Wal-Mart: I Hope Your Company Dies!!!!

OK, so in English class we have been watching this Wal-Mart video that shows its negative side and how it contributed to globalization. I really hate Wal-Mart after watching this video and I hope they go bankrupt and out of business. A lot of things that were shown in the video were appalling and I had no clue as to what was really going on with this corrupt company. So the following in this blog is really about my reflection on the video and of the company. After watching this video, it really infuriates me that a company like Wal-Mart still exists. I was surprised at the ending when I discovered that so many communities around the U.S. have kicked Wal-Mart out of their towns. I was not aware that it was possible to do that. After this, I know that I will not be shopping at Wal-Mart anytime soon and I hope their company dies! The Walton family is the root of all evil with themselves and their money. Did you know that there are six members of the Walton family and each of them are worth $18 billion dollars alone. Even though they have so much money and say they give back to the community, they only give 1% of their earnings back to charity which is about $6,000. Whereas, Bill Gates, gives back 58% of his earnings back to charities. A few issues that stood out for me is the way that Wal-Mart thinks that women are useless and are not encouraged to reach for higher positions in management. I thought that was the most sexist thing a company could ever do or even consider. Secondly, this malicious company abuses and takes advantage of their employees in foreign countries while they work in haneous working conditions meeting the demands for the company. In the video, there was an asian woman who lives in one of the provinces of China and she went to the main city to work in a factory for Wal-Mart to help out her family. She did the video and she revealed the truth about what really goes on in the factories. She said that when an inspector from Wal-Mart came to inspect the working conditions, wages, and the overall workers well-being, they were told to LIE. The inspectors report back to the CEO and the company and none of the workers dare disobey their employers because if they revealed the truth they would either get fired or get beaten psychologically or physically. I didn't realized that this went on. The people in these factories are told to lie and say they work six days a week, they have time off, they are getting paid the legal minimum wage, and that they are getting treated fairly. Also, I wonder what had happened to this asian woman after doing this Wal-Mart video because she revealed the truth about what really went on in the factory. I wonder if there is a way of finding out. Most inspectors that go these factories in foreign countries know what's really happening. Im not sure whether they are that cold-hearted to not say anything or they just don't want to lose their job like this next person that awed me. In the video, they showed this man who worked as an inspector/director of the factories in Mexico, Central and South America. I don't recall exactly what his name was but I remember his face. This man was newly hired as an inspector for Wal-Mart and he went down to the factories and he was shocked at what he saw and horrified at what he discovered when he went down there. He came back to the U.S. to report what he saw and he was fired for telling the truth. After two weeks,( I think he said two weeks), of being an inspector for Wal-Mart, he was fired for telling the truth about what was happening in the factories. This is what shocked me most of all in the video. It infuriated that Wal-Mart does not care about their employees around the world who are making their business thrive. If it wasn't for them, they wouldn't have a company. This company is not a good company, yes they have low prices but how cheap can we be people? Can we be that cheap to not give a crap about what is happening to other human beings and their lives? How cold are we? The people here in America and people working in corporate America (and who are cold hearted) act like the whole world revolves around the United States. It doesn't. Why we are we so egocentric? That is the high cost of low prices everyday. Human beings.

'til next time,
Katie