Wal-Mart: The Slumlords of Retail

Before You Buy Anything At Wal-Mart Ever Again, Read This... 

A "slumlord" is a person(s) who doesn't maintain his or her property while charging exorbitant rents.  A retail slumlord does not maintain his employees and "charges" exorbitant amounts in terms of the cost to society by its unethical business practices, to wit, (1) not paying a living wage to its employees (though they have the means to) which forces taxpayers to pick up the slack in terms of increased and unnecessary burdens on the welfare systems so Wal-Mart employees can cobble a living together, and (2) the cost to the economy as a whole in terms of lost jobs which translate to less money to put back into the economy and more people on some form of welfare because of lost jobs.

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-economy-wal-mart-152360.html (01/08/2007)
"According to Forbes magazine, Wal-Mart currently has the 30th largest economy in the world (Walmart). That lands Wal-Mart right behind Saudi Arabia."

http://www.epi.org/publication/ib235/   (06/25/2007)
"The world’s biggest retailer, U.S.-based Wal-Mart was responsible for $27 billion in U.S. imports from China in 2006 and 11% of the growth of the total U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2006. Wal-Mart’s trade deficit with China alone eliminated nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs in this period."

http://economyincrisis.org/content/walmarts-impact-on-america  (07/05/2012)
"But is Walmart good for America? ... As you will see below, Walmart has destroyed tens of thousands of small businesses and countless manufacturing jobs over the past couple of decades.  Walmart has become a gigantic retail behemoth that sells five times more stuff than any other retailer in the United States.  Unfortunately, about 85 percent of all the stuff sold at Walmart is made overseas.  What that is costing the U.S. economy in terms of lost jobs and lost revenue is incalculable.  But Walmart is a perfect example of where our economic system is headed.  Our economy is becoming completely and totally dominated by highly centralized monolithic predator corporations that ruthlessly crush all competition and that will stoop to just about anything in order to cut costs.  In the future, will we all be working for gigantic communal entities that funnel all of the wealth and economic rewards to a very tiny elite?  That sounds very much like how communist China works, and red-blooded Americans should want no part of that.  America is supposed to be about free enterprise and competition and working together to build up this country, and Walmart is destroying all of that."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/03/1213437/-What-Walmart-Costs-Taxpayers#
"A new study finds that because Walmart wages are so low, many of its workers rely on food stamps and other government aid, and could cost the U.S. taxpayers as much $1 million a year --- just for one Walmart supercenter --- and there are 3,182 Walmart supercenters in the U.S."  (= $3.2 Billion per year)

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0126-05.htm

"Along comes Wal-Mart, the world's largest business, whose revenues equal an astounding 2 percent of U.S. GDP and whose power rivals that of the great trusts of a century ago."

...
"Wal-Mart's remarkable growth raises this question: How will blanketing the nation in supercenters affect our communities? In 1948, the A&P's abuses were flagrant enough that the government used the Robinson-Patman Act to enjoin the company from using price discrimination to drive smaller grocers out of business.

"But antitrust vigor has faded in our globalized world, allowing mastodons to stroll the Earth again. Happy with low prices, Wal-Mart customers don't connect those prices to the demise of neighborhood stores, the influx of illegal immigrants or the use of foreign suppliers to replace U.S. companies.

"Antitrust law once saw its goal as "the organization of industry in small units that can effectively compete against each other," as Judge Learned Hand wrote in U.S. v. Alcoa, 1945. Today, we have moved away from that view, but to where? Wal-Mart has replaced the A&P as the grocery leviathan changing the face of whole communities. Is this right?

"In economic theory, the answer is, yes. In economic theory, pure competition drives down prices and everyone benefits: consumers with lower prices, owners with greater profits, workers with higher wages.

"In the real world, competition is never pure, which is why antitrust legislation was written. The risk to society was that Standard Oil, Alcoa or the A&P would lower prices to drive competitors out of business.

"And then raise prices.

"Antitrust laws were one protection against rapaciousness, and organized labor was another. With unions, tycoons like Andrew Carnegie, George Pullman and Henry Ford no longer could dictate wages via goon squads.

"Taken together, antitrust legislation and organized labor helped to modulate business practices and create the American middle class."

http://www.ehow.com/info_8197271_walmart-its-effects-american-economy.html
"Since Wal-Mart's health insurance plan costs employees about 20 percent of each paycheck, two-thirds of its employees cannot afford to partake. In 2002, Wal-Mart employees in Georgia were responsible for ten times more children enrolled in Georgia's PeachCare program than employees of any other employer. In 2005, 25 percent of Wal-Mart employees in Tennessee were enrolled in the TennCare program.

"In 2004, the effects of the store's low wages cost taxpayers about $420,750 per store per year toward earned income tax credits, health care, food stamps, free or reduced lunch, housing assistance and energy assistance for families of Wal-Mart employees. Additionally, taxpayer dollars fundicon1.png over a billion dollars in incentive packages for Wal-Mart stores entering new communities, including subsidies for income tax credits, free or low-cost land, and road construction.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/wal-mart-company-statistics/ (7/31/2012)
"Percent of Wal-Mart suppliers located in China:  80%"
"Total sales annually: $405 Billion"

Walmart Announces $50 Billion Buy American Campaign (01/15/2013)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/15/walmart-buy-american_n_2479636.html
It will buy an "additional $50 Billion" USA-made products over the next decade = $5 Billion per year. 

"Total sales annually: $405 Billion"

$5B / $405B = 0.012345679% -- that reads a 1.24% percent per year... that's the spirit, Wal-Mart!  China is still the big winner 80%, all other suppliers 20% plus 1.24% increase in american-made products over the next decade.  Guess the cat got out of the bag and a $50 Billion headline proclaiming a "buy American spending spree" works as good press for those who don't verify the numbers.

So, the point is... if we continue to shop at Wal-Mart, YOU and I continue to put gobs of money into the hands of the wealthy elite... we give them the money which gives them the power to lobby D.C. to get their way.  It's death by 100,000 paper cuts to the economy.  They sell 51% of the food in this country.  Just have Wal-Mart turn off the spigot and watch the fun begin.  There should never be that kind of money and power in the hands of just a few people.  Society just begs for trouble.  But then, that's what dumbed-down education is for, now isn't it?

This next article is a step in the right direction, but it is only a  baby step... there is much more to do:
http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-could-change-the-us-economy-2012-12

This next article echoes the same theme, http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-raises-2011-12:  However, this statement is problematic:  "The solution to this problem, most people say, is to rebuild the U.S. manufacturing base. But why? There's nothing special about manufacturing, other than it used to have higher pay scales than today's low-wage retailing, food-service, and construction jobs."  Rebuilding the US manufacturing base rebuilds America.  It creates jobs.  Jobs provide money that strengthens the economy.  Doing our own manufacturing fortifies national security. 

You may ask, why would it fortify national security?  Because America would not be blindsided if we relied on an other country(ies) for certain products and suddenly the tap was turned off because of weather or war or whatever. 

If, for instance, we relied on certain crops from abroad that many products rely upon (corn, potatoes, soybeans, for instance) and offshore supplier(s) dried up, we would be in trouble.  Also, quality control in vital components could be monitored.  For instance, San Onofre Nuclear Plant used defective rods that were made in Japan that were starting to leak and ended up shutting down that plant.  Where would that leave us if all our reactor rods were from Japan and it was intentional sabotage?  What about produce from other countries that have been infected with e.coli.  Think of other critical things we buy offshore.  What if GM gets their plants in China to build tanks in times of war.  But what if the war is with China?  Those facilities would be taken over and used against us.  Rebuilding manufacturing plants and controlling the quality of the products puts us at cause rather than at effect, as well as being able to control the facilities for our own use and to keep out the hands of potential enemies. 

Wal-Mart has the ability to empower America, rather than suck it dry.  Giving a token "Buy American" deal is nice, but it's not enough to change the situation.  Wal-Mart needs to start acting like it is American and take some social responsibility for its "costs."  I'm not talking about a governmental wealth distribution.  I'm talking about a voluntary giving back to America to balance the equation.  Wal-Mart has the ability to not be a parasite.  It does not have to make its profits on the back of the misery of the poor.  Wal-Mart should demonstrate its loyalties are with America and her people, not to profits.  They need to put their money where their mouths are or the U.S. government needs to actually enforce the anti-trust laws that they are turning a blind-eye to when it comes to Wal-Mart.

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Comments

  • Remember, you get what you pay for, in terms of quality.  You save bucks on the handy-dandy lawn tractor, but I've heard some of the parts are plastic.  So, you may think you are getting an X-Y-Z brand lawn tractor, and you are, but built to W-M's specifications.

  • Well that cured me, I will never step foot in China Mart again.  

  • No one has the purchasing power that W-M does.

  • I do not shop that often at Wal-Mart.  For food I usually shop at the local grocery stores (weis, giant or jubilee).  Now if one goes to the Dollar Store, or to Dollar General, is this any better?  

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