Sunday, June 17, 2007

Wal-Mart Uber Alles


Hear the spinning sound? That’s Sam Walton turning in his grave at the speed of a metal lathe. I never met Sam, obviously, but by all accounts he was a decent fellow who just wanted to give people a decent value for their hard-earned dollar. From what I’ve read, he was a staunch anti-communist and believed in making sure his store was full of labels that said MADE IN AMERICA. I wonder what old Sammy would say today to know that his company may as well be a Chinese puppet state?
The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart says its inventory of stock produced in China is expected to hit $18 billion this year, keeping the annual growth rate of over 20 per cent consistent over two years. The trend is expected to continue, company officials revealed.

"We expect our procurement stock from China to continue to grow at a similar rate in line with Wal-Mart's growth worldwide, if not faster," said Lee Scott, the president and CEO (chief executive officer) of Wal-Mart.

"If Wal-Mart was an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia and Canada," Xu Jun, Wal-Mart China's director of external affairs said.

Last year, Wally World bought $15 billion products from China, half from direct purchasing, the other from their suppliers in China.
More than 5,000 Chinese enterprises have established steady supply alliances with Wal-Mart. So far, more than 70 per cent of the commodities sold in Wal-Mart are made in China. Made in America, huh, Sam?

Insiders point out Wal-Mart’s imports from China largely influence the US trade deficit in China, which is expected to reach $150 billion this year.
We’ve had an economic embargo in place against Cuba for close to 50 years now, hoping to starve out that bastion of communism on our doorstep, and yet we do BILLIONS of dollars of business with China and Vietnam. We never fought a war with Cuba like we did with Vietnam, yet last year we did about $8.5 billion in imports from Vietnam. Communism in Cuba will crumble within 5 years of Castro’s death, but one American company is the 8th largest trading partner with a country of over a billion people who are in zero danger of dropping communism anytime soon.

I sorta feel guilty every time I spend money in Wal-Mart, like I’m helping to crush American small business, but in the town where I live, there isn’t really anywhere else to go. Wal-Mart didn’t crush this town; it died a long time before the Super Center got built. China never had to fire a shot to win this war. All they had to do was manufacture cheap trinkets that gluttonous American Sheeple would snatch up en masse. We will bury you, indeed.

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