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Don’t Mistake Wal-Mart for a Friend

By Jeff “Mario” Smith, Guerilla Reporter

LEFTington, KY

August 30, 2005

In an article on The Jefferson Review, WallMartYankees, Eric Schansberg makes the same observations about the anti-Wal Mart phenomenon, as do most of the talk radio commentators, economics professors, and many conservatives. While I agree there is a lot of venom from the left (liberal elitists) towards Wal Mart, apparently due to their successful use of the capitalist system, I would not be too quick to give Wal Mart the free pass that Schansberg seems willing to do.

It is true that our capitalist system does provide the opportunity for anyone to create their own mega-success story like Wal Mart, and this is one of the great freedoms that being an American provides. However, these mega-success stories are rare and with them, unfortunately, comes mega-change in our society due to the sheer mass of the corporation. In physics, Force equals Mass times Acceleration (F=MA) and some of the force created from the mass of Wal-Mart is not necessarily a good thing.

Take for instance the aspect of customer service. While good customer service is quickly becoming a piece of nostalgia in many different areas of our economy, from restaurants to auto service outlets, Wal Mart has proven itself the epitome of poor customer service. This is the second reason I refuse to be a Wal Mart customer. It is an insult to abuse my time by making me wait in a checkout line for ten or twelve minutes, with long lines in the self-checkout lanes also. I guess if one was shopping for a couple of hours, heaven forbid, ten or twelve minutes waiting in line might not make much difference, but to wait like that for three or four small items from the automotive section is insulting. No thanks. With the sheer mass of Wal-Mart, they are forcing this poor customer service down our throats, and Americans who are easily led and corralled into lines, put up with it. I will shop elsewhere where I am not insulted in this manner, and will gladly pay more.

The number one reason I choose not to participate in the Wal-Mart herd mentality, however, is their huge participation in the communist Chinese economy. This mega-store is, undoubtedly, the world’s largest promoter of communist Chinese products made with slave labor. They have chosen to prop up the failing communist system out of greed. In the process, these godless communists, who are using much of Wal-Mart’s dollars to build up their anti-American military machine, do not have to change their evil ways because the world is paying them billions of dollars for their cheaper slave-made products. When people place saving $5.00 at Wal-Mart above their integrity, this is a problem rooted in selfishness. While I agree that is not Wal-Mart’s problem but a problem with the mentality of the American sheeple, Wal-Mart is the enabler just like the guy who makes excuses for his alcoholic friend. With their mass, they could prevent this. Economists and free trade activists will never place God and Country above business, so I realize this observation will be downplayed.

Next, there is the fact that Wal-Mart puts the little guy next door out of business because small businessmen cannot compete with Wal Mart’s buying power. With this little problem we have the destruction of small business all across the country. Small business equals freedom and if you don’t want your children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to open up their own small business one day, keep filling the deep pockets of this mega-corporation because that is what is happening. Keep sending your dollars away to some corporate headquarters in some other city while your kid’s soccer coach or the guy in the next pew in church has his business fail. I will stick with my neighbor, the small businessman, thank you very much.

People will argue that small business opportunities will just move to another sector of the economy, but that is not true either because huge corporations in those sectors are doing the same thing Wal Mart is doing. I don’t know the answer, but I do know a simple truth and that is, bigger is not better. This is proven every day in our governments, in our schools, in our cities, and in our corporations. I do not pretend to know the answer, but I do not think it is right that the big guy can purchase cheaper than the little guy thereby killing the competition by sheer mass. Doesn’t that mean the little guy is subsidizing the big guy?

I do think it is also wrong for Wal-Mart to hire people only partially, thereby not taking responsibility for their benefits. If these people, at the same time, are utilizing government assistance, it sure does give the impression that the taxpayer is subsidizing the mega-store. The solution to this, however, is not unionization. Unions are not about workers as they claim. They are about the power of the unions, and they are primarily used as fund raising mechanisms for leftist causes and politicians. This simple truth cannot be denied. What happened in Detroit is largely due to the strong-arm tactics of the unions that had line workers making six figure salaries with 6 weeks of vacation and they were not allowed to assist the guy next to them if it wasn’t written into their job descriptions by the union. Of course, the more money they extorted for the worker’s salaries put more money in the pockets of the unions. It wasn’t about the workers.

Economics Professor Schansberg says, “Wal-Mart is accused of exploiting workers in a variety of ways. But how can they maintain an active labor force with that reputation?” That’s easy to answer. With manufacturing jobs rapidly disappearing overseas thanks to NAFTA, CAFTA, and the soon to come FTAA and LOST, lots of people are in need of any job at all. Combine that with the Bush Administration policy of allowing illegal aliens to flood the country with cheap labor that Americans have no business competing with, and you have a recipe for a mega-lowering of the American standard of living and Wal-Mart is a huge part of that massive change. Wal-Mart has actually been caught hiring illegal aliens to add insult to injury.

Schansberg claims that “Forcibly eliminating or restricting Wal-Mart—or any retail store—would hurt consumers, workers, and suppliers who would be deprived of legitimate opportunities to buy, to work, and to sell.” I submit that limiting the size of these powerful mega monsters to something more reasonable would allow other businesses to sprout up thereby creating more competition which is what capitalism is all about, allegedly, not one mega-chain doing it all. This is good for the workers, and good for the consumers as well. When the anti-trust laws were relaxed under the Reagan administration, I predicted this would happen, not exactly like this, but I knew that these corporations would become too big and too powerful. They are so powerful now that Congress is in their back pockets. Recently, through congressional legislation, these corporations were allowed to pilfer pension funds. That is just too big. Remember, Force equals Mass times Acceleration, and if we continue to allow these mega-corporations to become so large that the competition just disappears, we will not like what they Force down our throats with their Mass, thus Accelerating the decline in the American standard of living. No, I don’t mistake Wal-Mart for a friend, but it is not because they are successful, it is because they lack integrity and are just too large and too powerful.

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence
of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His
benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favors."
-- George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789.

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