Why Wal-Mart is bad

Wal-Mart is Evil

Wal-Mart is America 's largest retailer , with net sales of 374 .5 billion last year "Wal-Mart Reports Record Fourth Quarter Sales and Earnings Millions of Americans shop at Wal-Mart , as do millions of people in other countries in which Wal-Mart has entered the market . Wal-Mart is known for its low prices . Those low prices , however , come at an extremely high cost to workers , communities , and , ultimately , to the very consumers that Wal-Mart claims to put first . Wal-Mart pays wages that are below the industry average , depends on government programs

like Medicaid to provide healthcare for its employees , has a history of labor law violations , and drives small local retailers out of business (Reich . Communities that care about their local economies and their people should fight to keep Wal-Mart from moving in . Communities that already have a Wal-Mart should force the company to either change its business practices or shut down

Wal-Mart does not pay its employees enough money to live on . In 2003 , an article in The New York Times said "Wal-Mart sales clerks make about 14 ,000 a year , below the 14 ,050 poverty line for a family of three "The Wal-Martization of America . In 2004 , the average Wal-Mart employee made 9 .68 per hour , 37 lower than the national average of 15 .35 an hour for non-supervisory workers "Wal-Mart 's Pay Gap . Even Wal-Mart recognizes that its employees cannot afford to live on what they are paid . In July 2003 , Wal-Mart was caught giving out instructions to employees on how to apply for food stamps , the state healthcare assistance program , and other forms of welfare (Featherstone . State and local governments have noticed that Wal-Mart is costing them money and breaking the law . Floyd McKay , in 2004 , wrote "Wal-mart is currently being sued in some 40 cases charging various abuses of labor laws , and last fall it was reported the company extensively employs illegal aliens as janitors

Wal-Mart claims that it is able to keep prices down by keeping wages and other human resource costs low . If that is the case , then the company could reduce its prices even more by adjusting its CEO compensation packages . While Wal-Mart employees were earning 9 .68 an hour , Wal-Mart CEO H . Lee Scott , Jr . received more than 17 .5 million in compensation a Wal-Mart 's U .S . operations and more than 51 ,000 times as much as the average income for Chinese factory workers that work for Wal-Mart subcontractors in China "Wal-Mart 's Pay Gap . Despite paying its CEO and other members of upper management such high compensation , Wal-Mart still managed to post !0 .3 billion in profits in 2004 "Wal-Mart 's Pay Gap

Wal-Mart is an example of the power of capitalism to create wealth and the tendency of capitalists to keep that wealth for themselves . With the money that Wal-Mart has earned , the company could make a significant difference in the lives of millions of people who shop and work at the store . Wal-Mart could help the...