The Wal-Mart Monster

I had my suspicions and doubts about Wal-Mart, but after watching "The High Cost of Low Prices" and remembering Ehrenreich's experience working at Wal-Mart I am appalled and loath everything that is Wal-Mart. Many argue that they bring many jobs to small towns and provide consumers with less expensive goods, but the negative externalities far outweigh the positives. I never knew the conditions of the workers in China making the products, or the poor healthcare provided for the Wal-Mart employees, or the stalker-like video cameras to patrol "union suspicion" until the movie we watched in class. How can a company so large, with so much corruption, hide it so well from the majority of the public? Or are we just too naive? I began looking up Wal-Mart facts to further my investigation into the company. I learned that 1) this year, everyone in the world will make an average of 1.1 purchases at a Wal-Mart 2) each week nearly one-third of the U.S. population visits Wal-Mart's U.S. stores 3) Wal-Mart parking lots alone take up roughly the size of Tampa, Florida 4) In 2000, Wal-Mart was sued 4,851 times (about once every 2 hours) and most shockingly 5) The Walton family has given away about 2% of its net worth to charity, Bill Gates is giving away 48% of his net worth and Warren Buffet 78% of his net worth. No wonder the company of Wal-Mart is so corrupt when its owners are selfish and greedy. Wal-Mart brags about donating to charities, providing benefits to their employees, and boosting the number of jobs .But at what price? I could go on and on but I will end with this...I will never shop at or enter another Wal-Mart again.