The Wal-Mart Manifesto

Slate ^ | February 24, 2005 | Timothy Noah

[The Loan Arranger]

H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart, argued in a speech yesterday in Los Angeles that Wal-Mart is a force for good in the economy. Scott is hardly the first corporate chairman to echo "Engine" Charlie Wilson's claim that what's good for General Motors is good for America. And many independent observers have noted that Wal-Mart's relentless downward pressure on overhead has been a boon to American consumers. (In a recent New Yorker column, James Surowiecki took this further, arguing that the retail economy has become a sort of dictatorship of the consumer, and that Wal-Mart, which earns only pennies on each dollar of sales, is merely doing what it must to stay alive.)

What's fairly new in Scott's speech (a related ad campaign was launched last month) is Wal-Mart's rising on its hind legs to tell the world that it is good to its employees. I'd thought it was a settled matter that Wal-Mart had achieved its miraculously low prices by squeezing its employees. Not so, said Scott:

Wal-Mart's average wage is around $10 an hour, nearly double the federal minimum wage. The truth is that our wages are competitive with comparable retailers in each of the more than 3,500 communities we serve, with one exception—a handful of urban markets with unionized grocery workers. … Few people realize that about 74 percent of Wal-Mart hourly store associates work full-time, compared to 20 to 40 percent at comparable retailers. This means Wal-Mart spends more broadly on health benefits than do most big retailers, whose part-timers are not offered health insurance.

[Original Kamaaina]

This is not a Red State or Blue State, a Left or Right issue. If one praises the values of Heartland America, Middle America, small-town, Mom-and-Pop store America, the friendly corner grocer, then that person must drive through said Heartland America and confront the reality. Devastated small town shopping areas, wiped out by the (Great) Wall Mart on the (cheap rent) outskirts of town. The ballyhoo about WalMart prospering because of great customer service is total bogus. The only help I ever get is from the guy who mixes up the house paint for me. Just aisles and aisles of Chinese-made junk, with nary a helpful associate in sight. The great old department store founders left behind public parks, libraries, baseball fields, concert halls, charities. What do you find in Arkansas but a bunch of rich heirs to the sainted Sam. The same people who promote boycotts of French wines and cheese have no qualms about shopping at WalMart for all those super American-designed but Chinese-manufactured goodies. WalMart is little different from a communist cooperative, swallowing up all competition, constantly hungry for more market share.

[spinestein]

[WalMart is little different from a communist cooperative, swallowing up all competition, constantly hungry for more market share.]

Correction: more FREE market share.

You interfere with the free market law of supply and demand to the detriment of the entire economy. Unions do just that.

And if you think that Walmart is like a communist cooperative, you don't know anything about communism.

[Casloy]

So I guess your point is small town residents, living often on very limited incomes should be forced to pay 4 dollars for a gallon of milk at the mom and pop store, when they can get it at Wal Mart for 1.89. I'm sure they like that you force them to pay for your fantasy American.