Explain to me why Wal-Mart is Bad

Mad Maxx wrote:

Live your life in the same places you would go on vacation.

You understand there's a big difference between living somewhere and spending a small amount of time visiting, yes?

GoatZenHeimer wrote:

They are closing 269 stores all over the US soon. That's good, right?

half of those stores are outside the US. The rest are Walmart Express stores which are much smaller than the Walmart stores you are familiar with. This was basically a failed experiment of a different distribution channel that probably should have been closed years ago. If anything, this makes Walmart Corp stronger over the long run.

TAA wrote:

Mad Maxx wrote:

Live your life in the same places you would go on vacation.

You understand there's a big difference between living somewhere and spending a small amount of time visiting, yes?

Most def. WalMart is to retail as sweatpants is to fashion. You don't wear sweatpants, no? You wear blue jeans or wool slacks, no?

People shouldn't allow such a gap between where they live and where they vacation. That's my point. There is absolutely no reason in the world for a normal person to spend their Saturday afternoon to drive 10 miles outside of town to park 200m away from the front door of a walmart and push a cart with a fvcked up wheel over the distance of a city block to buy a 100 pack of toilet paper to get their family through the summer. There is absolutely no reason for that.

Your ignorance is an interesting combination of pathetic, hilarious and horrifying.

Mankiw wrote:

tycobb wrote:

They pay their employees so poorly that the government has to pick up the rest (food stamps, health care, ect).

Imagine how much money the taxpayers could save in subsidies if Walmart shut down and all of its low-skill employees had no jobs at all!

This ^

Seriously, that should be the end of the discussion. All the whining is profoundly idiotic.

Mad Maxx wrote:

What the What wrote:

That's brilliant! So now tourists are the keepers of good taste in this world!

Thanks for the laughs.

Tourism is a litmus test for whether your city is an interesting place to live. When you go on vacation do you visit other Walmarts and eat at fast food restaurants by the mall? Of course you don't, so why do you choose the rest of your time in these places? People are frugalizing themselves to death.

Get out of your beige colored houses and venture beyond your cul-de-sac. There's an interesting world out there.

You know nothing whatsoever about where I live, what type of house I live in or what I do with my life.

The one thing that you do have good information about is that your own level of ignorance and arrogance is simply off the charts.

liberal aristocrat wrote:

Mad Maxx wrote:

Tourism is a litmus test for whether your city is an interesting place to live. When you go on vacation do you visit other Walmarts and eat at fast food restaurants by the mall? Of course you don't, so why do you choose the rest of your time in these places? People are frugalizing themselves to death.

I agree. I don't understand why these ugly Walmart shoppers don't live in a nice place like Santa Barbara or similar.

Nice!

LOL!

tycobb wrote:

They pay their employees so poorly that the government has to pick up the rest (food stamps, health care, ect). The Waltons are 40% of the list of the top 10 richest people in the country. They could pay their employees better.

and obviously the waltons don't know what they're doing when it comes to employee compensation, as they're only the largest non-govt employer in the US.

The worst part is all those poor employees being forced to work at Wal-Mart at gunpoint & prevented from getting a better paying job elsewhere.

so unfair. #feelthebern...

From 1996 to 2015 those living in extreme poverty across the world has dropped from 30% to 10%. This is largely because of global economic growth. The WalMarts of the world looking to foreign workings for labor likely helped this greatly. If you care about poverty, this should be a good thing. If you have a jingoistic view on poverty, maybe not.

http://ourworldindata.org/data/growth-and-distribution-of-prosperity/world-poverty/

careershoeguy wrote:

half of those stores are outside the US. The rest are Walmart Express stores which are much smaller than the Walmart stores you are familiar with. This was basically a failed experiment of a different distribution channel that probably should have been closed years ago. If anything, this makes Walmart Corp stronger over the long run.

Heh. Interesting that I saw on the news last night that they're closing the Walmart (full-sizer, not Express) in Oakland. If Walmart is so bad, how come all the Oakland liberals came out of the woodwork last night to talk about how sad they were that the Walmart was closing? Thank God that store is closing so now all those severely underpaid employees can now get high paying jobs at the local businesses that will now sprout like weeds!

Madd Max wrote:

People shouldn't allow such a gap between where they live and where they vacation. That's my point.

Just because a place is fun to go visit doesn't mean it's fun to live there. And yes I do wear sweatpants.

Madd Max wrote:

There is absolutely no reason in the world for a normal person to spend their Saturday afternoon to drive 10 miles outside of town to park 200m away from the front door of a walmart and push a cart with a fvcked up wheel over the distance of a city block to buy a 100 pack of toilet paper to get their family through the summer. There is absolutely no reason for that.

I am confused what you point is here. Where I live there are 7 Wal-Marts and a Sam's Club within 12 miles. The closest one is less than a mile away.

ANTON CHIGURH wrote:

tycobb wrote:

They pay their employees so poorly that the government has to pick up the rest (food stamps, health care, ect). The Waltons are 40% of the list of the top 10 richest people in the country. They could pay their employees better.

and obviously the waltons don't know what they're doing when it comes to employee compensation, as they're only the largest non-govt employer in the US.

The worst part is all those poor employees being forced to work at Wal-Mart at gunpoint & prevented from getting a better paying job elsewhere.

so unfair. #feelthebern...

Why so obtuse?

Walmart displaces (Read: Puts them out of business) all of the small shops in small towns. Where are the people that work in those shops going to go to work when that happens?

And why do they have the largest workforce? Why are they able to push out small shops? Because the government is supporting their employees where Walmart is failing them. Not to mention, the subsidies / enormous tax breaks Walmart gets that no small business owner receives.

Lib Rules wrote:

Why so obtuse?

Walmart displaces (Read: Puts them out of business) all of the small shops in small towns. Where are the people that work in those shops going to go to work when that happens?

And why do they have the largest workforce? Why are they able to push out small shops? Because the government is supporting their employees where Walmart is failing them. Not to mention, the subsidies / enormous tax breaks Walmart gets that no small business owner receives.

So want are you thinking we should do to stop this? Should there be different regulations on Wal-Mart or big corporations?

I agree with what you are saying, I am just not sure what the answer is to fix it, or if there is anything that can be done since Wal-Mart is not breaking any laws as far as I can tell.

Lib Rules wrote:

ANTON CHIGURH wrote:

and obviously the waltons don't know what they're doing when it comes to employee compensation, as they're only the largest non-govt employer in the US.

The worst part is all those poor employees being forced to work at Wal-Mart at gunpoint & prevented from getting a better paying job elsewhere.

so unfair. #feelthebern...

Why so obtuse?

Walmart displaces (Read: Puts them out of business) all of the small shops in small towns. Where are the people that work in those shops going to go to work when that happens?

And why do they have the largest workforce? Why are they able to push out small shops? Because the government is supporting their employees where Walmart is failing them. Not to mention, the subsidies / enormous tax breaks Walmart gets that no small business owner receives.

Are you really that dumb? Seriously, could you possibly be that stupid?

So now with a pay raise across the board for Wal-Mart employees is that a step in the right direction or are people still not going to be happy?

Just did a quick google/finance check and Walmarts corporate income tax has averaged around $8 billion the past few years. It would be interesting to see the tax on the dividends and capital gains of its investors as well.

financial guru wrote:

Just did a quick google/finance check and Walmarts corporate income tax has averaged around $8 billion the past few years. It would be interesting to see the tax on the dividends and capital gains of its investors as well.

OK, so they are one of Americas largest employers, they pay a boatload of taxes and they just raised wages for everyone. What's not to like?

Two Walmart stores that closed on THREE day's notice in the SF Bay Area, were rumored due to the Cities raising the minimum wage. Under preforming stores in neighboring cites remain open.