WAL-MART (a.k.a. WALMART): GREED AND THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE Global Revolution 1: American Revolution 2: Day 38: Communication 1 IronBoltBruce's Kleptocracy Chronicles for 24 Oct 2011 (g1a2d0038c1) How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act? With $421.8 billion in revenues and $16.4 billion in earnings last year, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (branded Walmart in 200 tops the 2011 Fortune 500 list. Doing business under 55 different names with 8,500 locations in 15 countries, it is considered to be the world's largest private (i.e. publicly traded) corporation. And with much of its growth based on the selling (and buying) of cheap imported goods at low prices, some estimate the success of Wal-Mart (and the "savings" of its customers) has been at the expense of thousands of small business closures and millions of American jobs exported. "[The] contributions of the Wal-Mart Stores political action committee to federal candidates and other political committees has grown rapidly during the past decade as new stores continue to be built across the country. In recent years Wal-Mart Stores was most active [in the opposition of] clean energy, taxes and consumer safety initiatives, as well as the Employee Free Choice Act legislation of 2009." http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?cycle=A&type=P&id=D000000367 "In 2010, Wal-Mart and its affiliated companies spent more than $6 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies... The company also exercises considerable pull through large campaign contributions. During the 2010 election cycle alone, Wal-Mart, through its employees and political action committees, donated more than $1.6 million to federal candidates, with Republican and Democratic candidates receiving approximately equal shares of this money." http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/04/the-credit-card-lobby-wal-marts-pol.html The impact of this greed global giant on America's politics and people has become so pervasive that the company has not only its own Wikipedia criticism page... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart ...but also its own watchdog website, WalmartWatch.org, whose summary assessments are as follows: "Community Impact: Walmart passes on significant costs to many of the states and communities where it operates because so many of the company's Associates and their families participate in publicly-funded health care and other public assistance programs because of lack of affordable health care from Walmart. At the same time, Walmart sends much of its revenue out of local communities, while local businesses keep more consumer dollars in the local economy. Walmart has created a new kind of blight by leaving vacant, abandoned stores throughout the country." http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/category/walmarts-impact/community-impact/ "Corporate Responsibility: Because Walmart is the world's largest retailer, it sets industry standards for wages, benefits and corporate responsibilities that impact millions of retail workers, their families and communities. As Walmart's influence continues to grow at home and abroad, policymakers, media and others are asking questions about the impact of Walmart in our community. Unfortunately this impact all too often includes lowering of standards that hurt communities and families." http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/category/walmarts-impact/corporate-responsibility/ "Environmental Record: In recent years, Walmart has begun efforts to become a more environmentally responsible company. The company marks this initiative as one of their flagship efforts. But these efforts do little to counteract WalmartÂ’s basic formula of large format stores combined with imports from overseas." http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/category/walmarts-impact/environmental-record/ "Impact On Other Businesses: From small businesses to major chains, all grocery and retail establishments that compete with Walmart are impacted by the company. Competitors are often forced to lower wages and standards. By using a model based on low-wages, high-efficiency transportation, and imported goods, Walmart has a history of destroying once thriving downtowns across rural America. Because Walmart has saturated rural and suburban America, the company's new growth area in the U.S. is urban communities. Additionally, Walmart's scale gives it unprecedented control over how suppliers do business. Therefore, the company's policies have repercussion across the entire supply system." http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/category/walmarts-impact/impact-on-other-businesses/ "Political Power: Walmart has a sophisticated and massive lobbying effort to influence policy makers at every level Walmart and organizations directly affiliated with Walmart have sought to advance goals such as school vouchers, entering urban communities, restricting tariff protections, limiting port security, eliminating the estate tax, oppose strong worker protections, and obtaining lucrative subsidies." http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/category/walmarts-impact/political-power/ SourceWatch.org also discloses that Wal-Mart is a board member of the American Legislative Exchange Council: 'Wal-Mart is on the corporate ("Private Enterprise") board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Maggie Sans, Vice President of Public Affairs at Wal-Mart, represents Wal-Mart on the corporate board as of 2011. It was a "Chairman" level sponsor of 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council Annual Conference, which in 2010, equated to $50,000... ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve "model" bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) They fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators ... then b! ring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations - without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a "unique," "unparalleled" and "unmatched" organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at:' http://ALECexposed.org Related Images: http://www.anunews.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/A-Walmart-Greed.jpg Related Video: Walmart: The High Cost Of Low Prices http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6548480812335235955# Shortened Links: This document contains links shortened using http://tinyurl.com to facilitate emailing. If you are concerned that we would use them to cloak phishing or malware, you should open them with this: http://longurl.org ### THE IMPOTENCE OF ELECTIONS Our Kleptocracy-controlled media focuses on America's two-year election cycles as if who wins or loses was a matter of life or death, when in fact even at the Presidential level it makes no more difference than who wins on Monday Night Football, American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, or Hillbilly Handfishing. U.S. elections are staged primarily to give Sheeple the illusion of control so they will (a) vent their frustrations and expend their energy, emotions and resources supporting or attacking the Puppet on the Left hand or the Puppet on the Right, and consequently (b) never recognize and challenge the common omnipotent Puppetmaster. There was no real change in 2008. There was no real change in 2010. There WILL be real change in 2012, but it won't be coming from tele-brainwashed couch potatoes, manipulated voter lists, rigged voting machines or predetermined ballot counts. It will be coming from us... The 99 Percent ### I AM NOT ANONYMOUS. I AM AN AMERICAN. I am not just a Consumer. I am a Citizen. I will no longer be labeled Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Demopublican or Republocrat. I will no longer follow Puppets labeled Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative, Demopublican or Republocrat. I am the People. And I am coming for the Puppetmasters. I am part of the 99 Percent. And I demand the following: 1. End the Fed. 2. Reverse Citizens United. 3. Repeal PATRIOT Act. 4. Expose 9/11 Truth. 5. End Profit Wars. 6. Refund Taxpayer Trillions. 7. Imprison the Kleptocrats. 8. Single Term Limits. Or, if these demands are not addressed promptly: 1. Regime Change. ### WHY WE MUST END THE FED http://tinyurl.com/kleptocracytutorial These GAO proposals are toothless, too little and too late: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-18 http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-696 ### How many examples of greed and corruption must you see before you act? http://KleptocracyChronicles.com
The Occupy movement does not represent 99% of the population. Stop using that tagline. I love Wal-Mart. I will continue to use them as I see fit. Along with Sam's Club.
I understand that the Wall St hippies are mad as hell and they ain't gonna take it no more. But really, blaming Walmart for the United States trade policy that opens our market to cheap Chinese products and sends our manufacturing plants over there? That's going a bit too far. Most of the stuff Walmart sells isn't even made in this country anymore.
Well I can only hope that you don't complain about US manufacturing being sent abroad then - but expect the opposite.
Only 50 years ago the US was doing to other countries what manufacturing abroad does to the US today. What goes around comes around.
Not really because most other countries had tariffs that kept American products out of their markets.
The US single handedly destroyed the British car market by buying manufacturers, closing the factories and moving the assembly abroad.
That's not true. You had English Ford which was in the UK since the 1920's precisely because the Brits did not want to import foreign made cars. The same with GM and Vauxhaul. The British union workers refused to build quality products even though libs nationalized the car companies and ran them through the government. No wonder foreign libs hate America so much when they are so uninformed.
Sorry, but no one forces anyone to work at walmart- or shop there. If you don't like it, don't work or shop there. Personally Walmart (and Audis) made my life bearable about 5 years ago when i was 18 and in a rough spot. It gave me employment which in turn helped me pay for my necessities. I worked over 60 hours a week at minimum wage, and i was thankful for the job. I don't really see too many people who didn't fug up in life, or are not young (or old..hehe greeters) working there. The large majority had been younger people who had probably got a job to afford a new TV or somthing. It was rough, and the conditions had hardly been anything to brag about- but it was still money that i had that i didn't have before.
we Americans like our cheap stuff so we shop there I find it hysterical when the people who shop there then say how the company mistreats their workers. Most are part time min wage workers because that's the nature of the beast. You then get the professional jobs and distribution jobs as well which are higher paid than the greeters or cashiers. You could have a sandwich shop, repair shop, restaurant etc that was doing x business. When Wal Mart arrives, the other places will alse see increased traffic Years ago, people would protest Southwest airlines but there was the Southwest effect which occured due to SWA. If you don't believe it, ask MHT, BWI or MID airports about the southwest effect. Yes, with WalMart some places will lose business but others gain. In the end, the consumer wins
