2008 Woodie Awards
Wal-Mart ruining American economy
By Mike Goodwin
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/24/06 Section: Opinion
How was that trip to Wal-Mart the other day? Save any money? Make any useful purchases? Succumb to the idea of American unity by throwing your money away? I didn't either.
The only reason I actually go there is to stay away from people. The two best times to do that are early in the morning and late at night. Given that I go to bed when most people are waking up (see last week's articles on insomnia as to why), I tend to enjoy shopping any time after 10 p.m. So off to Wal-Mart I go for food. Of course, on occasion, I probably buy some things I don't need.
I very much hate Wal-Mart though. For me, it reflects every negative aspect of capitalism possible; the upper and lower class financial gap, the apparent banishment of small business, the mistreatment of employees, corporate loopholes, lawsuits, and many more I could probably think of if I really had the time. While my social life is questionable, I've got classes and homework too.
I'm looking at various Web sites that give a lot of interesting facts about the company. My personal favorite so far is an, excerpt from James Hightower's book entitled Thieves in High Places; "This Company runs ads featuring the United States flag and proclaims 'We Buy American.' In 2001, they moved their worldwide purchasing headquarters to China and are the largest importer of Chinese goods in the US, purchasing over $10 BILLION of Chinese-made products annually." Like good comedy; it's funny because it's true. Where else could you go to buy tacky American flag paraphernalia?
But no one cares where a product is made. We're in a global market now and chances are, within a very short time frame, any one of us could find ten things laying around a room that are made in another country. So let's move on to juicier tidbits of information and how we all blindly follow an evil that is big business.
According to Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, many full-time employees of Wal-Mart earn under $20,000 a year. I honestly don't see very many, how shall I say this, younger people, working in any Wal-Mart (I travel between Eastern and Western Pennsylvania; I've been to quite a few). It would amaze me if any employee could support themselves on that kind of money. And since Wal-Mart doesn't exactly offer the best health-care coverage (lawsuits pending, which by the way, Wal-Mart leads over every other corporation), I'm not seeing an upside for older people to work there.
The only reason I actually go there is to stay away from people. The two best times to do that are early in the morning and late at night. Given that I go to bed when most people are waking up (see last week's articles on insomnia as to why), I tend to enjoy shopping any time after 10 p.m. So off to Wal-Mart I go for food. Of course, on occasion, I probably buy some things I don't need.
I very much hate Wal-Mart though. For me, it reflects every negative aspect of capitalism possible; the upper and lower class financial gap, the apparent banishment of small business, the mistreatment of employees, corporate loopholes, lawsuits, and many more I could probably think of if I really had the time. While my social life is questionable, I've got classes and homework too.
I'm looking at various Web sites that give a lot of interesting facts about the company. My personal favorite so far is an, excerpt from James Hightower's book entitled Thieves in High Places; "This Company runs ads featuring the United States flag and proclaims 'We Buy American.' In 2001, they moved their worldwide purchasing headquarters to China and are the largest importer of Chinese goods in the US, purchasing over $10 BILLION of Chinese-made products annually." Like good comedy; it's funny because it's true. Where else could you go to buy tacky American flag paraphernalia?
But no one cares where a product is made. We're in a global market now and chances are, within a very short time frame, any one of us could find ten things laying around a room that are made in another country. So let's move on to juicier tidbits of information and how we all blindly follow an evil that is big business.
According to Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, many full-time employees of Wal-Mart earn under $20,000 a year. I honestly don't see very many, how shall I say this, younger people, working in any Wal-Mart (I travel between Eastern and Western Pennsylvania; I've been to quite a few). It would amaze me if any employee could support themselves on that kind of money. And since Wal-Mart doesn't exactly offer the best health-care coverage (lawsuits pending, which by the way, Wal-Mart leads over every other corporation), I'm not seeing an upside for older people to work there.
