wal-mart: the evil empire
...rm, through the mass production and sales of common items. By lowering the price of goods so dramatically, and thereby knocking small companies out of business, Wal-Mart has created a dependency among citizens of small towns, the location of many stores. In some areas, Wal-Mart is the only store where people can purchase many products, so large populations flock to this location, creating traffic problems. Wal-Mart has also been accused of community unfriendliness. K.M. Fowler, a resident of Dublin, Georgia, has a Wal-Mart store in his backyard. “They never clean up, and absolutely never take responsibility for their area.” Wal-Mart has portrayed aspects common to several other corporate powers. The more popular they become, the more power they obtain in the economic world. It’s a vicious cycle. Despite growing opposition, they keep opening more stores. The revenue at the corporate headquarters in Bentonville keeps growing and growing. Last year alone Wal-Mart made 8.2 billion dollars in total profit. But still, they continue to find new ways to increase their sales. America opened trade with China during the 1990’s, opening the floodgates for big businesses to take advantage of. Wal-Mart established stores and Wal-Mart Supercenters, a combination of retail and supermarkets, in China, to help their business. China has such large natural resources and a gigantic workforce, so it helps the corporation tremendously. Chinese workers labor for a mere 25-50 cents per day, and products cost much less in Asia. With a vast workforce, Chinese workers are forced to produce quickly and efficiently, for fear of losing their jobs. After getting transported to the United States, Wal-Mart can sell these manufactured goods for a higher price and therefore make a larger profit. The cheapness of Asian-made products allows this corporation to haggle with its suppliers, often driving other businesses out of deals simply because they cannot compete with the Asian market. This action has pushed American competitors to follow Wal-Mart to Asia, effectively weakening the American economy. With so many companies doing business with Asian markets, the number of imports into this country far outweighs the number of imports, creating a 120 billion dollar trade deficit with China. As a result of the damage Wal-Mart Corporation has caused American companies, several businesses have brought suits against the retail goliath, accusing them of breaking World Trade Organization trade laws. Wal-Mart has a reputation for hiring employees for short periods of time, and paying them low wages. Wal-Mart workers wages averaged under $11.00. ...