Thursday, June 3, 2010
Politics / Clout City / News My Latest Glimpse Into the Chicago Economy
Posted by Mick Dumke on 06.03.10 at 05:18 PM
It's said that everybody in this town has some sort of hustle going. Quite often I come across evidence that it's true—and not just at City Hall.
The other night I stopped at a convenience store to buy a pack of gum. The store is just down the street from a large Catholic church whose bells were chiming for an evening service.
The clerk rang me up. "One sixty-four," he said.
I looked down at the pack of gum. The price tag said it cost $1.39.
A quarter tax on a pack of gum? I don't think so—not even in Cook County.
I asked the clerk about it and he started stammering—something about the tax going up. Funny, I hadn't heard anything about that. He said sorry, the store was just sold and the price has gone up even though the price tags haven't been changed. I was skeptical. Then he said he'd accidentally added a dime to the total. I said that still seemed like too much. He said maybe he'd just typed it in wrong.
As politely as I could, I told him I didn't care that much about a quarter but what he was doing was called consumer fraud, and even if I decided not to call the authorities someone else would because that was some cheap and dumb bullshit.
He rang me up again. "One forty-two," he said.
Outside I found Marvin sitting cross-legged next to the door, red-eyed and drunk but pleasant as ever. I've known Marvin since he used to stop in at the homeless ministry where I worked in the late 1990s.
Marvin asked how I'd been and I told him the people in the store were thieves.
"Yeah, what they charge you depends on who's behind the counter and who you are," he said. "It's not right."
I told him I thought somebody would rat them out one of these days. I said I should do it myself.
"No, you can't do that," he said, "because they cut me a lot of slack out here."
A woman walked up and as she stepped into the store Marvin asked her for some help. "Please think of me on your way out," he said.
He told me he'd just returned to Chicago after a stint in Tennessee and was living in a shelter in Lakeview. As if I thought otherwise, he told me this was sad. "I used to own a place up there," he said.
When she emerged from the store the woman leaned over and dropped several coins into Marvin's hands. He thanked her and offered her a blessing.
"Hey, I would get up and talk with you some more," he told me, "but I'm afraid I'm working right now."
Of course. I told him I'd catch him later.
Comments (6)
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Good post, Mick. Even though you probably didn't intend it as such, I immediately perceived this story as a perfect metaphor for the current controversy over Wal-Mart's attempt to build a store on the south side. The leaders of the opposition to the store, in my opinion, are committing are very cruel hustle that is causing people to needlessly suffer. Just as the owner of this convenience store is overcharging some people for merchandise, every resident in the entire area around the community where the Wal-Mart would open are paying higher prices than they would if the city had allowed the store to open. It is well-documented that the opening of a Wal-Mart causes prices in the area to fall. But powerful unions have used their political clout to make sure that prices are artificially raised just as this convenience store owner is using his greed to illegally raise prices on those he thinks he can get away with. It is incredibly unfortunate that the unions and their political allies are taking advantage of people in this manner when we are in a very serious economic downturn. Many people need every break they can get. This is the worst time imaginable for the city council to be imposing restrictions that result in the artificial raising of prices.
And it is also the worst time imaginable for the city council to be blocking the effort of an employer to be hiring people. Many people are unemployed. This is especially true in low income areas such as the community where the Wal-Mart would be built. Every time a new Wal-Mart (or any other new large employer, such as the Target that will open next month in Uptown) has opened anywhere recently there are always droves of people who eagerly attempt to get hired. It just makes my blood boil for any politician in the city council to block a major employer from coming into the city and providing badly needed jobs. Those who are against this are taking advantage of the people who need the most right now. That's the way it is, pure and simple. More people are going to be unemployed so that these politicians can cave to the pressure of unions. Each Wal-Mart job that opens up means that it is less likely that someone like Marvin would need to beg for change and live at a homeless shelter. The Wal-Mart job could go to Marvin or someone in a similar situation. Or it could go to someone working at a less desirable job and that job will open up for someone in a situation like Marvin. But unfortunately, we have politicians who are preventing that from happening.
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"It is well-documented that the opening of a Wal-Mart causes prices in the area to fall."
Along with wages. Two sides to every story, right?
"Each Wal-Mart job that opens up means that it is less likely that someone like Marvin would need to beg for change and live at a homeless shelter. The Wal-Mart job could go to Marvin or someone in a similar situation. Or it could go to someone working at a less desirable job and that job will open up for someone in a situation like Marvin."
Marvin doesn't sound like a very good potential employee to me.
A store clerk once shared their hustle: they routinely left an apple at the side of the cash register and would include its price in the total. If they were questioned, which was rare, they claimed confusion thinking that the customer had just placed the apple there.
"Along with wages. Two sides to every story, right?"
No. Not along with wages. If there is an effect on wages in is much smaller and more localized than the effect on prices. Like I said on the other thread, you can likely find studies that suggest everything. And I'm sure a downward effect on the wages of a small amount of retail employees will be one of these things (and I'm sure other studies say the opposite). But this is not comparable to the clear effects that a Wal-Mart will have in lowering prices. That effect is much stronger and completely indisputable. Besides, if a Wal-Mart opening can eventually causes a slight decrease in the real wages of all retail workers it is far more likely to occur in smaller towns with limited competition from other retailers. In Chicago, where there are around a hundred major retail employers (as well as many other comparibly skilled jobs) within just 10 to 15 miles , the opening of one store is highly unlikely to cause a downward shift in wages.
"Marvin doesn't sound like a very good potential employee to me."
How do you know that? Are you going to write someone off just because he lives in a homeless shelter? That doesn't seem very logical to me.
"Like I said on the other thread, you can likely find studies that suggest everything."
And you will always take the side of capital no matter what they say.
"How do you know that? Are you going to write someone off just because he lives in a homeless shelter? That doesn't seem very logical to me."
I'm not going to write him off completely as a human being, but I don't think that my firm currently has a position for a man of his apparent talents.
The unions have demonstrated that they will finance opponents to aldermen that vote for Wal-Mart.
So the people that want wal-mart need to put THEIR money where their mouths are.
If they will fund the aldermen against their union funded opponents, the stores may open.
Until then, get out of the utopia and smell the coffee, money is the mother's milk of politics.
