- Peter Shawn Taylor: Saving the world now requires disliking IKEA. It's an order.
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Wal-Mart is more than just the home to everyday low prices. It’s also a magnet for environmentalists, enemies of capitalism, community organizations, traffic planners, religious groups, unions and just about anyone else with a beef.
As such, it makes life a little easier for more than just consumers. Other retailers also catch a break when all available anger is focused on the devil from Bentonville.
That free ride may soon be over. Judging by the new book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, by Atlantic Monthly correspondent Ellen Ruppel Shell, Swedish furniture retailer IKEA could be next on the angry list.
Shell’s thesis is that a fixation on low prices has ruined the world. Global trade and cheap labour have lowered expectations among consumers and robbed us of our ability to spot good quality merchandise. Cheap is everywhere, and it’s always bad.
You’d expect Wal-Mart to be on the receiving end of most of Shell’s screed. But IKEA gets its own chapter, which was recently excerpted in a Toronto newspaper.
An Internet Fisherman who uses barbless hooks and this one dimensional world as a way of releasing the frustrations of daily life. This is my pond. You are welcome only if you are civil and contribute something to the ambiance. I reserve the right to ignore/publish/reject anon comments.
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