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Old 12-28-2018, 10:08 AM
Bucco Bucco is offline
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Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee View Post
Something to think about ..................I have been listening to the information about major high street stores that are going out of business; i.e. Sears on shaky ground and J.C.Penny on life support and more I cannot think of right now. What will our high streets look like when the brick and mortar stores are standing empty?

When I lived in the suburbs of Boston I used to love going into Boston on a Saturday to browse and shop at all the big department stores. My favorite was Fillene's Basement - I spent hours in there finding great bargains. After shopping we would walk through the North End and buy from the deli's and then stop and eat authentic Italian food at a small restaurant. At Christmas, a trip into Boston to see the lights and decorations in the downtown department stores was a necessity.

Downtown department stores have pretty much disappeared, replaced by suburban shopping malls, which in turn are falling prey to Amazon. But, what becomes of the empty buildings and the urban decay that follows?

I admit to being as much to blame as anyone because I LOVE Amazon, they made it so easy!!! This year I even found some European items which you can buy and have sent to you from Europe. Where does it end?
I share your fond memories of the past for sure.

HOWEVER, someday we must recognize that the world is always changing, and always "shrinking". Technological advances are spearheading the changes and despite many attempts to change it, it "aint" going to happen.

Those who cannot see the changes and are inflexible will be those left behind. Sears was the "everything" store but that was before the Home Depot, Lowe's and Costco's were in existence.

This is a section of an interview with Thomas Friedman that pretty much touches on all that is happening.

"But my friend David Rothkopf, former under-secretary of commerce , says that most jobs are not being outsourced to India or China, they are being outsourced to the past. There's someone who was working as a counter employee for Southwest Airlines who probably doesn't have their job now, because I can go on my own computer and download my own boarding pass on to Southwest. So many more jobs are destroyed by Schumpeter [referring to economist Joseph Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction of companies brought by the march of capitalism] than are destroyed by India. They're destroyed by creative destruction and technological change. Thirty percent of Americans worked in agriculture in 1900. Where is that now? Somehow the economy has absorbed that, as long as you have an economy full of innovation. The other strategy has been tried; it's been tried in places like Germany. And look at all the problems they have, the chronic unemployment that they have, and the place is full of cushions, full of social welfare programs. But meanwhile, they have this chronic unemployment.

Globalization 3.0 Has Shrunk the World to Size Tiny | YaleGlobal Online

This interview took place about 15 years ago, but he nailed it.