The Man Who Said No To Wal-mart

believe me when I say that year after year decade after decade the ignorance of suppliers and business learned not one single lesson about consumerism for the purpose of "THE BOTTOM LINE " and realisticly invited Walmart and the cheap product industry . It is growing growing and growing more because of it until unique products and business will no longer exist . Stop kidding yourselves or make a hell of alot more noise about it .

Walmart, and supermarkets in general, are destroying the economy and jobs. Walmart, as the biggest, is the worst.

If you live in a small town, you may have noticed how all the small retailers: butchers, bakers, candlestick makers, grocers, fishmongers, music, clothes and electronic stores, have all closed down. Perhaps what was once a thriving main street is now filled with empty storefronts. Why? Because of that huge, supermarket opened up in the next town a few years ago and everyone shops there now. Actually, everyone for many miles around shops there, and it seems that all the towns in the area are becoming dead.

You might think that that's a good thing, that people are now getting a great variety of cheap products all in one convenient weekly shopping experience, and that's all that matters. But what is also going on is that when the local stores close due to impossible competition from Wal-Mart, jobs are lost.

You might think that they can all go work in Wal-Mart. But the reality is that there will be many fewer jobs to fill in a supermarket that supplies 10 towns, than in the many stores that closed in each town and village. And it's unlikely to be a rewarding experience to move from being an owner of your own store, to being a shelf-stacker or stocktaker in a supermarket. And not as well paid either. If, as has been claimed here, Walmart is indeed one of the biggest employers in the country, well, that's only because its killed all the other jobs in the area. There has been a net loss in jobs and income overall.

Plus, when money is spent in a locally-owned store, the profit is more likely to be spent by the store-owners and employees locally. If that money continues to circluate in the local economy, this is called the "local economic multiplier" effect. $5 can have the same economic benefit as $20 if spent x4 in the local economy. But if the profits are going straight to the Walton family in whereever it is they live, that cash is lost to the local economy.

Furthermore, when I shop at a locally-owned grocery store, that makes an effort to source from local farms, I hope that some of that money will stay in the area. But supermarkets source from the other side of the country, or the continent, or even the planet.

Thus, money fizzles away and we all lose jobs and a vibrant community.

Thus, FUCK WAL-MART.

There are several economic studies showing that multinationals and "sweatshops" pay higher wages and have better working conditions than other local industries. Here's one.