Wal-Mart Is Not a Business, It's an Economic Disease
 

Inspired by tonight's wallmart thread.


http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3044wal-mart.html


This article appears in the Nov. 14, 2003 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Wal-Mart Is Not a Business, It's an Economic Disease
by Richard Freeman and Arthur Ticknor

The Wal-Mart department store chain, which employs 1.3 million people at 4,700 stores worldwide, and in 2002 became the largest corporation in the world, is levelling economies of the U.S., industrial nations, and the Third World.

Wal-Mart is a driving force behind the decadent Imperial Roman model of the United States. Unable any longer to reproduce its own population's existence through its own physical economy, the United States has, for the past two decades, used an over-valued dollar to suck in physical goods from around the globe for its survival. Wal-Mart is both the public face and working sinews of that policy. It brings in cheap pants from Bangladesh, cheap shirts from China, cheap food from Mexico, etc. Workers who produce these things are paid next to nothing.

Not since the days of the British East India Company as the cornerstone of the British imperial system, has one single corporate entity been responsible for so much misery. At the core of its policy, Wal-Mart demands of its suppliers that they sell goods to Wal-Mart at such a low price, that they can only do so by outsourcing their work to low-wage factories overseas. This causes the exodus of millions of production jobs from the United States and the setting up of slave-labor concentration camps around the globe. Wal-Mart's policy includes crushing living standards in America, forbidding its workers from unionizing, bringing in workers illegally from abroad, and bankrupting tens of thousands of stores and outlets on Main Street, ripping apart communities and their tax bases.

On Nov. 1, 2004, Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche declared that Wal-Mart and its destructive policy must be stopped. LaRouche declared a boycott against Wal-Mart, to expose it and take it down. LaRouche told a cadre school gathering of the LaRouche Youth Movement in Philadelphia, "Wal-Mart is not a company, it's an epidemic disease. Wal-Mart is one of the biggest factors in causing unemployment in the United States.... Wal-Mart is your enemy.... It's destroying our community; it represents globalization; it represents an institutionalization of the values which stink." (See full text in Feature.)

Wal-Mart has been primed for this role since 1962, when it was founded by Sam Walton in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas. It has such immense power in the United States, and leverage overseas, that it has run roughshod over all opposition?until now.

Sam's Club ... Over Your Head
Sam Walton started in the retailing business when he bought a Ben Franklin five and dime store in Newport, Arkansas in 1945. In 1962, he opened the first store under the name "Wal-Mart." In 1970, Wal-Mart made its first public stock offering; the issue was underwritten by Stephens, Inc. of Little Rock, an investment bank which has been identified with some shady dealings.

In 1987, a turning point came for Wal-Mart, when it opened its first superstore, called Hypermarket*USA, modeled on the hypermarkets of Europe. At that time, the average clothing or grocery store in America had 15-22,000 square feet of space. By contrast, the hypermarkets, now called supercenters, had 150-200,000 feet. The supercenter was based on the idea of one-stop shopping: In the same store, one could buy groceries, merchandise and appliances, fast food, and photo development; one could also do one's banking. Wal-Mart took advantage of an advanced inventory system; its bulk purchases of goods, which led to price discounts; and a ferocious anti-labor policy keeping wages very low.

The company set out to obliterate its competition. At the Bentonville headquarters, Wal-Mart still displays the pictures of the heads of its 24 major food and merchandise chain competitors, each framed like an FBI "Wanted" poster. It now builds one new store every 42 hours.

Figure 1 shows that Wal-Mart's annual sales quadrupled from $55.5 billion in its Fiscal Year 1993, to $244.5 billion in FY 2003 (which ended Jan. 1, 2003).

Walmart has grabbed a dominant or near-dominant position in key sectors of the retail market:

* It sells 19% of all grocery-store food in the United States, making it the largest food seller. It plans to double grocery and related sales from $82 billion to $165 billion during the next five years, which would give it command of 35% of the market. It plans to open 40 supercenters in California over the next five years, which is a major cause for the grocery strike in southern California. Managements at the three major grocery stores in southern California, where 70,000 United Food and Commercial Workers (UCFW) workers are striking, have said they are trying to renegotiate lower employer contributions to health-care benefits, because they fear that Wal-Mart plans to saturate southern California with stores, and they will be unable to compete.

* It handles 16% of all pharmacy-drug sales in the United States, and plans to increase that share to 25% by 2008, which would make it the largest pharmacy in America.

* It controls 30% of the U.S. household staples market?paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo?and analysts predict that it will increase that share to 50% before decade's end.

* It is Hollywood's biggest outlet, selling 15-20% of all CDs, videos, and DVDs in the United States.

* It sells 15% of all single-copy news publications.

Reciprocally, Wal-Mart controls a large and increasing share of the business done by almost every major consumer-products company: 28.3% of Dial's (soap products); 24% of Del Monte Foods'; 23% of Clorox's (bleaches and cleaners); and 23% of Revlon's (cosmetics). It controls one-fifth or more of the business done by Proctor & Gamble (household products and soaps); Levi Strauss (jeans and clothing); and Newell Rubbermaid (household consumer rubber products). That is, Wal-Mart is all of these firms' biggest outlet, by a wide margin.

This gives Wal-Mart tremendous leverage over all its producers/suppliers, even though many of them are in the Fortune 500. Twenty years ago, the supplier of products went to Wal-Mart, and told Wal-Mart the price to charge for each product. Today, Wal-Mart "co-determines" the price; it tells the supplier what type of product it wants, how to arrange its inventory, what sort of product line to develop. Because Wal-Mart determines how much shelf space each supplier receives, it has life-and-death control over that supplier. If Wal-Mart says that it wants a product's price to be lowered by 20-25%, that supplier will be forced to outsource an increasing share of its production.

Likewise, Wal-Mart has become a conveyor belt, either directly or through its suppliers, for imported goods, mostly from cheap-labor countries. Wal-Mart imports 10% of all America's total imports from China. According to the Sept. 26, 2003 Irish Independent, "If Wal-Mart were a country, it would rank ahead of Great Britain and Russia in total imports."

[snip] go to website for rest.

u shop there? i do.

duh. walmart sucks in so many ways it's not even funny.

microsoft

Doesn't everyone go there at some time or another?

:winkwink:

Did you hear that wal-mart banned mastercards today :) lol i think mastercard will be crying cash now :)

I've been living here in NY for about 10 years and honestly I would be hard pressed to remember ever really seeing or remembering a location of a Wal-Mart, much less stepping foot inside one.

Walmart sells junk. It just doesn't last very long, and in the long run, you end up paying more at Walmart.

The City of Vancouver keeps on denying zoning requests from Walmart, as they know Walmarts destroy local businesses.

everyone was suprised to hear that lensman was advising a camera from wal-mart. :) They couldnt believe he went to wal-mart :)

its funny i have always noticed the richest guys always buy the cheapest brands of beer , and the bums drink budweiser :) Theres a lesson there somewhere.

Lemme see if I get this right - A beautiful big store with everything you could possible want in one place, the cheapest prices, lots of parking, clean and well lit, open all the time, nobody bugging you and good friendly people is bad? ? ?

WalMart doesn't make their employees work there - they can go and work whereever they want. It's absolutely the best operation around - for the public and for the employees. Where else would these people be working? McDonalds?

Why are you hating on walmart for being brutally efficient?

The same complaints you have in your Lyndon Larouche article can be levelled at ANY US corporation that uses cheap foreign materials and labor to service local demand.

The US has been outsourcing and globalizing its operations since the Oil Crisis of the 1970's--but US Income and Productivity keep rising.

Walmart is here to stay. Big Box stores are here to stay. Either we look at change in the eye and PROFIT from it (by reinvesting in ourselves, retooling our skills) or PERISH from it (must suck to be a buggy driver when cars came around).

Well as a general statement thats correct , but not always true. I have bought sony dvd players at wal-mart for cheaper than anywhere else. SOME products are no-brainers at wal-mart , like gas stations they count on the fact you will buy 1 cheap things and 3 overpriced items .

The major difference here is the scale. Everyone of course focuses on optimizing prices, but Wal-Mart uses its size as levarge so it affects other companies which may not want to out source overseas and forces them to do so. That is more a tactic of a monopoly than a fair business, which is why there are regulations against monopolies in the US. What it does to its own workers is one thing, but forcing its suppliers to modify their business practices, that is room for argument.

Umm some of your facts are a bit faulty there :)

They bug you as soon as you get in the door. " hello sir enjoy wal-mart "

Chepeast prices ? On a very few items everything else is budget crap thats over-priced.

Wal-mart was under investigation last year for several of the large chains hiring illegal immmigrant's and are well know for the use of slave labour in china to make cheap crap.

Search google for the terms wal-mart and the secret red chinese police .

Wahh wahhh wahhh wahhh Man, why are my fellow americans so damn used to griping and complaining. Maybe thats the reason we're getting crushed in manufacturing.

Everyone wants cheap but nobody wants crap quality. So if you outsource or import you are damned and if you build it in the US you are fucked.

Stop hating on Walmart for succeeding. There will THOUSANDS more like it down the pike. It is the future.

http://www.rense.com/general13/walmart.htm

you may find this amusing confusing or frightening

I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for. If you buy a 5 dollar pair of shoes that's exactly what you'll get.. they won't last too long and they sure as hell won't be comfy..

I go to wally world for things like school supplies, office supplies and when they have a sale on something of interest..

Let's face it.. they do have name brand things too.. Hell they're even carrying levi brand now!

Wait wait wait wait wait.

Budweiser isn't the cheapest beer!? :eek7

Exactly , if you know how to shop and have the time you candfind great name brand items just the same as in bestbuy or sears but cheaper , you just cant be fooled into grabbing those great no-name "deals" as you wait in line :)

Well America has followed outsourcing for a while and besides computer hardware what else are we producing here that's of any value. And this is an innovation that was largely born and developed on US soil. We can't make anything else thats worth a damn anymore because to an extent there isnt enough government regulation.

Sure regulation will eat away at your profits but it will raise the standard of living in the nation if done properly. So you have to be very specific about whose interests you are looking out for. Whats best for the corporation, isnt necessarily whats best for the individual living in a nation.

Wal-Mart rules. You just can't get the big carton of Whoppers, the 10 lb bag of frozen chicken nuggets, and an 8 pack of tube socks in one stop anyplace else.

Read the quote i said the rich guys drink the cheapest and the bums drink budweiser :) meaning rich guys buy the cheao shit while bums end up drinking the more expensive bears.

This isnt always the case , just an observation over time.

Are you saying budweiser is expensive then ? :eek7

I drove out to my dad's house in the suburbs the other day...only to find a new wal-mart, almost completed, a half a mile from another one and about 3/4 of a mile from yet another one.

Hey, I never said I shopped at Walmart, but I did but some gifts at Walmart.com. The first time I went to their site was Thanksgiving day, and they had $99 digital cameras, $159 portable DVD players, and a Sony stereo on sale. And free shipping, so what the fuck.

Personally, I don't like Walmart stores, I prefer Target for the basics. But we have a brand new Sam's Club on the way home from work and it's pretty decent, and a lot easier than Costco.

I spend money, too much of it, but I hate to overpay.

The funny part is..! I hate to shop! ickky ewwwwww!

I have to be the oddest female there is. When I go to a store I wanna get in get what I need and get out!

So those impulse buys as you're leaving don't get to me.

well i hate to post a big long spew as some people have short attention spans but.

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In its simplest terms, Wal-Mart is a front for the Rockefellers and the Red Chinese Secret Police. Do not the top honchos at Wal-Mart know that their cheap prices are based on production by Chinese slave labor, in camps and factories operated by the Secret Police? By the way, there has been a movement in the U.S. to pay reparations to the descendents of American slavery. Will there some day be a similar movement in mainland China, to compensate the families and descendents of slave laborers?


Items that other stores sell for twenty dollars are sold by Wal-Mart for ten dollars. And Wal-Mart reportedly pays only twenty cents for the item made by slave labor. There is very little about the period of the 1980s as to Wal-Mart, when the Rockefellers were installing the Chinese in Arkansas and in American business. Who was noticing when the Rockefellers were playing their China card?


Who is a major transporter for Wal-Mart and got likewise big in the 1980s? Why, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc., now headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. Some of J.B. Hunt's drivers have confirmed to us, off the record, because they do not wish to jeopardize their good jobs: (1) that reportedly they have reason to believe on occasion they are transporting contraband, believed by them to be narcotics and (2) that state authorities, such as in Illinois, know J.B. Hunt trucks are untouchable, not to be stopped for searching such as for contraband, or suspected overloading, or any other trucking or other violations. In Illinois, the trucks are headed for a J.B. Hunt terminal in a Chicago suburb.

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Go here and read the full story and prepare to have your head unscrewed

http://www.rense.com/general13/walmart.htm

LOL ok i should have clarified that as you didnt actually say you were inside of a wal-mart :)

Bringing US jobs to underdeveloped countries who will bid lower DOESN'T raise the mean standard of living for humanity, it LOWERS it. It allows corporations to EXPLOIT unstable political situations and desperation.

The only way for an undeveloped country to truly raise it's standard of living in a progressive way is to do it on it's own. To create their own native employers and build a productive niche, like what happened in east asia in the 20th century.

Lowering the buying power a producing job nets by exploiting civil unrest does not do the working class anywhere any good. Once a low standard has been set (e.g. workers working for pennies instead of nickles), it's difficult to raise it.

Not that its not possible, because it could be, but some proof of contraband would be nice :thumbsup

That's the key to success. HIGH QUALITY, Affordable prices. Adult.com's $10 porn and others follow that model. This is the model that will survive.

Like I said they do have some name brand stuff! so nothing to be ashamed of ! especially if you can get it at a better price..

Stand proud hon! hehe

Let's assume, in a parallel universe where walmart doesn't exist, an unemployed man spends 5 dollars more by shopping at mom and pop's.

Now let's assume in our universe, that same unemployed man saves 5 bucks shopping at walmart, however his neighbor just lost a 600 dollar a week manufacturing job that was exported to another country. Further down the road, ms. joeblow lost her part time clerk job at mom and pop's which payed 400 bucks a week. She now has to work at walmart as a peon slave tool for 350.

Getting the picture yet? The low prices are an illusion, the long term net effect of corporations like walmart are in every way distructive to the economy and the country.

Of course the ultimate extreme would be that Wal-mart closes out all retailers and becomes the sole retailer for a ton of goods. Then they would of course start jacking prices. So everyone who is singing their praises for a few bargains here and there, dont for a second think that the consumer's wants and needs are what they are catering too. They are simply undercutting the competition.

:thumbsup the sad fact is there just isnt enough of you around.

I like stores where i know the salesman and he wouldnt bullshit me because i wouldnt i might not invite him to a party or fuck up his car or some shit. And i shop there because i like the store and they buy good shit.

I wish that everyone agreed , but the fact is if you told someone heres a dvd player for sale for $50 but my employees are starving , and another guy says heres the same dvd player for $60 but my employees are happy and have healthy kids. Most people would buy the $50 one because all they see is $$$.

When i go to stores like wal-mart i really give them a hard time , ill go to a department and ask for a service rep. then i act like i know nothing about whatever im looking for , then i prod them along with alot of stupid questions , then i goad them into lying to me about something that the prodcut will do, then you suddenly flip on them and be like " WTF you LIAR . WHERES YOUR MANAGAGER YOU LYING BITCH " then i get him out there and tell them the employee just lied to my face to try and get me to buy something. lol. Im a bastard.

Dark Jedi says:

Bringing US jobs to underdeveloped countries who will bid lower DOESN'T raise the mean standard of living for humanity, it LOWERS it. It allows corporations to EXPLOIT unstable political situations and desperation.

BULLSHIT! Prices are lower b/c infrastructure is cheaper and labor is cheaper due to a high agricultural base in these countries. This depresses the wages for everyone there. Just because labor prices are low, it does not mean that the politics is unstable and desperate. LOOK AT CHINA. Very stable. Very authoritarian--currency is cheap. The reason they have such low wages is because so many farmers are making pennies a day. Which is okay cuz pennies a day is enough to get by on the country side.

The only way for an undeveloped country to truly raise it's standard of living in a progressive way is to do it on it's own. To create their own native employers and build a productive niche, like what happened in east asia in the 20th century.
Again. BULLSHIT. Look at Japan, its economy really started taking off during the VIETNAM WAR cuz, guess what, the US was buying most of Japan's goods in its war effort. Korea... same damn thing, exporting high quality goods for dirt cheap.

Lowering the buying power a producing job nets by exploiting civil unrest does not do the working class anywhere any good. Once a low standard has been set (e.g. workers working for pennies instead of nickles), it's difficult to raise it.

Bottom line: 2 bucks a day may be peanuts to you, but its a LOT of money to someone in Bangladesh. Give them the opportunity to compete and they'll SMOKE your ass!

This is why invented 99 Cents Stores.

No fucking way. Walmart is anti-porn and anti-first amendment. I don't support institutions that try to take food from my mouth.

Hey you can cry on Wal-Mart all you want, Kmart and Venture had their opportunitys and were the dominant force in the midwest, they like many others made faulty decisions just like any other corporate giant. Therefore they failed, cause Wal-Mart has their head screwed on straight is no reason to bag them, anyone of you would be feeling alot different if you were callin the shots or a son of the now famous Sam Walton :waaaaahh