The Wal-Mart behemoth has wrapped its corporate talons around the entire globe. No one, it seems, is safe from low prices and amazing bargains. From women's rights, and poisonous food, to the impact on our environment, Wal-Mart has left an indelible mark on all of our lives.
When the company's founder Sam Walton, died in 1992, he left behind a staggering 80 billion dollars. His widow and children are now worth more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet combined. Unfortunately most of this wealth has been accumulated through the use of deceit and manipulation. Public relations experts are kept very busy trying to keep up the appearance of a wholesome family shopping center.
Unfair Employer
Women working at Wal-Mart definitely feel they have been pushed around long enough. They have filed the largest work place biased lawsuit in U.S. history due to the sexist nature of Wal-Mart's policies. On average, female employees working there earn thirty-seven cents less on the hour than their male counterparts. And they make up ninety-two percent of the cashiers but only fourteen percent of store managers.
In 2001 they were forced to pay six million dollars for violations of The Americans with Disabilities Act, passing over handicapped applicants for more able-bodied workers. Discrimination towards African-American truck drivers has also recently surfaced as an issue of concern.
The employees there seem to have a high threshold for pain. They'd better, because Wal-Mart has some of the worst healthcare imaginable. For a family, the deductible is 3,000 dollars. And they must wait far too long for coverage. A full time employee has to work there for six months to get their policy. On top of every thing else the workers are forced to work different hours from month to month or risk disciplinary action. Disgruntled employees are easily replaced with fresh, friendly faces.
Tainted Food
From one of their filthy, overseas, illegally operating food plants straight to your dinner table…even the family dog gets a special treat in his kibble: Melamine. Melamine is an arsenic derivative used in pesticides and fertilizers. E. coli has been found in various foods including spinach and peanut butter. Salmonella has also been an issue in the Chinese factories that supply Wal-Mart's shelves. Wal-Mart has also refused to give the almost expired and excess food to shelters for the needy. They just throw it out despite the desperate need. This lack of any kind of heart is a large part of what has caused nationwide shortages in food banks. Top brass in Wal-Mart's executive branch have flagrantly flaunted their wealth and left the bottom rung of the American populous to starve to death in a free country.
Wal-Marsh
Wal-Mart loves sensitive wetland ecosystems. It appears they make a great spot to set up shop. One acre at a time they are covering up tracts of the last of the natural beauty the world has to offer with pavement and lies. And then, when they decide that across the street they would sell more paper towels, they abandon the old building, leaving it to rot. Graffiti and vandalism are inevitable. And since the next logical occupant must be a large retail style store the site never gets sold because no one can compete with Wally-World across the road.
In 2004, a swarm of lawsuits in nine states for violations of environmental laws stung Wal-Mart in the backside. They ended up paying 400,000 dollars out of court. They even have designs on your culture. They had no problem putting up a Super Center in the shadow of a two-thousand year old pyramid from the Teotihuacán Empire located in Mexico. The natives were understandably upset. You can see a Wal-Mart lurking in almost any culture in the world, ready to pounce on the people's pocketbooks. What's next, replacing the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem with the “wailing” Wal-Mart?
Pack Your Bags Mom and Pop
The days of small people with big dreams are almost over. No one can compete with those gosh darned low prices. No longer will Americans be able to achieve their goals of simple business. Even when communities rally to stop Wal-Mart from moving in, corporate terrorism and back room politics, get them in the door. As a result, people must shop there, despite their best interests. And since nobody has a choice of where to shop anymore they can't complain when some of the products they are sold turn out to be junk.
The products are so shoddy because the manufacturers are forced to compete for Wal-Mart's business which in many cases ends up with American jobs being sent overseas. Paul Krugman, a Princeton University economist was quoted as saying "Wal-Mart is so big and so centralized that it can all at once hook Chinese and other suppliers into its digital system. So-wham!-you have a large switch to overseas sourcing in a period quicker than under the old rules of retailing."
