The New Goliath
The Fort Worth Weekly is a free newspaper geared towards the 20s and 30s crowd. The cover story for the week of February 18, 2004, is a story about Wal-Mart called “When David Becomes Goliath.” The story, written by Peter Gorman, covers the growth of Sam Walton's dream from 1962 to the behemoth it is today. Part of the story details how Wal-Mart has forced jobs out of the United States.
The Chinese Connection
Distributing products to Wal-Mart can make or break a company. This is exemplified in what happened to the American-based Vlasic pickle company. Vlasic’s gallon pickle jar sold for $2.97 per jar. Even at 240,000 gallons per week, Vlasic almost went bankrupt distributing through Wal-Mart. When Vlasic asked to raise the price to $3.49 a jar, Mr. Gorman reports, Wal-Mart not only refused the request, but also told Vlasic that they would carry none of Vlassic's products if the price were raised. Wal-Mart had been the major retailer of the Vlasic line of pickles. Levi Strauss provides another example of Wal-Mart’s strong-arm techniques. Wal-Mart demanded that the jeans maker drop their price from $24.95 to $23.95. Gorman writes, this was a "consumer's dream, a supplier's nightmare." Gorman informs, "It is an impossible request, for most companies, unless they move their jobs out of the U.S. to third world countries." Ironically, Sam Walton was the man who touted that he would sell products exclusively "Made in the U.S.A.” Gorman further explains that "according to a recent Washington Post story, Wal-Mart estimates it spent $15 billion on Chinese-made products accounting for nearly one-eighth of all Chinese exports to the United States, more than China sold to Britain or Germany.”
It seems interesting to recall the 1990s controversy over campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee by Chinese nationals. Perhaps, they provided the Chinese political and economic reciprocity.
Dropping Below the Poverty Line
According to The Capitol Times of Madison, Wisconsin, nearly half of Wal-Mart's employees are under the national poverty level, most have no health care benefits, and only two-thirds have retirement plans. Labor experts told the New York Times that the widespread nature of Wal-Mart's employment problems in the United States "has to be a source of great concern."
The Wal-Mart employee, often forced into these minimum wage jobs because Wal-Mart has forced out all other employers, is making an average starting wage of $6.50 per hour. This person has the buying power of $.65 in equivalent 1970 dollars. Wal-Mart's low wages make it impossible for Wal-Mart employees to shop anywhere else. As Tennessee Ernie Ford use to sing, "Saint Peter don't ya take me `cause I can’t go; I owe my soul to the company store.” While Wal-Mart may employ thousands, it has made it clear that its "associates" are disposable commodities. Wal-Mart’s plan, as shown by Gorman, is to keep their employees on a very short leash. It is frightening to find that fascism may be defined as a system where the government controls the corporations and the corporations control the people by reward or punishment.
Some say that the [attacks] of 9/11 deflated the U.S. economy, but as we can see from Mr. Gorman's article, the Corporate Industrial Complex began its drive to deplete the earnings of the U.S. wage earner long before September 2001.
Life in the Shadows
For many of us who live in the shadow of the economic devastation of the jobless recovery and Wal-Mart's push to drive out competition, there seems no option but to shop at Wal-Mart. With Wal-Mart's competition buried under the cinderblock Super-Centers, the $500 per month saved by shopping at Wal-Mart allows many to pay the monthly bills.
A Call to Liberal Churches
In the 1960s Jesus Movement, the more liberal churches took on causes just like this. The Catholic Church led the way with liberation theology which had an unfortunate link to socialist idealism and communism. Today there seems to be no champion of the common man. Every man must stand or fall on his own, and selling your soul "to the company store" is often the only road to survival. It seems so clear to me that the demise of our prosperity for the sake of the chose few is at hand. Wal-Mart is but one of the players set to benefit from the collapse of the national economy.
The Fort Worth Weekly is a free newspaper geared towards the 20s and 30s crowd. The cover story for the week of February 18, 2004, is a story about Wal-Mart called “When David Becomes Goliath.” The story, written by Peter Gorman, covers the growth of Sam Walton's dream from 1962 to the behemoth it is today. Part of the story details how Wal-Mart has forced jobs out of the United States.
The Chinese Connection
Distributing products to Wal-Mart can make or break a company. This is exemplified in what happened to the American-based Vlasic pickle company. Vlasic’s gallon pickle jar sold for $2.97 per jar. Even at 240,000 gallons per week, Vlasic almost went bankrupt distributing through Wal-Mart. When Vlasic asked to raise the price to $3.49 a jar, Mr. Gorman reports, Wal-Mart not only refused the request, but also told Vlasic that they would carry none of Vlassic's products if the price were raised. Wal-Mart had been the major retailer of the Vlasic line of pickles. Levi Strauss provides another example of Wal-Mart’s strong-arm techniques. Wal-Mart demanded that the jeans maker drop their price from $24.95 to $23.95. Gorman writes, this was a "consumer's dream, a supplier's nightmare." Gorman informs, "It is an impossible request, for most companies, unless they move their jobs out of the U.S. to third world countries." Ironically, Sam Walton was the man who touted that he would sell products exclusively "Made in the U.S.A.” Gorman further explains that "according to a recent Washington Post story, Wal-Mart estimates it spent $15 billion on Chinese-made products accounting for nearly one-eighth of all Chinese exports to the United States, more than China sold to Britain or Germany.”
It seems interesting to recall the 1990s controversy over campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee by Chinese nationals. Perhaps, they provided the Chinese political and economic reciprocity.
Dropping Below the Poverty Line
According to The Capitol Times of Madison, Wisconsin, nearly half of Wal-Mart's employees are under the national poverty level, most have no health care benefits, and only two-thirds have retirement plans. Labor experts told the New York Times that the widespread nature of Wal-Mart's employment problems in the United States "has to be a source of great concern."
The Wal-Mart employee, often forced into these minimum wage jobs because Wal-Mart has forced out all other employers, is making an average starting wage of $6.50 per hour. This person has the buying power of $.65 in equivalent 1970 dollars. Wal-Mart's low wages make it impossible for Wal-Mart employees to shop anywhere else. As Tennessee Ernie Ford use to sing, "Saint Peter don't ya take me `cause I can’t go; I owe my soul to the company store.” While Wal-Mart may employ thousands, it has made it clear that its "associates" are disposable commodities. Wal-Mart’s plan, as shown by Gorman, is to keep their employees on a very short leash. It is frightening to find that fascism may be defined as a system where the government controls the corporations and the corporations control the people by reward or punishment.
Some say that the [attacks] of 9/11 deflated the U.S. economy, but as we can see from Mr. Gorman's article, the Corporate Industrial Complex began its drive to deplete the earnings of the U.S. wage earner long before September 2001.
Life in the Shadows
For many of us who live in the shadow of the economic devastation of the jobless recovery and Wal-Mart's push to drive out competition, there seems no option but to shop at Wal-Mart. With Wal-Mart's competition buried under the cinderblock Super-Centers, the $500 per month saved by shopping at Wal-Mart allows many to pay the monthly bills.
A Call to Liberal Churches
Radicals, Religion, and Revelation was written as a personal exploration of various religious expression within the context of the US culture of the early '00s. It was written from 2004 to 2006. This chapter is included because it touches on the background expounded upon in Conspirators, Confederates, and Cronies.
Cliff Potts -- May 21, 2014
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