Gosh, Sebastian d'ya think perhaps if Wal-Mart were to adopt a strategy that placed people ahead of profits even marginally they'd get this kind of crap?
And I love this:
Last year Hillary Clinton returned a campaign contribution from Wal-Mart, even though she had no compunction in banking a check from Jerry Springer.
Uh, let's see. Wal-Mart: Major contributor to the republican party; Jerry Springer, Democratic politician and liberal talk-show host. Hmmm...guess Hillary is just not as politically attuned as you are Seb old buddy!
Once upon a time Wal-Mart used to be a huge supporter of American companies by being a retailer that provided access to markets and consumers access to American-made goods. Then something happened, Wal-Mart went beyond huge, to something else entirely. It became a soul-crushing monolith with, for want of a better word, "interesting" employment practices and a reputation for crushing suppliers who could not meet their "Every Day Low Prices" promise. Like this:
Vlasic Pickles was roped into a contract with Wal-Mart, in which Wal-Mart sold a 3 gallon jar of whole pickles for $2.97. Wal-Mart sold 240,000 gallons of pickles per week. But the price of the 3 gallon jar was so low, that it vastly undercut Vlasic's sales of 8 ounce and 16 ounce jars of cut pickles; further, Vlasic only made a few pennies per 3 gallon jar. With its profits tumbling, Vlasic asked Wal-Mart for the right to raise the price per 3 gallon jar to $3.49, and according to a Vlasic executive, Wal-Mart threatened that if Vlasic tried to back out of this feature of the contract, Wal-Mart would cease carrying any Vlasic product. Eventually, a Wal-Mart executive said, "Well, we've done to pickles what we did to orange juice. We've killed it"—meaning it had wiped out competitor products. Finally, it allowed Vlasic to raise prices; but in January 2001, Vlasic filed for bankruptcy.
There are a lot of other examples, but how do you reconcile the damage Wal-Mart does to entire sectors of the economy, by driving out competition? I don't know if that's considered good corporate citizenship anywhere outside of the Wall Street Financial Analyst clubrooms.
Separately, states are beginning to address Wal-Mart's practice of forcing its workers to rely on taxpayer-subsidized medical care instead of providing affordable health-care because it was not helpful in maintaining their "bottom line" numbers. To their credit, it seems that Wal-Mart may be addressing this slowly, but whether it's for show or part of a longer-term strategy to bring the company into the mainstream of corporate citizenship or an election-cycle aberration is anyones guess.
So, Mr. Mallaby up in your Washington Post Inside the Beltway Pundit Office, get on out to some place that is actually affected by Wal-Mart. Go talk to the employees of CostCo and other retailers, and then some Wal-Mart employees who do the same jobs; compare and contrast. See what impact Wal-Mart has had on entire communities. Are they really better off for the lack of competition and cheap imports at "EDLP" from China (or whereever)?
Then come back and report on whose hand is getting bitten, and why. Just my ill-informed opinion, but maybe you'll discover you have been shouting down the wrong aisle.
Yup. And Vlasic pickles were really good, too. I miss them. I HATE WalMart for this kind of crap, absolutely hate them. They've cheapened America, ruined companies, ruined products, and made it damn near impossible to find good quality products at a reasonable price. And they hand out corporate literature to their employees on how to sign up for public assistance programs, instead of providing them with a decent living. All while the heirs sit back in their housing compounds that even have freakin' bunkers in case of an uprising by the poor!
