Six Flags to plan and brand new park in Nigeria

Was that supposed to be funny?

I'm not up on what the current situation in Nigeria is, but I'd be hesitant to do any investing in a country that doesn't have a rule of law in place. We made that mistake in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. So much of the money that was invested there in the name of finding new markets and consumers ended up in the hands of a few. Capitalism works. Unrestrained capitalism doesn't.

On the market of Wal-mart: keep checking those labels when you shop, folks. Wal-mart is responsible for around 10% of imports from China. The other 90% is sold by countless other retailers, including "upscale" stores. As an example, look underneath the tongue of all your athletic shoes and see where they're produced.

If 10% is an accurate number, that's astounding. 1 company to account for 10% of the imports in the whole country. It's mind boggling.

Jason Hammond said:
If 10% is an accurate number, that's astounding. 1 company to account for 10% of the imports in the whole country. It's mind boggling.

Actually the number is closer to 11% and yes, that's quite mind boggling.

I never knew that. That has to make them the largest importer of goods from China, right? Who is in a distant second?

I find it a little a strange since Six Flags is in so much debt that they will build another park. Simple economics is that you pay off your debt before you start building any more parks especially in Nigeria. That country is a scam country due to all the scam emails coming out of there.

Again, Six Flags is not actually fronting the money to build the place. They are designing the park, and slapping their name on it. This is a source of revenue, and the only major risk I can think of would be if they don't get paid in a timely manner.

Jeff said:
I do my part by not shopping at Wal-Mart. :)

So we wont be seeing Jeff on this wonderful website

http://peopleofwalmart.com/

Walmart made importing from China big back when they started loading there stores up with crap 10 years or so ago. I don't see why people have a problem with imports from China. They can make things for us very cheaply. That's what's kept inflation down. It's just a part of global trade and specialization. China is cheap labor that's what they do best. Everyone benefits from it. I still buy some stuff made in America just because the quality is much better (such as dress shoes and clothing), but some items the quality is just not important or is so cheap it's disposable.

Nigeria is the second largest economy in Africa, and they are growing pretty fast. They are also a very stable country wih the largest population in Africa. I think it seems like a good place to invest.

Buying cheap stuff from China would be great for us, if the US made anything cheap at all, let alone exported it.

Actually the number is closer to 11% and yes, that's quite mind boggling.

It's not that surprising---they have about 11.3% of the retail sales market share in the US.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/05/news/companies/wal-mart.shareholders.meeting.fortune/

It's not that WalMart sells more Chinese-made goods than anyone else. It's that they sell more goods, period.

So some people at Six flags headquarters are going to play/design a park with Roller Coaster Tycoon and Six Flags may get paid for it ?

I hope they are asking for some up front money.

Brian Noble said:
It's not that surprising---they have about 11.3% of the retail sales market share in the US.

That's equally alarming to me. :)

Lord Gonchar said:

Jason Hammond said:
If 10% is an accurate number, that's astounding. 1 company to account for 10% of the imports in the whole country. It's mind boggling.

Actually the number is closer to 11% and yes, that's quite mind boggling.

I never knew that. That has to make them the largest importer of goods from China, right? Who is in a distant second?

Well, it would probably be Home Depot, then followed by Target, Lowe's, then Sears(Kmart).

Hard to get an exact list, given the amount of food stuffs that Walmart and Target sell that aren't from china. Practically everything else is from China though.

Sears(Kmart) may actually be higher up the list than one would expect, given their demise in total dollars, but their concentration in China specific goods has skyrocketed to compete with Walmart.

If you ever want to see the China impact in pure visual sense, take the bridge to Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach. You'll see Millions of Shipping containers, all of them coming from China. That's when you'll realize that America is an empire in decline.

Actually not too long ago I read an article about production that was once outsourced to China coming back to America. I think the article specifically talked about a sleeping bag manufacturer.It's because of China letting the Yuan increase in value and the coast of shipping increasing making it more expensive to manufature there. BTW importing cheap goods from China does not spell doom for America.

tigellinus said:
^Honestly, I think how it works is even buying food and "essentials" still makes you satan to the Wal-mart haters.

Yet, is Ralph's, Publix, Giant, Jewel, and Kroger that much worse than the Always evil empire?? Even Whole Foods is Wally-lite!!

If you live in a town/metro area of under 200,000, Walmart is probably single handedly responsible for the demise of whatever downtown you had left, (one of) your local newspaper(s), at least one or two light industry manufacturing facilities, and some version of a regional grocery or hardware chain. It's just a fact. And that was BEFORE Walmart started to source everything from China.

Yet, lower income, rural America still shop there, willing to save a few pennies while they put every other competing store out of business.

I'm not a WalMart basher, I shop at Target which is no better, but the Walmart's policies and business model have wiped out small town businesses.

There is also a 60% chance that there is a hulking empty shell of an OLD walmart building either empty, or being used as a church.

What's wrong with people saving money? Why should people go spend more on the same item at one store when they can go to Walmart and get it cheaper? The only reason to spend more on a product is because of quality. That's the way things have always been. Don't hate Walmart because of their sucess. Walmart benefits everyone.

^^It isn't just lower income people that shop at Walmart.

I see plenty of high end cars like Beemers, Mercedes, Corvettes, etc at my local Walmart supercenter.

I have no problem shopping there.

I was done with Walmart (note that AP now spells it both Wal-Mart and Walmart, although the new logo shows the spelling as "Walmart") for many years, but recently went back after noticing how awesomely low their prices really are. I don't consider them to be an "evil" company. They are just trying to make a profit. No corporation can be faulted for that, no matter what they do (right Gonch?). ;)

BDesvignes said:
What's wrong with people saving money? Why should people go spend more on the same item at one store when they can go to Walmart and get it cheaper? The only reason to spend more on a product is because of quality. That's the way things have always been. Don't hate Walmart because of their sucess. Walmart benefits everyone.

Because the bigger Walmart gets, the fewer competitors it has. And the fewer competitors it has, the more power it has to sell whatever it wants at any price it wants.

What happens when you go to Walmart to pick up your favorite brand item only to see they stopped carrying it because they didn't like the terms they were getting? What are you going to do about it? You may not have anywhere else to go get it. They would have no reason to put your favorites on the shelf anymore.

BDesvignes said:
Don't hate Walmart because of their sucess. Walmart benefits everyone.

That's completely naive. They've used their market penetration not just to be the lowest price in town, but also dictate what manufacturers charge for their goods. Read what they did to Vlasic (the pickle company) and tell me how you feel about the company after that. Wal-Mart isn't good for anyone other than itself.