What exactly is the problem?

that hasn't always been the case. they were made in the u.s. until in the 70's, things really started changing. if you go back far enough, u.s. manufacturing traditionally took place in the northern states--new england and the great lakes areas. that was the case until, like i said, things started changing in the 70's. the industrialized countries such as japan and germany, whose industries has been devastated by ww2, re-industrialized and started making an impact on american markets in the late 60's.

part of u.s. foreign policy was to allow countries like japan and germany to have easy access to u.s. markets so that they wouldn't turn commie (obviously, this was during the cold war).

when they rebounded and became stronger competition to u.s. firms, it put a squeeze on u.s. profits. that, and the energy crisis of the 70's really hurt u.s. firms. so there were several different approaches they took to widen profit margins again. 1) they engaged in an all-out war on unions. 2) they began moving operations overseas. 3) they moved jobs from traditionally heavily unionized parts of the country (new england and great lakes) to the south, which was much less unionized. this is where you'll still see a lot of the factories that still make clothing and toys like you talked about. people are willing to work for less there.

and like i said, real average hourly wages are now still at about the same level they were in the early 70's.

in the early 90's walmart really started encouraging suppliers to move their operations overseas. they dropped their whole "made in the u.s.a." campaign completely in the 90's. walmart isn't the only company to take the blame, but they led the charge. other retail places couldn't compete with them unless they also went with overseas suppliers. so it had a kind of snowball effect.




"The only place to spit in a rich man's house is in his face."
--Diogenes of Sinope

If Wal-Mart has their way and everything is made in other countries, crappy retail jobs will be the only option the majority of this country has. Now that we live in the information age, it is getting easier and easier to outsource to foreigner and just have minimum staffed office stateside to act as a liaison to your engineers overseas.

You are correct that places like Wal Mart are lower class jobs. What you seem to forget is that prior to so much of our manufacturing moving overseas, factory work was the low end, too. By low end, I mean all you needed to be able to work in a factory was a strong back and some drive. These types of unskilled labor jobs are disappearing as they get farmed out to foreign countries who pay people slave wages and charge us the same price for an inferior product.

What I am getting at, quite simply, is that this entire country can't survive if everyone is working at Wal-Mart or some similar crappy retail job. Especially with Wal-Mart doing everything it can to make sure only a percentage of it's employees are eligible for an even semi-decent benefits package.

Oh and by the way, find someone that worked at Wal-Mart when Sam Walton was alive. Employees were treated as people and paid a wage that you could live off of. Sam was a saint of a man and his kids have taken a dump on his name. Before Sam died, Wal-Mart was THE place to work if you wanted a decent job and had no skills. They paid well and had amazing benefits for their employees (my cousin got a leave of absence when she got pregnant and still had a job when she was ready to work, again). That is how they got to where they are, today. His kids have turned around and, time and again, spit in the faces of everyone that spent their lives helping Wal-Mart become the household name that it is, today. They are a horrible corporation and I shop there as seldom as I can manage to.

You lost me. The US has lost manufacturing jobs to the China, India, etc., and this is not the fault of Walmart. US manufacturers simply can't compete with the low wages in these countries. But the employees that actually work IN Walmart do not have be paid such criminally low wages.

In Germany(as the documentary shows)employees are paid a decent wage and receive benefits. Yet Walmart still makes a profit or they wouldn't be there. Maybe they pass some of these extra costs on to the customers, but maybe the stockholders and upper level managers of Walmart in Germany simply have to be satisfied with a slightly less huge piece of the pie. Since 1979 the productivity of US workers has increased greatly, yet the real wages of many of these workers has stayed about the same. Where do you think all this extra money went? The problem isn't just that America has gone from manufacturing to service and retail--it's this idea that service and retail has to be minimum wage because god forbid anybody unionize or elect a government that stands up for workers rather than corporations.

I'm a liberal "elitist" though because I don't (usually) shop at Walmart. So I end up getting like the right-wing jerk above. If they're not going unionize and are not going to vote for a party that protects their economic interests because the other party nominates a chirpy "Walmart mom" for vice president, than I guess small-town America will keep working in Walmart for slave wages (in between tours of duty in Iraq). But it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

http://walmartstores.com/Careers/7750.aspx

$5 or $8 a month for medical coverage? must be nice....

I wouldn't say its as much of the lack of formal education as it is the lack of education of money, finance, etc. There are many college grads who don't have a a good understanding of money. Shouldn't a stock broker, accountant, etc that is giving you financial advise be rich? Many aren't. Many have financial problems of their own. This is because of the lack of financial education in our schools and universities.

The majority of people are in debt. Even ones who make a lot of money. Its because most people live a life where their expenses are higher than their resources. People who make less can easily be richer than those who actually make more than them. You just have to be smart about it. Also, you don't even need a GED to invest your money or make money work for you.

As far as Wal-Mart goes, I agree, people should not be looking at an entry level position as a career. But for those griping about Wal-Mart's low wages, I would say try moving up in the company. Wal-Mart is one of the easiest companies to move up in. An assistant manager makes near the average household income. A co-manager makes well above the average household income. Store managers can make up to $100,000 a year with a possible 150% bonus. That's a possible 250 grand per year. My wife was an assistant manager within 4 years. I was a department manager within 8 months. It wasn't amazing pay, but the point was it was easy to get there.

There are over 4,000 stores. That is around 4,000 store manager jobs, 8,000 co-manager jobs (give or take), and tens of thousands positions for assistant managers. On top of that, each store has an asset protection manager (loss prevention). Then there is market, regional, divisional jobs, etc. That is a lot of jobs making at least near the average household income. So even if somebody wanted to make a career working at Wal-Mart, they could.

But a big problem is that too many people want to be a cashier for a living. That isn't going to pay the bills. But if that person really wants better for themself, and are willing to actually try, it can easily be done. My mother has woked for Wal-Mart around 25 years. I worked there for a few years. My wife has worked there over 5 years. Do they get upset sometimes? Sure. But for the most part, they have been happy with their job. But they also realize that rather than blaming others and hoping things outside of their control will change, that it is much easier to change things they have control over. So rather than fighting the system and spitting in the wind, they played the game and are doing just fine.

One thing I never understood why people who didn't even work for Wal-Mart were complaining on my behalf when I wasn't even upset at my situation. Don't people realize that if I didn't like it, I could either look for another job or try to advance in the company?

As for the OP wondering why Wal-Mart is always getting attacked while others don't, its a simple answer. Its because of the union. Most of the negative publicity in the media, including this movie, is sponsored by the union. This is because if Wal-Mart would go union, it would easily become their biggest money maker. The world's largest retailer would be the union's largest source of income.

People can say what they want about Wal-Mart being a driving force in taking jobs from here and creating them overseas. I can see both sides of this argument, but I do feel like people have the right to complain on this. But as far as most of the other, including benefits and wages, Wal-Mart does get targeted (no pun intended) and its primarily because of the union.