On January 6, 2017 The Wall Street Journal reporters, By SUSAN PULLIAM, SARAH NASSAUER and RICHARD RUBIN

“Retailers Risk Multibillion-Dollar Earnings Hit Under GOP Tax Plan”

The article basically addresses,

“A Republican proposal aimed at cutting tax rates and keeping jobs in the U.S. risks whacking the earnings of big U.S. retailers by driving up the cost of imported clothes, furniture and other goods.”

The moving of the factoring of products back into the U.S. thus creating more jobs for Americans. I have been a retailer for over 25 years. Small brick and mortar. Some years in the millions, and the past years barely able to pay a staff.  Once companies moved their manufacturing from the United State the cost of good came way down. Yay!  We should all be happy, right?  For my store, more than a dozen American made furniture manufactures went out of business. The quality of once great products I stood behind, became crap. Even a beautiful Vermont made furniture company moved overseas. Everything looked the same, but the quality was so poor that in shipping almost everything is now damaged. Prior to manufacturing overseas I had only had one shipping claim in over 20 years of doing business with this company. I have to applaud them as they did what they needed to do to stay in business.  They are fast, cheap, and easy to get.  As a matter of fact everything became fast, cheap and easy. My once strong staff of 50 or more dwindled to less than five. Why?  If moving manufacturing over seas was such a great idea, who is the winner here? Many stores have folded. I have watched the demise of the local mom and pop retailers slip away. Driving consumers to be conditioned into the new culture of shopping which we ALL love.

Are consumers the winner? Yes, consumers are the winners. We got what we wanted. The American dream of consumption of products. All the stuff we ever wanted is fast, cheap and easy to get. We have taken the finer things in shopping and made them available to everyone with the flip of a credit card.  I am guilty of this as a retailer. I use to have to go through a sales rep in order to order the products for my store. The layers of buying drove up the cost to the consumer. Now I can go online and with a flip of my credit card order straight from the factory over seas. The wholesale prices reduced to be below half of what I was paying. And if I was really excited about running a website I might be selling all those goods on my website. Even with over 25 years of retail experience I know one thing. If all you have to do is click an app to price shop I am going to lose against the big guys out there. They can order and buy in so much bulk that their “free” shipping has made my shipping costs skyrocket more than triple. Thus pushing the smaller retailers out even further. The small retailers who once employed lots of people.

The article with WSJ, in my opinion, was the boo-hooing of the larger retailers who would no longer make the profits they are now making. You see the profits did not pour back into the economy on a day to day scale of employing Americans. Larger retailers have never been one to provide a better life for their employees. Ask any red vested or blue vested employee from a larger employer what they actually earn.  Ask that they same employee if they own a home, a car or are able to send their kids to college. I did ask and I was shocked by answers at random. Learning that most have to have two “part-time jobs because they only give full-time to managers.” I heard that over and over.  Shocked that “I am having to be on state funded care because I do not get paid enough.” And one person actually said, “I do not mind the pay or shorter hours. I can only make so much money or they will take my food stamps from me.”   I am not talking about the corporate side of these larger retailers. I am talking about the staff in the blue and red vests that make these companies run. The larger retailers are winning by bringing products in from other countries. They are getting fast, cheap and easy. Offering consumers compromised quality.  Profits will be affected. Why? They will need to hire out more people from our homeland to produce and factor. Oh wait, you mean their profits may be compromised by employing more Americans? Wait a minute do we want jobs or more stuff for cheap?

The question is do we want jobs or do we want fast, cheap and easy products? I am a fan of jobs. You see those larger retailers may threaten to raise the prices. Are they really? No. Why? Because their stock holders want to keep the company in business.  Raising prices may make us all more conservative in our shopping and making decisions as to where to shop. This larger retailers have been spoiled in ways we may never know. With more jobs there are more people shopping. Retailers do not want to compromise their business profits. Because at the end of the day it is all about the money, not the people. Do not be fooled. They will have to add in new line items for their accounting. Line items with real names of people who live in the United States. Their payroll will have Americans’ names that checks are issued to. Americans who have been out of work, and Americans who actually want to work. When Americans are working, we like to spend our money.

Dear Americans, Do we want fast, cheap and easy? Or do we want jobs?

About Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery & Design

Interior Designer, Consultant, Artist. Which is it they ask? All of the above. God has blessed me in ways that words cannot describe. Doing what I love and making a career out of it all. Starting with a beautiful designer showroom. Decorating homes and specializing in kid's spaces. Magazine covers and spreads, then show homes. Adding in business consulting. Working alongside my clients to develop a strategic plan to design and market their product or service in the correct markets. Then one day, after years of painting for my clients, a few gallies, my hobby business I decided in the second half of my life to bring Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery to life. I took my paintings to the streets and flipped my website into my "Art You Love" business. Do what you love and love what you do. Adding Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery and creating artful pieces for your home, office, business. An empty wall invites art you love by Elizabeth Harris Art Gallery. Your Dreams & Passions, My Experience & Help. Let's work together and build something beautiful in your home business, or on your walls.