Activists and Local Communities Gaining Ground on Exposing Wal-Mart For Deceptive Practices

The myth of Wal-Mart as an indispensable part of Americana that presents the poor with a wide selection of affordable products is coming unraveled.

The revelation that Wal-Mart actually kills jobs and damages local communities is contradictory to their own brand marketing, but in a Yahoo news story Wal-Mart is drawing ire from the very people who it claims to be helping. The story cites a report released in January by City University of New York’s Hunter College Center for Community Planning, which studied 50 Wal-Mart stores and the impact they have had on the surrounding communities. The conclusions are striking:

The overwhelming weight of the independent research on the impact of Wal-Mart stores . . . shows that Wal-Mart depresses area wages and labor benefits . . . pushes out more retail jobs than it creates, and results in more retail vacancies.

This report has led the City Council to condemn Wal-Mart, saying:

‘To me, Wal-Mart is definitely not welcome in this city,’ asserted Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito. ‘It is a union-busting, tax-evading, wage-suppressing, job-destroying, civil-rights abusing, food stamp-denying, multi-national corporation that has no place in this city.’

Wal-Mart believes that this independent research was based on “randomly selected statements from . . . flawed studies.” The report comes at a difficult time for Wal-Mart as it has rolled out a new marketing campaign that portrays the company as a place not only for cheap goods, but for healthy goods. A press release issued in January announced: Walmart Launches Major Initiative to Make Food Healthier and Healthier Food More Affordable. CEO Bill Simon stated that, “No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford.” Yet, according to the independent research conducted from 50 store openings, Wal-Mart has contributed to the very poverty they supposedly wish to alleviate.

This latest research into the impact that Wal-Mart has on local U.S. communities only enhances the other forms of slavery that Wal-Mart is well-known for across the world, with well-documented slave labor being used to create their “cheap” goods by poor people in other countries so that poor people in the U.S. can afford them. This is an organization known for blatant discrimination against women, and for playing games on every level with people’s wages and healthcare.

Perhaps most disturbing of all is that they are not satisfied with only enslaving their workers and those who supply their shelves; they recently turned their attention to the consumer as well. When Janet Napolitano revealed her “If You See Something, Say Something” program for Homeland Security, it was Wal-Mart she chose as the retailer to represent this fascist initiative of private corporations and government working together to spy on Americans. This program is nothing short of an East German snitch program that turns each American against their neighbor, thereby strengthening the power of the Homeland Security State — not America itself — and already has led to dire consequences.

So, when Wal-Mart announces that it is concerned about the health of its customers and would like to advise you about what your family consumes at the dining table, you had better check the ingredients.