Does anyone else think that Walmart is taking over the world? They have practically put all of the small businesses in my area out of business. Our local Kmart is getting ready to close and I've heard that our local Target isn't doing so well either. People either love or hate Walmart. What do you think?
I have a lot of concerns about what Wal-Mart is doing, and have been posting jokes about it in a couple of places in the forum.
One is here in the Flamer's Ward under "I hate snow" which of course is a joke if you've been following that thread about me going to Australia:
quote:
Kookaburra said this in post #89 :
.....As I was saying, now that I'm in Australia, and don't have to compete with Wal-Mart undercutting the prices of my eggs in order to put me out of business, I can start marketing these eggs. Now, if we can just train the chickens to bring their eggs to the house, I can free up my kangaroo for boxing matches with Tyson. Oh wait... do kangaroos have ears that he could easily bite off?
The other one is here, where we make up a story but each person picks up where another left off, without knowing where the story is going to take us. Even though I am joking in the stories, the underlying fact is, I think they are up to no good. Wait until they have no competion, and see what happens to their low prices then!
quote:
Kookaburra said this in post #26 :
"Oh Cleo, Cleo, Cleo" she said. "You have so much to learn. Wal-Mart had been slashing prices so low as to undercut their competition so they couldn't stay in business. This has been a known fact for a long time. You see, they plan to cut their prices so low, until everyone else is out of business, and then they plan to raise the prices beyond what earthlings can afford. It's their plot to create a monopoly on earth, and force everyone to depend on them."
Heather, you DON'T like Walmart? I think that they are pretty competitive on prices, and...the supercenters kicka$s because I can get everything done! I used to like Fred Myers, but Walmart has much lower prices on a lot of things I like...like DVD's...they have the cheapest prices I have encountered. And I have three of the stores within 15 minutes of my house.
How ya'll gonna go and Looooovve Target, but hate Walmart? What's not at Walmart that is at Target? Or is it that Walmart is taking away shopping options and running competitors out?
I like Walmart. THey donate a ton to charity, they take moral stands on the type of products they sell (ie porn, music, etc.), and their prices are way low. I don't understand that people don't like them because they are more successful than target or K-mart. Where i live walmart and kmart are within a mile of each other, but everybody still shops at walmart. Blame the consumers for that, not the stores.
I think some people also hate walmart because it sells guns. Personally, i'd rather have people buying guns at walmart than some local gun store or a gun show. Walmart doesn't rely on gun profits, so it isn't gonna sell to anyone illegally, and the transaction will have a record.
Yeah they can buy a gun at Walmart and use it to shoot somebody. But they can't go to Walmart to buy a CD that talks about shooting somebody. If they are so concerned with protecting the right the bare arms, what about the freedom of speech. Censorship is wrong too.
Source: http://www.corporateswine.net/walmart.html
Notes: If you visit the link above, there are sublinks which I did not copy over. Very interesting article that I thought heather would appreciate.
Wal-Mart is planning a statewide takeover of California. As if its regular sized megastores aren’t big enough, Walmart’s newest reign of terror are their twice-as-large Supercenters. The second largest employer in the nation next to the Department of Defense, Wal-Mart has 1494 regular stores in the US alone. In addition to this, 1386 of these Supersized consumption centers exist in 43 states – but none in California. Yet. Walmart headquarters is planning to expand its empire into California this year, choosing 40 locations in their expansion plans.
Not your Neighborhood store...
There is a popular myth that opening new Wal-Mart stores creates hundreds of new jobs in the community, but studies have shown that the megastores wipe out so many small businesses that on average for every two jobs created by Wal-Mart, three jobs are lost. In a 1994 report, the Congressional Research Service warned Congress that communities need to evaluate the significance of any job gains at big-box stores against any loss of jobs due to reduced business at competing retailers. The report also pointed out that these so-called new jobs "provide significantly lower wages then jobs in many industries, and are often only part-time positions, seasonal opportunities, or subject to extensive turnover."
The Real Story is that when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood, it devours local businesses and lowers community living standards. Walmart also contributes to the massive loss of American manufacturing jobs to the global south, where Kathy Lee and her cohorts are permitted to operate slave-like operations in sweatshops free of regulation. Two 1998 studies that examined clothing on Wal-Mart racks showed that more than 80% of the the apparel items were made overseas, often in countries where child labor is prevalent.
One difficulty that many Americans see Wal-Mart as friendly folks from Arkansas bringing the community the cheapest prices in town. But don’t be fooled, this Megaconglomerate took in $244 billion in revenue in 2003, and recently surpassed ExxonMobil as the largest and richest corporation in the world with annual profits of a record $8 billion last year. Being America’s second largest employer, you’d think a company with this much surplus could afford to provide its employees with a living wage, health care, and job security, but you’d sure be wrong. Where do the profits go? Into the hands of the Waltons, of course, the ruling family of the Wal-Mart empire.
Of the 10 richest people in the world, five are Waltons. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London’s "Rich List 2001" as the wealthiest human on the planet, having sacked up more than $65 billion (£45.3 billion) in personal wealth and topping Bill Gates as No. 1.
Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton wasn’t born into riches, and hundreds of variations his success story float around the internet about how he turned a million dollars in debt into 8 billion dollars in surplus. But while they tell you how he did it, they never really say how he did it. Walton lived the “Great American Dream”. He pulled himself up by those stubborn bootstraps and started selling. Then he learned if you sell enough you become rich. Destroy your competition and you become super-rich. Keep your employees underpaid, limit their schedules to part-time to avoid paying benefits, get your merchandise made overseas where labor standards are non-existent, and you become the richest man in America.
Walton died in 1992, but his empire has lived on, and grown exponentially.
Hey, it's just like a human conquerer! The strongest shall survive-type scenario, right? I mean, that's not right to wipe out jobs, homes, and businesses...but at the same time...they are dominating the market! When I open up my own business, I plan on doing everything in my power to make it successful, and boohoo if I put someone out of business because the clientele likes my operation better!
12-07-2003 06:37 PM
if I put someone out of business because the clientele likes my operation better!
