Another big problem for retailers: Flash robs

I just saw a report on television about the "flash rob" that went down at "The Mall of America" in Minnesota. A flash rob is when a large group of people get together at a set time using social media like Facebook or Twitter and plan a robbery. The retailers and law enforcement are overwhelmed by the number people and cannot effectively deal with the situation.

Events like this will add to burden that owners of brick-and-mortar stores have to face, and ultimately lead to them not being economically competitive and shutting down.

Again here, the Internet is to blame for the changing economy, an economy that cannot support enough jobs for the people who want and need them. So far law enforcement has yet to come up with an effective method in dealing with them. If they ever do, I bet it will be really expensive, and there will be no way to pay for it with constant right-wing movement to eliminate government and government jobs.

Also, if the kids in this latest "flash rob" had jobs they wouldn't have had to participate in this phenomenon. My guess is that the kids who participated in this came from poor homes, and the Internet is now being used to have the poor turn on the middle class in their most sacred of haunts, the shopping mall. And this all happens while the wealthy watch from a safe distance.

To recap, as the middle class dies, the malls will close, and the poor masses will be left to riot on the streets. And we will have the Internet to thank for it all.

The death of retail stores and jobs....

Now, I hate being a Luddite, I think overall progress is usually for the common good. But I really don't understand what will happen when retail sales jobs start to disappear. Retail sales for many people is a great way to enter or re-enter the workforce, especially if you have no special skills and don't have more than a high school diploma or a bachelor's degree.


What will kill retail? People walking around brick-and-mortar stores with their iPhone/Android apps that show if they can get a cheaper deal for the same product online. Already struggling electronic stores will probably fold by the end of next year. I haven't seen these apps in action, but I would imagine this might be useful for high-end clothing as well.

I think many stores will be forced to close because their overhead expenses are much higher than some guy or gal selling merchandise out of their basement using the Internet.

When Republicans keep saying that the future of economic growth is in small business, what do they mean? I think they mean that everyone will be selling stuff out of their basement over the Internet. But how practical or easy is that? How practical or easy is it to start any small business for that matter? How easy is it to raise capital to start a small business, especially now when the banks are tight about who they loan money to? I don't believe that the Republicans think about these things when they say that things like small business is the future of the economy. But what else are they going to say when they know that the Internet is slowly killing traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, and what else are they going to say when they want to eliminate as many government jobs as possible because their wealthy "1 percent buddies" are the only ones who can afford to pay taxes and they don't want to.

It used to be that you worked hard and saved money to start a business of your own, but how will that be possible when their are no more jobs left. And who will loan you money when you don't have a job.

Some people say that the new economy created by the innovations of the Internet and wireless technology are exciting, and that innovators like Steve Jobs, the late Apple founder, and Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon will be revered as major driving forces behind great economic change and the emerging new economy, but I think ultimately they will be hated for making so many jobs disappear especially in the retail sector, a major employer of the post-industrial world.

Curb government waste through transparency not tax cuts and caps.

On a federal, state, and local level Americans need to know how their tax dollars are being spent. But often government budgets are hidden or when they are made public they have line items like "necessary annual expenses" therefore you won't really know how your money is being spent. Also there is a lot finagling with tax dollars through common high finance practices that you have be a CPA or tax attorney to understand.

The George Orwell novel, "1984" warned of the horrors of a totalitarian government where their leader "Big Brother" is always watching you. Well in a democracy in the digital age all citizens have the potential to be government's "Big Brother." Through the use of the Internet we have the potential ability to see how all of our money is being spent. I don't understand why there hasn't been a more vocal movement to do this. Instead you have politicians pushing tax caps which may control spending, but does nothing for potential corruption of tax dollar use. You also have right-wing yahoos like Grover Norquist getting politicians agreeing not to raise taxes through a pledge. Wouldn't it be great if someone could get congress members to sign a pledge to always act ethically, and keep all of their actions as transparent as possible. The recent insider trading scandal that the news program "60 Minutes" recently aired shows how politicians will take every opportunity to take advantage of their position and pay little regard to ethics. Therefore it would be an impossible task to get them to sign an ethics pledge.

There are federal laws on the books that encourage transparency of spending through the use of the Internet but there is little enforcement of this.

In conclusion, we have to stop looking at capping and restricting new taxes without first looking at how our money is being spent. We must control corruption before we look at controlling spending.