Why do people think that Walmart is bad for america?

Question

From a purely theoretical economic perspective shouldn't they viewed as good, since they are the ultimate company in the free market system?

there are so many poor uneducated people shopping at walmart because they go there for the low prices that walmart offers.

Does anyone not shop at walmart, and shop at Target because they believe they are so much better?

I understand the pay arguments, but aren't most places that way?

Answer 1

I don't think the problem is that people think Walmart is bad for the country in general, but more on a local level. In my area there has been opposition to new Walmarts based upon how it will affect the traffic flow and congestion in the area.
The old argument that they will put "downtowns" and smaller local businesses out is I believe a foregone conclusion. Most downtowns have eroded years ago, and the local businesses have been replaced by national chains, and they're in malls.
One of the biggest problems has been that Walmart becomes a major employer in their area, and that the employees were being shorted in benefits, hours and pay, but those issues are being addressed.

Answer 2

Walmarts and other "big box" chain retailers pull shoppers away from downtown shopping areas and locally owned and operated stores. America's downtowns have been failing since the advent of the shopping center - first strip mall and then enclosed mall - in the late 50s. The increased use of the car and conversion of the rural areas to suburbs are all part of this and owe more to the car than Walmart. Walmart is just the latest permutation of the trend.

Keep in mind that the purely theoretical economic perspective doesn't consider any actual people. While the people who oppose Walmart complain more about the business they take from downtowns (and this is valid), I worry more about the people who live in all of those downtowns that now don't have grocery stores or other retail available to them. Walmarts rarely locate in downtowns. The suburban poor can get to them, but they are hard for the urban poor, who are less likely to own cars, to reach.

Its just part of life these days that many of us need to shop at Walmart and other discount retailers. Cities have to find other ways to revitalize their downtowns. This trend has been going on for a long time and we're not going to make it go away.

Answer 3

Walmart has a predatory way of doing business. When Sam Waldon was living, he would never go into a small community to build a store. It would have been too devastating to small businesses in the area who would find it difficult to compete. That is no longer the case. Walmart has saturated markets in most larger and midsize cities and are now actively entering small towns in order to further expand and maintain their growth. This has been devasting to many small businesses in those communities. In addition, tax and other benefits have been bestowed to Walmart by political leaders, to entice them to these smaller communities. There have been stories written about eminent domain being used to take property from individuals so Walmart can build a store. This is not what emminent domain was designed and most consider this an abuse of emminent domain.

At one time, Walmart advertised that they only had American made products in their stores. That hasn't been the case in some years. Most products you now find in most Walmart stores comes from abroad, primarily from Asian countries, such as China. Walmart has reportedly been actively involved in partnering with the Chinese and other government entities in manufacturing products for their stores. Most jobs that are available at Walmart are minimum wage positions with limited or no benefits to the employees. Proponents of Walmart consider them a success story and feel that they represent the best in capitalism, profiting while offering reduced prices on products. Opponents feel that they have harmed industries such as the textile and other industries in the name of profits. Both can be said to be true. They have brought cheaper products to the marketplace, but they tend to be of lesser quality than those previously offered by U.S. based manufactuers and the result is that many jobs in manufacturing have been eliminated as manufacturers move facilities abroad as they search for cheaper labor.

Answer 4

Walmart is bad for America due to the fact that they pay their employees low wages, (not enough for a family man/woman) they employee people in other countries at even lower wages, (basically running sweat shops) and sell the crap for at least 10x what they paid to have it made, and they are unfair to their employees and they give poor people a chance to get what they want.

Answer 5

From a "purely theoretical perspective" Wal*Mart is a good economic model. But we do not live in a "purely theoretical" world and there are social, ecological as well as economic consequences for such a model.

While Wal*Mart does have very low prices, they also go to low cost producers like China, like one reader points out, which means that American firms that produce similar goods, albeit it a higher cost (due to the cost of operating in our so-called free market economy versus the centrally planned, government contolled economy of China) which has the effect of reducing good paying manufacturing jobs in the US. Also, to get their low prices they really blackmail the manufacturers and distributors with threats not to carry their goods unless they meet Wal*Mart's demand for lowest pricing. This also costs jobs in America, in my opinion. And not to mention driving smaller competitors out of business (reducing competition which is a bad thing), creating huge ecosystem impacts witht their massive stores and traffic problems, their own low wage/low benefits for their own employees, their mistreatment of employees, etc. all to produce a fat bottom line for investors (who tend not to be the demographic the retail giant targets for their sales).

So, who's to blame? Look no further than the reflection in your mirror.

Answer 6

Your question is why it is bad for America. Because products sold at Walmart are imported from China. So its better for the Chinese economy (in comparison), but ya, its just good for America.

Answer 7

Yeah, but whenever I shop there I am always trying to get stupid people to get out of my way. Why is it that there are always so many poor stupid people shopping there?