As opposed to Costco, which has programs to maintain staff wages and benefits enabling staff to earn enough afford to buy things outside of Costco, Walmart has the lowest standard of employment, with advanced programs available to management to immediately stomp out any sign that the staff might organize.

In fact, part of being a Walmart employee is to watch anti-union physo-vids.

Walmart keeps money in the company by paying staff wages at such a level that the only place they can afford to shop is Walmart, such that for other people Walmart is a cheep bargain, but for Walmart employees, their purchasing power per effort makes shopping at Walmart the same as what it is for a person making a normal wage to shop at Sears, and it makes shopping at Sear out of the range of Walmart employees.

Walmart is one of the great exporters of US currency to China... they pioneered the enrichment of China at the expense of US manufacturers.

During the times when Walmart's importation of cheap Chinese products was starting to pinch US manufacturers, Walmart buyers would sniff out those US manufacturers whom Walmart was instrumental at driving into bankruptcy, and would march in, and offer idiotically undervalued cash-on-the-barrel deals to buy the last of what those dieing manufacturers had in the warehouse, so if you hear Walmart talk about how they (used to) buy lots of US made stuff... that's where that came from. First they would crush the local manufacturer down, and then they would buy them up at substandard prices... and thus reduce overall US employment while making China richer.

It used to be that a good way to spend a vacation was to get in a car, and drive around the country side, staying off the interstates, and visiting small town America. That used to be my favorite kind of vacation. Pull into a town, find a pub, meet some locals, and get into the local social scene for a couple days, and it used to be that every small town had a funky little business core that was unique and special to their town.

Now... those are all dead, and driving into any small US town is like driving into any other small US town, which is to see dead little shops that used to be interesting, with a big, boring, featureless Walmart bloating itself like a tumor on the edge of town... so I don't do small-town trips anymore, which means it's killed down-home tourism for small towns.

Eventually, when they've driven all competition out of business, those who have one of those minimum-wage jobs at Walmart, earning only enough to buy at Walmart, someone will notice that the purchasing power of their time working is not different than it was when people used to get paid normal wages and would shop at Sears, except now there's a lot more unemployed, and you've sent all your money to China, and China - a communist state - has bought up the US economy via their 30 billion per month purchase of US T-Bills, and you'll discover that you're an employee of a communist state... living at a standard about equal to what Russians were living at during the Brezhnev day.

It means that Walmart is just a Chinese agent in a Chinese communist venture to conquer US capitalism, and it just means that the Chinese are doing something that Marx had recommended and which the earliest Bolsheviks said should be done, but which Stalin was too dumb to try, and that was, "Use the capitalists' tools against them".

So... if you're a Marxist, and you love Chinese communism, and you want to see American style free enterprise crushed under the boots of a monopoly employing people with no rights - rights being something that no Walmart employee has - then *of course* you should love Walmart.

Just note that... like China, where there is no guarantee of medical care for anyone... where health care is a communist owned, user pay service... you can kiss away any hope you might have ever had of some protection if you get sick, such that if you want some social justice, you might have to check out your heritage to see if the European countries that your ancestors came from will let you move back.

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Walmart employs 2.1 million Americans, and had plans to add 22,000 jobs at 150 new or expanded stores during 2009. During this same time period, many other companies laid off employees at the rate of 500,000 to 600,000 per week.

Besides employment, you can get good merchandise at reasonable prices at Walmart. There's a reason Walmart is selling more than ever. After having been put out of their jobs by other companies, Americans need fair prices more than ever.

Finally, Walmart has always been quick to support the communities where they are located with donations to charities, sponsorship of fundraisers, and so on. Nothing exemplifies this more than the $4 prescription program devised by the company this year. At the very time when we are struggling in a health care crisis, Walmart drastically slashes costs on their prescription drugs, helping the elderly and the poor afford medication. how could anyone argue this is not good for America?

I am not a Walmart employee, nor do I even know anyone who works at Walmart, but I can recognize a good thing when I see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hUvWkTc8HY&feature=related

Regardless of the negative things people say about Walmart, the value it provides to people is absolutely amazing. Someone making minimum wage can shop there and truly have quite a nice life. I think 20 years ago, entry level workers simply wouldn't have been able to afford the same standard of living. I understand that some are unhappy with Walmart's lower-the-cost-no-matter-what strategy, but it's also forced other companies to step up their efficiency.