Re: Christy Weir's Nov. 26 letter, "Power of buying local":
The Ventura mayor suggested we all buy only from Ventura merchants. I wish I were a Ventura merchant and everybody pledged only to buy from me. I'd probably be as nice as the next merchant, generally speaking, but I would be in business, and like many local gasoline stations that also saw a chance to really clean up, I would hike my prices immediately to whatever such a captive audience would bear. After all, they buy from me or they don't buy. What a gold mine!
It's a nice-sounding but dumb idea, even though I do think Weir has been a pretty good mayor.
Many of us go down the road of Councilman Jim Monahan, who said he thinks people will support Wal-Mart, as I do in the now-upcoming election, and allow good old American competition to prevail. If the same item costs substantially less in Oxnard, or Camarillo, then let the Ventura merchants compete or, sad to say, close their doors.
It's a tough economic world out there right now, and while merchants' struggles to compete are hurtful to watch, we are all guarding our money and looking for the best deals.
I gotta go now. I'm off to Oxnard to shop at Wal-Mart.
-- Ross R. Olney, Ventura