December 27, 2007
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I watched a documentary on HBO the other day about Wal Mart called Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Here is a link to the movie’s website if you want to check it out before reading the rest of the post.
http://www.walmartmovie.com/
Now as many of you may know, I have long been a Wal Mart hater. In fact, they are on my permanent Fuck You list. It has probably been over 5 years since I last stepped foot inside a Wal Mart. I have known for a long time about their evil ways. This movie not only reconfirmed for me why I hate them so much and also brought some new things to light. One of the things that I found shocking is that nationwide, Wal Mart has been given $1.8 BILLION in development subsidies by either local or state governments. For example the city of Cameron, Mo provided $2.1 million in infrastructure improvements through sales and
property-tax increment financing in the area of a Supercenter and
surrounding industrial park. Wal-Mart served as the developer for the
project. Last time I checked, that was a lot of fucking money, especially for a small town. Some towns give Wal Mart tax breaks for a few years to come to town, only to have Wal Mart move just over the city limits once the tax breaks were done. And then there is their environmental record, if you want to call it that. In 2001 they had to pay a one million dollar fine for clean water violations in TX, OK, and MA. They were also fined $3.1 MILLION by EPA, the largest ever for a retailer, for Clean
Water Act violations in TEXAS, COLORADO, CALIFORNIA, DELAWARE,
MICHIGAN, SOUTH DAKOTA, NEW JERSEY, TENNESSEE and UTAH. And check out this link of crimes that have occurred in Wal Mart parking lots:http://www.walmartmovie.com/crime_parkinglots.php
Yes, its a LOOOONG list. And, it is only for the first 7 months of 2005. Wal Mart even conducted a study that showed that if they just had security drive around the parking lot, it can cut crimes to as low as 0%! But, they still don’t require security in the parking lot of their stores. I guess they want people to have their shit stolen on the way out of the store so that they have to buy more things at Wal Mart. But, a lot of crimes happen on the way INTO the store. I have a theory about that. Knowing Wal Mart, they probably hire people to mug customers on the way into the store so that Wal Mart can make more money. See, when you think about it, that makes the most amount of sense, right? Wal Mart is by far the world’s largest employer, yet you can never find a worker when you need one. How can they be the largest employer if nobody is ever around to help you? Oh, that’s right, because some of those employers are outside mugging you as you go in.
Ok, so thats probably not true, but honestly knowing Wal Mart, would you be surprised one bit if it were true? What an evil corporation, and I haven’t even touched upon how they treat their employers, both home and abroad.See some people say that the goal is for them to make as much money as possible. Although that is probably true, I think their goal is world domination. I guess you could say that Wal Mart is kind of the Hitler of retailers. The question is how, can we stop Hitler Mart? Its no like we can send an army storm the dirt roads of Bentonville Arkansas and overtake them. It all comes down to the people. See, Wal Mart as the ever so attractive lure of low prices. And what could be more attractive than that? And sadly, people just either don’t care enough to stop shopping there or they can’t afford to stop. Let’s look at the former shall we. I have got a good friend who makes very good money, yet still shops at Wal Mart, even knowing their evil ways. He either chooses to ignore their practices, doesn’t believe the stories or just doesn’t care. Much like with Wal Mart, for these people the bottom line is, well, the bottom line. But, in the long run, it actually costs each of us money. Not only with the communities and states giving them money, but also the percentage of Wal Mart employees requiring government assistance is pretty much off the charts. Just imagine the things that we can pay for if those tax dollars were redirected elsewhere. Its not to say the people who shop at Wal Mart are not good people. My friend, he is a very good person. Its just means that these Wal Mart shoppers are part of the problem.
And I’m sure some of the other retailers do things that are wrong too. But, Wal Mart is clearly the most evil and has done FAR more harm than good. They must be stopped and it all starts with each of us. Sure, you are one person and I’m one person, but the more people you tell or get to watch this movie, the more the word spreads and if you tell 10 people maybe one will stop shopping there. Or maybe it will be 2 people. Either way, if enough people find out, we can make a difference and at least but a dent into their plan of world domination.
