don't have to travel as far or pay as much to travel to grocery stores. Healthy food choices are not readily available in these communities as they are in other communities. Food deserts have long been problematic and are one reason why where people live can predict population health outcomes.
I don't find myself agreeing with her or her husband much but I'll admit when I do. I'd much rather see a small business brought in to supply the communities. Wal-Mart should NEVER have been brought into this, it is NOT a solution.
Do you know what constitutes a food desert? I'm just wondering how far away a grocer must be in order for it to be considered too unreasonably far away. From the sounds of that interview it sounds like they can be quite cumbersome to get to.
On another note, I keep saying food "dessert" when reading food desert simply because it first appears that way in my mind...I was reading half that interview before I realized what they were really talking about. :?
I don't know, off hand, of a specific distance from grocery stores that everyone uses to define the term "food desert". But I don't think looking at it as a specific distance that's judged "reasonable" or "unreasonable" is really the point. The point is that communities with less access to quality food have worse health outcomes than communities with more access to quality food. So we could help improve health outcomes by increasing communities' access to quality foods. On the other hand, if someone were to say, "Traveling x number of miles to a grocery store should not be a problem," that's not helpful at all.
Why do so many people (not necessarily you) feel the need to define things as problems that they can then deny exist? (And why are so many people so eager to deny them and resistant to everything?) Why can't we just see things as opportunities to improve health outcomes?