The American dream: start a business, do well, open another and another while remaining successful. It may seem like a pipe dream today, but in the 1940s that is what Sam Walton did with his variety store in Arkansas. He built his American dream and boy did he build it big.
Today we think of Wal-Mart in two ways: We love it or we hate it. It is usually people like myself, someone who sees through the cheap prices to the questionable business practices, who really despise it. How could anyone shop at such a despicable store? It is people in small towns like the one I came from, Spring Hill, FL, who love them. Why wouldn’t they? Someone from the family works there and all their hard earned money is spent there.
It may seem harmless and, in most cases, positive whenever a Wal-Mart comes to town. More jobs, cheap products, what more could you ask for? The company goes out of its way to seemingly cater to low income families by offering possibly the cheapest products you can find. In the short term, yes, the initial jobs and convenience are great but just a few years down the road the long term effects catch up.
Wal-Mart is notorious for destroying communities from the inside. Like a cancerous growth, the chains start out seemingly harmless but quickly swells and takes out many of the much smaller business in the area.
Not only does Wal-Mart sap businesses, it takes away money from taxpayers. Turns out almost everyone foots the bill for Wal-Mart. Health insurance is not cheap and many Americans struggle to pay for it every year, especially Wal-Mart employees. For years now the American public has footed the bill for almost half of Wal-Mart’s employees who use public-assisted health care. A study by the City University of New York’s Hunter College Center for Community planning showed Wal-Mart’s health care program is so bad that people opt for government aid, which is more beneficial than the company’s own policies.
This is barely the tip of the iceberg compared to the amount of criticism that stacks up against the corporation. The business has all the right makings of a successful American business. Their motto in the 90s was “Buy American” but, today, more than 60 percent of the products are made overseas. Wal-Mart spends so much money overseas that if it were a country they would spend more than Russia or Canada.
Sam’s dream of owning an all-American store has long since been realized. I just wish that fulfillment was satisfaction enough. There is no need to be dealing such dirty business to stay in business. Perhaps it’s time to slow down.
