walmart

Walmart Stores Inc. is the world's largest public corporation by revenue. Many also see it as the quintessential American enterprise. It was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and today it has a market cap of $208 billion. It operates stores all over the nation and in many foreign locations as well.

You don't get to those kinds of numbers selling trinkets unless a whole lot of people love your stores. And what is it that people love so much about Walmart? Look no further than low prices. Walmart is all about cheap stuff. Almost anything you can think off is cheaper at Walmart. And that, we are told is "good for consumers."

Not surprisingly, there are also many who hate Walmart. Walmart has been accused of racism, sexism, resistance to union representation, pressuring employees to vote for specific parties during national elections, and many other not so nice things. Walmart has over 2 million employees, not an insignificant number. However, even if half of them were unhappy, the number of unhappy people would be very small compared to the tens of millions of shoppers who want to get things cheaply. It should therefore not surprise you that actions against Walmart have not been very successful.

Furthermore, Walmart has regained support recently due in large part to the economic crisis. That has led to a much more favorable public opinion than was the case only a few years ago. Back then it seemed that Walmart was the corporation people loved to hate. Now its low prices are a godsend to many families in trouble. Unfortunately, Walmart and what it stands for, is precisely the reason why these families find themselves in their current predicament. Greed and over-consumption are at the core of the current crisis.

Walmart is all about excessive consumption. Excessive consumption "on credit." Not the type of credit you charge to your visa or mastercard, although that too is an issue. No, credit as in not paying true value for goods and services. It starts with paying low wages and meager benefits to workers in order to outcompete local stores. This behavior impoverishes neighborhoods all around the country. But it doesn't stop there. There is also the credit as in not paying the true cost of items, especially the environmental costs. That is done by making extensive use of oil to ship in items from low cost producers who are often not subject to environmental regulation. It is augmented by forcing cut throat arrangements with producers. Such arrangements force them into even worse arrangements with their workers (who thankfully are in foreign countries so we don't see them). Ultimately the weak pay the price.

The whole philosophy of paying less, especially paying less than fair value is what will ultimately destroy our environment. If we really want to get control over issues such as global warming, greenhouse gas accumulation, widespread destruction of rain forests and other valuable habitats, we will have to go back to basics. That means we will have to be willing to consume less and pay more for what we use. We will have to stop roaming around the planet in search of whatever it is that we think we lack, and focus on local communities and locally produced goods.

Don't hold your breath.