Melinda Shore wrote:
That does not, however, have all that much to do
with economic efficiency or providing an *alternative* to
what is available locally.


Well, I adamantly disagree with you here. Tell all the ebay buyers that
what they're buying isn't providing an alternative to what's available
locally. Also, there are many specialty items that I am unable to find
locally that I buy online, on a regular basis. The dog supplies I
probably could have found locally, at Petco or wherever and they were
quite a bit more expensive than what I found online.

Online distribution has definitely had an impact on the bottom line of
our economy. Ebay has done wonders for the US postal system, so much so
that they've actually formed a strategic alliance of sorts.
Fulfillment, distribution and turnaround have also been affected for
the better. One need only ask themselves, WWAD (what would Amazon do)
in contrast to failures like petsdotcom. "We" have learned a lot from
past dotcom busts where the simple, "Build the site and they will
come", has fallen dramatically short on profits. The wheel was
reinvented for the better. Distribution from both coasts and the middle
region has provided faster service and competitive pricing. And it
doesn't stop there, traditional service providers of utilities and
credit cards are in the infant stages of eliminating paper statements
via electronic billing and ordering.

I think many brick and mortar stores would be remiss if they were not
to consider ecommerce as a worthy competitor, perhaps not for staple
items, but for many other items, and internet shopping continues to
grow...

JMHO.

In article .com,
wrote:
Also, there are many specialty items that I am unable to find
locally that I buy online, on a regular basis.

Yes, exactly. It's not an alternative because what you're
buying isn't available locally.

Online distribution has definitely had an impact on the bottom line of
our economy.

Well, no. It hasn't had an impact on the "bottom line" of
our economy, unless you by that you mean that it's
contributed to excessive consumption which in turn has led
to a disturbingly low national savings rate which in turn
has contributed to record trade and current account deficits
which in turn has led to massive borrowing which in turn has
led to a medium-to-long-term economic prognosis of "not
good," but other than Dick Cheney's insistence on including
Ebay transactions in GDP figures I haven't seen anyone
discuss the particular effect of online sales on the
macroeconomy. I'm disinclined to lay responsibility for
dollar instability at Ebay's feet, myself. If what you
meant was that there are some adjustments taking place
*within* the economy, well sure, and maybe you could have
said that (just as you could have said "online sales," not
"online distribution," although the latter has certainly had
an impact on the extremely local economy chez nous - see if
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779...eb/default.htm
doesn't help).
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.

Melinda, I'm not going to get into a political debate with you. We
obviously have different economical POV's here. See, I don't believe
that people holding onto the majority of their disposible income is
necessarily a good thing for our economy.

In article .com,
wrote:
Melinda, I'm not going to get into a political debate with you. We
obviously have different economical POV's here. See, I don't believe
that people holding onto the majority of their disposible income is
necessarily a good thing for our economy.

You're quite incorrect about that, and it's not a matter of
opinion but rather a matter of fact. Capital investment
requires savings (goes into banks, banks lend and invest,
etc.). The very low personal savings rate is one of the
causes of the massive US current account deficit, as
identified by everyone from the Office of Management and
Budget to the Federal Reserve Bank to the World Bank. As a
result, instead of being financed by investment the US
economy is being financed by a massive amount of borrowing
from foreign central banks, particularly China (that's
right, we're now in hock to the Chinese Communist Party),
Japan, and South Korea. There's been *extensive* coverage
of this in the business and economic press because it's
quite unprecedented and everybody's trying to figure out how
it will end.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.

In article , says...
On 6 Apr 2005 03:21:25 GMT whittled these words:
What is your favoirte internet pet supply resource? Do you have differ=
ent=20
favorites for different things?=20

I just received a humongous order from www.jefferspet.com - here's my=20
order, for reference and comparison/contrast with other places - they're=20
really good on shipping (I see they're now offering a free shipping=20
special for 1st time web orders):=20

3 Pooch Pads=3D3F, large 30" x 32" (2 pk)
@ $33.85 =3D $101.55

1 Economy Housebreaking Pads, 100 pads
@ $21.78 =3D $21.78

1 Oops! Pad=AE, 30" x 30"
@ $16.25 =3D $16.25

1 Simple Solution=3D3F Cat Urine Remover, 32 oz spray
@ $4.89 =3D $4.89

1 Simple Solution=3D3F Stain and Odor Remover, gallon
@ $10.95 =3D $10.95

5 Stink Free=AE Candles
Cucumber/Melon
@ $5.24 =3D $26.20

2 Advantage=AE Topical Solution, dogs under 10 lbs
@ $31.95 =3D $63.90

1 Advantage=AE Topical Solution, dogs 11-20 lbs
@ $32.95 =3D $32.95

2 Advantage=AE Topical Solution, cats under 9 lbs
@ $30.95 =3D $61.90

1 Advantage=AE Topical Solution, cats over 9 lbs
@ $31.95 =3D $31.95


Product Total: $372.32
Shipping: $11.95
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $384.27

Pooch and Oops pads are washable reusable housebreaking pads, my dogs=20
are all trained to use them on the days I can't get home at a reasonable=20
hour to let them out, and Jeffers had the best price I could find on=20
those. The Stink Free candles were far cheaper than elsewhere, and the=20
Simple Solution was quite a bit cheaper also. The disposable economy=20
pads are for my 25+ year old cat, who has decided to stop using the=20
litter box but luckily will use disposable pee pads, and these were=20
cheaper than even Drs Foster & Smith's house brand. The Advantage was=20
par for price, but it was made up for in the cheap shipping (where I=20
live there's an almost 9% sales tax, so the shipping charge was less=20
than that). The order arrived in a reasonable amount of time and =20
Jeffers also included a nice leash as a free gift.
--=20
Debbie the Dogged das at spamcop dot net
"Poodles are space aliens who think they've disguised
themselves as dogs." - Paghat the Ratgirl

Melinda Shore wrote:

Online distribution has definitely had an impact on the bottom line
of
our economy.

Well, no. It hasn't had an impact on the "bottom line" of
our economy, unless you by that you mean that it's
contributed to excessive consumption which in turn has led
to a disturbingly low national savings rate which in turn
has contributed to record trade and current account deficits
which in turn has led to massive borrowing which in turn has
led to a medium-to-long-term economic prognosis of "not
good," but other than Dick Cheney's insistence on including
Ebay transactions in GDP figures I haven't seen anyone
discuss the particular effect of online sales on the
macroeconomy.

Boy, that's a stretch! Melinda, why must you insist on injecting your
personal politics into these various ngs? Do you think there is
something wrong w/ how people choose to spend their OWN, hard-earned
money?

I'm disinclined to lay responsibility for
dollar instability at Ebay's feet, myself.

Well then, good thing that you didn't infer that!


For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.


There you go again!

Interestingly enough, fewer and fewer people actually pay taxes
anymore. It seems you think that we should have income redistribution?
Isn't that a Socialist position?

In article .com,
gaubster2 wrote:
Boy, that's a stretch! Melinda, why must you insist on injecting your
personal politics into these various ngs? Do you think there is
something wrong w/ how people choose to spend their OWN, hard-earned
money?

No, I don't, but I think it's worthwhile to understand what
the various forces are at work, particularly if I want to
eventually, say, retire. It seems to me that being a good
citizen means being an informed citizen - it's the basis for
democracy.

I'm disinclined to lay responsibility for
dollar instability at Ebay's feet, myself.
Well then, good thing that you didn't infer that!

What is it with you guys and illiteracy?

Interestingly enough, fewer and fewer people actually pay taxes
anymore. It seems you think that we should have income redistribution?
Isn't that a Socialist position?

Actually, we do have increased income redistribution in the
US and we certainly have tax burden redistribution (working
people are carrying an increasingly large portion of the tax
burden as taxes on investment income are slashed) and it's
not that difficult to argue that taxes have gone up
considerably over the past 5 years. Government spending has
gone up and we're paying for that spending by acquiring debt
from foreign lenders; at some point both the debt and the
interest are going to have to be repaid. Just because we're
deferring the costs through debt doesn't mean that the costs
don't exist, Bush's stupid stunt on Wednesday
nothwithstanding (his pronouncement that the bonds in the
Social Security trust fund are worthless - so does that mean
that the bonds China and Japan have also been buying to keep
the US afloat are worthless, or that the Bush administration
intends to repay all its bonds but not the ones issued to
working Americans?)

If you're interested I'd be happy to provide suggestions for
places to find accessible discussions of macroeconomics and
current events. For starters, there's a very good
discussion in the Wall Street Journal Econoblog between a
somewhat conservative economist and a somewhat liberal
economist on whether to expect a hard landing (crash) or
soft landing (modest recession) when there's an economic
adjustment in response to the current massive multiple
deficits in the US:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resourc...og03292005.htm

You know, in all your multitudinous multitude of posts, I've
never seen you mention having a dog. You've posted to sell
your company's products and you've posted about politics,
but you've never posted about dogs. Got dogs?
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.

wrote:
What is your favoirte internet pet supply resource? Do you have
different
favorites for different things?


For leather dog collars, leashes, harnesses and muzzles the folks at
Leather Creations for Dogs, Inc is by far the best!
http://www.leather-creations.com

In article ,
diddy wrote:
Yes he does. He has a 4 yr old Springer Spaniel/Border Collie Mix. And if
you were paying attention instead of trying to smear him, you would know
that.

He pretty much never, ever discusses dogs, as you know.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.

In article ,
diddy wrote:
And how is he supposed to maintain a conversational relationship about his
pets when he's always being made to defend his positions.

He could try, but he doesn't. In the meantime I know plenty
about the dogs of people here with whom I don't have
conversations, because - get this - they talk about their
dogs. And the preponderance of them aren't trainers and
don't compete.

But I'll tell you what - you guys go over there and sit at
the jocks' table and I'll just park myself over here with
the nerds, and the world will be divided into opposing teams
just as you prefer.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

For two decades your payroll taxes have been used to offset
the cost of upper-income tax cuts.