Wal-Mart:High Cost

Sooner- Just something to think about. UPS, a very large company matches their earnings in 401K dollar for dollar. Whatever their employees put in, they put in. My ex husband worked for them for a time as a supervisor. Wal-Mart employees were asked to start contributing to a fund for other employees if they were ever hit by hard times. Employees contributed 5 million dollars in 2004. Wal-Mart corporate only contributed 6 thousand dollars. How is that a company that is "caring" about it's employees? How is a company that can't provide affordable health care and decent wages providing for its' company? They do millions of dollars of business. A very old book but still popular by successful business executives is The Science of Getting Rich by Waddles. In it, he states "Take care of your employees and they will take care of you". This is good business. Wal-Mart, is not good business and it's not good for America. It's shutting down mom and pop businesses left and right and leaving many towns ghost towns. That's not right. Namaste-Anora

I've already provide the facts, in several areas of this thread. It's not my video, I didn't make it. It's funny that you say a family of four should have all four working. I'm a family of four, I stay at home to raise my six month old and two and half year old. Tell me, what jobs should my children hold? Namaste-Anora

G- I agree with you that in this economy people are looking for items that are affordable, and go far. I was lucky that I found a local butcher in our area that gives me great deals, even above the local grocer so that my money goes further. I encourage everyone to find such places because you're lible to get better meat for better prices. Also, co-ops are a wonderful thing to be a part of. I have heard of Wal-Mart several times in the news and they always seem to be breaking a business law or EPA law. It's just disheartening that the many who work there do it because they have to, because Wal-Mart has closed down all the older companies in their town such as what happened to your town. The documentary was even showing the amounts of subsidaries that Wal-Mart is paid by city monies to build. Some towns have paid Wal-Mart as much as 2 billion dollars to come to their town and build, with the promise that Wal-Mart will give back to the community after one year. The one town Mayor they interviewed who cut funds to their police, fire department, and education funds to support Wal-Mart watched Wal-Mart abandon their building, move 2.2 miles outside of city limits, build again just as their inside city limits store was about to produce revenue that the city would get. Now the city gets nothing. It's just wrong. Namastse-Anora

Cara- There are ways to buy American or even just Fair Trade inexpensively, but it does mean researching and shopping around. I go to at least four different stores locally to shop. In the summer I buy all fruits and veggies from the farmer's market. That's what I mean by local. If you go to your local grocer you can find products that they sell which are by local sellers. You can also check into co-ops which are great deals and provide local produce. Online, you can also find companies that will say "Fair Trade" or will sell inexpensive made in America. I buy several of my clothing outfits through a trader company that does seamtress work. It's the best investments I've made, and they were still cheaper then at the local stores. I totally understand about working somewhere because you need a job. My complaint after seeing this film and knowing the figures, is if you make that much money in profits you could stand to spread the wealth around and provide livable salaries and good healthcare benefits. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Namaste-Anora

That's not much to live on though, especially in Virginia. My father lived in Virginia for a time when working for the VA Hospital, and he makes government monies and it still is an extremely expensive town to live in. This video is not the only time I've heard about Wal-Mart though. They've been in the news so many times it's not funny. Namaste-Anora