Chicago Lawmakers fight to block Wal-Mart

Were they the same brand shoes? Bet that $200 pair would have last a lot long than the ones he got at Wal Mart.

Another thing to keep in mind is this. Whenever you see name brand item at Wal Mart that is know for quality, don't assume you are getting a high quality item. What companies have done is, in order to meet what Wal Mart will pay them for their product, they produce a lower quality product! So for example you always bought Oster toasters because you are impressed with their quality and you see one at Wal Mart and purchase it. Don't assume that same product at Wal Mart is the same quality toaster you've purchased in the past because it won't be, if fact, can't be because of the pricing constraints placed on them by Wal Mart.

Next time you go in there count the numbers of really overweight people you see!!!!!!!!!! Once my hubby and I did that. He counted all the average or normal weight we say and I counted the overweight and obese and I won!!!!!!!!!

All that white bread.....carbs without fiber..........sugar

No it's called withholding benefits, importing everything from China, and operating on a largely underage overseas labor force, If this is corporate success in America, then count me out.

I feel that you should look deeper than the cheap prices you see when you walk in the door. Educate yourself, then you can argue your point.

P.S. I'll take my Super Target anyday. Just across the street from Wal-fart.

GoliathandDavid is dead on accurate. Their success has come at an exceptionally high cost to retail and industrial workers throughout the country. They have suppressed wages, withheld health care, hired illegal aliens, broken labor laws, destroyed the local economies of countless towns, and insisted on tax subsidies despite making billions in profits and forced manufacturers to sell their products at such low prices that they had to move to a foreign country in order to survive. Also 99% percent of the crap they sell comes from China, not the USA. This does NOTHING for the US economy. Oh, they encourage their workers to collect state medical benefits too. That means YOU are paying the health care costs for their employee.

I only go in there for one thing, I can't find elsewhere. Everyone looks misserable. If I can't find my real orange air spray, it takes 20 minutes for someone to assist.

The real wal mart haters don't go in there. Believe me I know many.

If there is a natural disaster, I hope they loot all the wal marts first.

They are the Darth Vader of corporations and their evil sinister goal is to take over retail all over the world, then like good corporate souless minions of the great Satan, they will slowely jack up the prices.

Looks like they are doing to your area what they are doing to mine..................I shop online, locally and only go into china mart when it is not available elsewhere. I know some people who go in there with T shirts saying that Union employees make more money and benefits just to annoy pig mart managers.

When I was in Seattle, I got some really classy things at consignment shops. I got a hand woven alpaca long cape and to this day, women stop me and say "where did you get that, its beautiful?" One in a fabric shop even made me take it off so she could see how it was knitted as she thought she could create one.

$18 then. Probably not the same in Seattle now as when I was there it was booming. But considering that rich people are selling things, there still might be bargains.

Walmart employs thousands of illegals too, that are underpaid without benefits. Who then send all the money back home, I don't see that keeping the economy stable.

I have yet to see any illegals working there so keep the make believe passion alive. Just because someone is hispanic or chinese or whatever, dosent make them illegal.

i know an illegal immigrant who worked there

Wal-Mart has been accused of telling illegals they are removing taxes, SS and medicare and then Wal Mart shorts the illegal by KEEPING the money.

If Wal Mart paid living wages, It would not be so terrible for our economy. 3 or 4 years ago the CEO of Wal Mart made 238 million dollars and the average worker 13,000 a year. They teach the employees how to apply for medicade and food stamps!!!!!!!

IOW we the taxpayers are subsidizing Wal Mart's employees when it has more than enough momey to do that. Costco pays benefits and a living wage, but their CEO does not make 238 million a year.

Imagine what all the executives at Wal Mart make if the CEO makes 238 million? If Costco can have upper management make enough but still pay a living wage and benefits, so can Wal Mart. Wal Mart inho, and it is my opinion, is committing economic treason against workers and the USA by making taxpayers pay what they should be paying. That is unamerican and unpatriotic.

Jesus, people like you are really clueless.

You think I am a liberal socialist because I think a man or woman who works should earn a living wage? LOL

I remember when the Right Wing was Right and not so far Right that they wanted capitalism to be kill or be killed and a sense of humanity or community existed.

Perhaps someone will kick you in the face when you are unemployed and down and out and can't find work except at burger king, And then they can call you a loser and lazy American. That is what is usually takes for insane ideologues to wake up. They need a little taste of what they give out. I have seen it cure a few.
Once my sister became unemployed and lost everything she stopped being a conservative, and she was only a moderate sane conservative at that.

Thanks for calling me a liberal socialist. But I am really A Democratic Socialist . Like the kind they have in Denmark, Sweaden and other more educated countries than the USA.

"Try living in a country where there is no Wally-World and let me know how you enjoy paying double what the cost of food is."

i already shop at locally owned shops, i already pay double the amount, i enjoy very much. maybe you should try it!

Cmon'. That view trivializes the whole situation. I don't think your gonna start a retirement fund or buy a home with the massive savings you earned because you went to WalMart everytime you got a chocolate chip cookie fix. WalMart has low prices and that's difficult for small businesses to compete with. Their massive growth is great for them but not ideal for the economy. Economies thrive the most when there are many different sized companies as opposed to top heavy with large corporations. Besides, saving money on your grocery bill is only important if you do something smart with the savings rather than just buying more stuff. Americans are still the least responsible at putting away money for retirement. I personally am not a person who is always looking for a deal. For example, I do some of my shopping at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is expensive but I love the store, the products they sell, etc. I understand that when I make a purchase at Whole Foods that I am doing my part to keep them in business. I believe that many people who live in metropolitan cities don't want to shop at the same place all of the time. We like variety even if it costs us more. We sure as shitte don't wanna buy our friggen' clothes from WalMart! I think it's very responsible for Chicago legislators to keep WalMart out. WalMart will not suffer because of this. They are strong and will always be with us. But they don't need more stores. Enough already. The economy isn't going to turn around because WalMart keeps opening new stores because the wages they pay are low enough that their employees don't have significant buying power. They can afford to shop at discount retailers. Now, who's the largest discount retailer? WalMart. Just having a job isn't quite enough. When enough of us have jobs which pay enough so that we can spread our money around to many kinds of retailers, not just discount chains, then the economy will improve. If WalMart wanted to help they would invest in higher pay rather than more stores. But that would be a sacrifice. People say that WalMart employs a lot of people as if they are doing it as a favor. They need employees. But the employees need higher pay to gain greater spending power. WalMart has reached a level that would enable them to make a more significant impact on our economy than just offering low paying wages and a store that sells 'everything'.

I HOPE you are kidding. Are you seriously putting your chocolate chip cookie craving over the importance of workers wages, treatment, and the economy? Keep more stocked in your pantry.

Like I said, I am fully aware of the Wal-Mart corporation's many failings, both toward its employees and to the global economy at large. But these reasons don't change the fact that it's business model is based on a concept that any Econ 101 student can understand: if you charge less for an item (...like a package of the aforementioned chocolate chip cookies, or a set of steel-belted radial tires, or a hamburger, or whatever you happen to be selling) than your competition, by whatever means necessary, then consumers are more likely to buy your product.

Or, in other words, that's capitalism...and once you find something that works (...and that is, more or less, guaranteed to turn some kind of profit), it's hard to move away from it. The idea of what Wal-Mart does has become so ubiquitous in our culture (...and other cultures around the world) that it's going to be around for quite awhile unless something better can be brought to the table.

Sure, I would love to shop at a Whole Foods all of the time in order to bask all of the warm and fuzzy feelings that come with it...but when its three or four days until my next payday and I only have few bucks left my checking account, I (...and millions of others, for that matter) head over to The Big Evil for those cheap cookies.

so did they go work at walmart after it opened?

Corporate greed and Marxist ideals are EXACT opposites.

Whoever made this picture doesn't know shit. Do your research.

yea. that doesn't make any sense

Ever wonder WHY they kick ass even in bad times like now? Because it's ALL AMERICANS CAN AFFORD due to crappy wages paid by companies like Wal-Mart and layoffs. Their profits are another way of saying that we're broke. I see nothing to be happy about here.

very good point!

and what major towns have they brought down?

its just business but its so unethical and wrong. if you live in an area that walmart wants to build its complex in, they can force you sell your house.

I have seen that happen to whole neighborhoods. The people who were fighting the extra Wal Mart they are putting in my area on 5 miles from the other giant one are unable to sell their houses.
Its used to be a really nice area, but not anymore.

yup, they've destroyed many main streets in many towns across america.

and St Paul, MN has been hurt tremendously by them.

I live in a burb and its not that big. We have one gigantic Wal Mart and one 20 miles to the East and one about 28 miles to the West. ANd 2 Sams each way.
They are putting another one in my burb and they will be about 5 miles apart!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The citizens are paying to enlarge the road, and even though everyhone said no to the corrupt city council, they still accepted it. It is near a hospital and it will cause difficulty with ambulance traffic, We don't need it.
We have a Target, a K Mart, lots of Dollar stores, and I guess since they killed all the mom and pop stores now they want to murder Target and the other discounters. I don't shope at China mart, unless I can't find it elsewhere.

it's amazing that towns have allowed them to get away with some of the crap they pull too. especially their give to the community bull.

What does Wal-Mart have to do with inflation or lack thereof?

Wal Mart/China, Inc. suppresses wages, forces US companies to ship manufacturing jobs overseas and destroys the economies of small communities. It is a corporate monster that devours everything in it's path with no regard for ANYTHING other than it's own bottom line. This is not a liberal or conservative thing. Americans like you and I pay the price with lower wages and lost jobs.

Consignment shops are just great. I bought some of the most beautiful things in consignment shops and i also sold some really nice things.

capitalism in it's pure form is a great thing. it's when you bastardize it and go for short term results instead of long-term is how America got into all this mess we're in now.