Wal-Mart's cheap ruins

People walk around like zombies, staring blankly ahead as they fill their carts with junk. They can buy food, clothing and pretty much anything else they want, without even leaving the store. How convenient is it?

There is another side to this artificial world, this Wal-Mart, where elderly people greet your comings and goings and the prices are "everyday low prices," and it is not such a nice side.

Wal-Mart is now the world's largest company, and it is becoming increasingly controversial as the world learns how it has created such a monopoly.

"Wal-Mart workers receive lower wages than other retail workers," said a study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

Wal-Mart is notoriously anti-union. They are well-known for their union-busters, who look for any sign of union activity and cut it off before it can grow. (In fact, I'm sure someone is taking note of this article. I won't ever be able to get a job at Wal-Mart...Dang!)

Wal-Mart controls the pricing of nearly all of the consumer goods in the U.S. It can do this because, as the world's largest company, companies have two choices: Do what Wal-Mart says, or go out of business.

The reason Wal-Mart can offer such low prices: It forces the companies it buys from to lower their prices by a certain amount each year. If the company doesn't want to go out of business, they find a way to lower their prices, which often involves switching from U.S. factories to foreign countries where they don't require a minimum wage or enforce child labor protections.

There are many former Wal-Mart employees who talk of losing wages due to discrimination. Wal-Mart has been involved in claims against it for age discrimination, as well as "a class-action suit alleging race discrimination; the biggest sexual discrimination suit in U.S. history," and "an out-of-court settlement involving a child labor case and teens in three states," according to The St. Petersburg Times.

Wal-Mart also takes out life insurance on its employees. When a worker dies, Wal-Mart gets the money, instead of the family that's left behind.

Other people aside, let's say you are a self-centered, me-first kind of American who thinks that it's not your problem that other people can't earn a living. Well, I hate to say it, but this issue affects you too. It is your tax dollars that are going to pay for public assistance. Many Wal-Mart employees can't survive on their wages and have to go on public assistance.

Far from benefiting your community in bringing in a Wal-Mart, even with all those jobs, you are actually paying the difference, since the jobs don't generate enough income to live.

According to a report by the staff of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, a Wal-Mart employee may cost federal taxpayers about $2,103 a year in the form of federal public assistance programs. With about 1.3 million U.S. employees and growing, this amounts to a total of $2.7 billion a year.

It is no surprise to me that cities such as New York and San Francisco have refused to let Wal-Mart in. They know what bringing a Wal-Mart in entails. It might force prices down but it results in a drop in standards of all kinds. Locally owned businesses fold when they can't compete, further depressing the labor market.

I found a list of 164 communities that have resisted Wal-Mart, and kept it out at least once. If you are offended by what you've heard about Wal-Mart in this letter, there are several ways to take a stand. First, try not to shop at Wal-Mart whenever possible. A great quote is, "a single grain of rice could tip the scale." In this case, that grain of rice could be you.

The other thing you can do is visit www.walmartwatch.com and get involved. This Web site has started a "nationwide public education campaign to challenge the world's largest retailer to become a better employer, neighbor and corporate citizen."

You can also go to www.wakeupwalmart to learn more, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/ to see a PBS documentary about Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart, and the shoddy practices and standards it embodies, is not the kind of America I want to live in. I urge you to take a stand and tell Wal-Mart they need to change ... or get out.

Brady Smith is a senior at Gonzaga and the Outdoors Editor for The Bulletin.