So... When I order the latest do dad on line, in what way does that help my local economy?
I didn't say it does. Other than sales tax revenues, which many places still have archaic, broken laws for, there is no local benefit. That's not the point.
If I order from Amazon.com and they drop ship from the factory, how many people are cut out of the loop?
Pretty thin argument here, since clearly nobody can answer this one specifically. Why don't we flip it on it's head, then...
How many people are added to the loop? Other than those I mentioned as a straight trade, we have the shipper, the team that developed the website, the marketing team that lead you to the website, the engineers who designed the automation systems, the construction workers that build the factory, the heavy machine operators that assembled the place, the mechanic that maintains the new machinery, etc.
If five stores close down in my little county, we have lost tax revenue and paying jobs while at the same time not even having an impact on the volume of big online retailers so no jobs are added.
One warehouse worker at a big online retailer replaces a lot of local jobs.
Then the people in your county would be forced to do their shopping online, which... wait for it... creates the jobs elsewhere. Why isn't your little county incentivizing online retailers to move there and pump your local economy?
Sure does. Replacing several inefficient processes with more efficient ones is the
only way economies grow without increasing exports or popping out more babies.
It used to be every gas station had a service station in it. Now they don't. The mechanics didn't just disappear. They moved down the street to the auto shop.
They are more or less a very efficient production line that ships out orders.
Regardless, if the warehouse isn't in your hometown, you have lost in the local economy.
If those people are out of work they are not spending at places like where I work.
You've already identified the problem: your business, whatever it does, is less efficient and can't operate at the same price point. So then why is your business allowing stagnation and not innovating?
This trend toward an online economy is quite parallel to how the industrial revolution killed the cottage industry, don't you think?