More on Wal-Mart
More and more people are starting to learn the high cost to our communities because of Wal Mart.
The cost of what people feel is the “pure capitalism” behind the big yellow smile is not always seen, but needs to be understood.
The free market when it comes to them, also comes to us in the cost of paying for public health for those not covered by the company and in the give-aways they get from your local political leaders.
The ability for you to have access to a bottle of Tide for 50 cents less and a whole gaggle of cheap, Chinese-made crap has made a lot of people in the company very wealthy, but has driven US manufacturing overseas and helped to drive down wages all over the country for working people.
Read this excellent article on AlterNet by Greg LeRoy.
He tells the story much better than I can.
6 comments:
Anonymous sucks. Spammer.
Hey Mike, I'm visiting from Sound Destruction.
I used to work in the TV news biz and I remember seeing stories from local markets all around the country about community protests against new Wal Mart stores.
The people were so pissed off that a monstrosity of a superstore was going to go in right next to the forest/river/neighborhood, etc. But the thing is, after the unsuccessful protests, the store would be built and would go on to do huge business.
I've got one word - T a r g e t.
(Hey JJ!)
people will come from far and wind to shop at a Wal Mart for some reason.
hell, even when they don't, there's still plenty of people on the other side of the fence that DO want them wherever.
I'm funny this way, but I like it when companies are in my community that pay good wages, treat their employees well and give them benefits.
I know, it's crazy..
Mike, we're running an artticle on www.sfstation.com on a review of a book about Wal-Mart. It should be up on Friday - check out the lit arts section!
Hey everyone, WalMart can be stopped. In my hometown of Gig Harbor, activists there shut WalMart down big time. It was a national story. Now we're doing the same over in Lakewood (about twenty minutes away) WalMart also now wants to build in Fircrest, a tiny little town sandwiched between the middle class town of University Place and the working class city of Tacoma. All the small and medium-sized businesses around the site would be devastated. The workers'rights group I'm a part of, America in Solidarity, is part of a coalition of groups that will be lobbying the citizens of Fircrest hard to oppose the building of WalMart.
It can be done, but it takes people like us using our soapboxes to make people step up and take notice. This will be the age of bloggers - its up to us to make it happen.
Good for you guys, that's awesome!
As someone that spent 16 years working retail grocery as a union member before moving to high tech work, I can attest to the need for good paying blue collar jobs.
Our communities depend on it.
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