This will sound harsh but if not for those sweat shop jobs that American manufactures have overseas, those people wouldn't have any jobs at all. Keep in mind that in some cases, the workers save money for years in order to pay a "broker" to get them hired at some of those warehouses. Those are terribly ****** jobs but they're the only game in town.
bc, Some people. like my brother-in-law, take the position that Wal-Mart should be somehow banned. At a minimum, he believes, that I have a civic duty to avoid them. I'm unclear whether many posters are taking his position or merely sayingthat they won't shop there themselves.
so because your sis and BiL are kooks, that means the rest of us who would rather eat quality meat at home and not deal with that clusterfuck of checkout aisles are kooks too? thanks
The thread is titled "Why hate Wal-Mart?". There is a hell of a difference between avoiding one of the thousands of retailers, albeit the biggest, and hating them. There is a big difference between liking someplace else better, avoiding them for moral reasons and advocating political change to force them to operate differently. I'm just asking posters to say what they think because some of the vitriol makes the position unclear. I have a hard time understanding how you hate someplace you never go to. And I can understand how if you think someplace is acting immorally you should want others to avoid them. It doesn't seem to be a particularly important political issue for you to choose to avoid a particular retailer. Of thousands out there I avoid thousands and shop at only a few. The real political issues are: (1) does Wal-Mart engage in pernicious activities, (2) should any activities be addressed specifically or with political reform and (3) are these activities unique or special to Wal-Mart. Your shopping preferences aren't a political issue. Sorry.
People hate Wal-Mart because they believe: 1) It exploits the poor 2) It will bring poor people to their neighborhood. 3) It will cause others to think they live in a poor neighborhood. 4) It caters to the poor and the poor have no taste. _______________________________________________ 2-4 may be true, but it does not exploit the poor, it helps them to a greater degree than john edwards could ever hope to.
So when I think of Wal-Mart I think of my home town. Its not very big. Wal-Mart came in 15 years ago. Before Wal-Mart came in, there was a thriving downtown business center and 3 grocery stores. Since Wal-Mart came in, there is no more downtown. The court house is surrounded by boarded up buildings. Wal-Mart's prices were low in the beginning and stayed low until the other businesses were gone, then their prices went up. Now prices are not much different in Wal-Mart than they would have been in the local shops and the quality has gone down. So, there are fewer choices today in my town than before Wal-Mart arrived, and the profits go back to Arkansas instead of staying in town. It makes for a pretty depressing homecoming. As for shopping there, I choose not to do it, but that's just me. If you want to shop there knock yourself out.
a) it was just a joke b) you're right, the thread was "why hate walmart." you're the one making assumptions of leftist conspiracy trying to dictate how they operate, when most have posted they just don't like the place for various reasons, be it food quaity or selection, service, conditions, philosophy, or whatever else.
Ankf00, I understood you were joking. I wasn't really addressing you specifically. And I understand that most are just sharing their shopping preferences which, as I said, doesn't really address the political issues. I was trying to elicit political opinions, whatever they are, not shopping preferences. And I'm not inferring any opinions. On the contrary I'm at a loss what some people want. I uderstand they don't think of Wal-Mart positively but that leaves a vast range of possibilities about their proposed solution.
A friend of mine grew up in Hearne. He told me that Wal-Mart came in, destroyed their downtown as in NAIU's example, and then closed down, forcing everybody in Hearne to go to their location in Bryan. Wal-Mart transformed an independent town of 5000 into a suburb of Bryan with virtually no local economy. NYT Link
On the sweatshop issue, Tandoori and Dead properly raised the perspective issue. As explored by John Tierney of the NYT -
When I was at A&M in the late 80s, Hearne looked like it had been dead for 30 years...Hell, it looks like 1/2 the towns I drive thru on 281 going to SA (well, I used to use 281 - now I use 16) - and they don't have Walmarts... Walmart may not have helped, but they weren't the only reason that town is crap... Also, FWIW, one of the MAJOR reason that Walmart shut down was due to it being one of Walmart's leaders in "shortage" (stolen stuff)...
Pretty good topic. The real #1 unequivacol reason that some people hate WalMart and single them out over other competitors that do the same thing is that WalMart makes an obscene amount of money. Not to be overly general but most of the vitriol for WalMart on a national scale comes from democrats/liberals. It really, at its core, is no different than taxing the wealthiest of Americans more, or Big Oil, or big Estates or whatever. WalMart does make an obscene amount of money. Could they put that money to use elsewhere? Sure. Whether they should or not is only up to them. if people stop shopping there they will change things. If their stock price begins to erode, they will change. WalMart is a for profit business with a ton of shareholders. Their duty is to maximize their profits now and in the future. If it becomes in their best financial interest to change their ways then they will. Other public companies out there that may pay more or have better benefits or give more to charity etc do it because it is in their interest to do it. Maybe they prefer less turnover. Maybe they attract investment from philantropic avenues. Who knows. But nobody at the head of a public company does anything that they don't expect to improve their company at some point. They would get fired for that.
The mirror in that Wal-Mart South Park episode should have been a picture of Kenny - the stereotypical "poor" kid in the series. Wal-Mart is largely a product of the poor's needs, which it serves well:
f**k the city of hearne. i have no idea how anyone could live in a town with annual "nigger roundups", condoned by law enforcement and DA's office. that was off topic, but i get frothy when hearne gets brought up.
Bronco, Nobody is calling for any taxation of Walmart or any other action that I can see, so it is not like a desire to tax the rich. I think you are attempting to frame this as class warfare when I see nothing on this thread to support your claim. Washpark, you go further and print a strawman argument about claims that Walmart is bad for the poor. Again, who has said that? It is obvious that the poor would be most inclined to shop based only on low price because of the constraints of their budget. I have gone to Walmart when money was tight myself. You, also, seem to want to ignore the reasons most posters on this thread have given for their dislike or avoidance of Walmart. I will agree that those on the left may be more prone to decry Walmart, but are there no people on the right who are concerned about fair labor practices or labor exploitation? That would be pretty sad if all anyone used to measure right or wrong was degree of profitability. It also sort of be inconsistent with some of the religious tenets of the religious right, wouldn't it?
