Week 13: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?

This question is tough because I think, after watching the Frontline piece, that Wal-Mart is good and bad for America. It’s basically an unanswerable question. If I were one of those exuberant participants at that large shareholder meeting, I might say that of course Wal-Mart is good for America – it’s good for me! If I were one of the workers who had lost their jobs at US manufacturing plants because Wal-Mart decided to go with a Chinese supplier instead, I’d say, heck no, Wal-Mart is hurting America.

It really depends on what side you’re on. America is a big country, full of many different people. I would like to believe that those factory workers could get a job at Wal-Mart and be fine and move on with their lives. You could argue that when you step back and look at this situation from a global, macro scale, China should make the goods and we should purchase them, and that’s just how it’s going to parse out. Maybe Americans just weren’t meant to be manufacturing anything. Maybe we’re supposed to be the sellers, the consumers, the idea-generators, the educators, and the bankers, but assembly-line production of goods is not what we’re good at as a people.

This could be a normal progression of how things are eventually going to shake out globally. The Wal-Mart executives don’t think they’re doing anything wrong and, on the contrary, they think they’re doing everything RIGHT. I do believe in “buying American” and I do believe in supporting your local businesses, but I have to admit, when I need a pair of socks, I’m off to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is good for my wallet. I know its trading policies with China and its shrewd way of pitting suppliers against one another to get to the lowest price, just so that they can have a higher markup, is rough to see. But that’s the way businesses work. They’re innovating and they’re leading the way to a new standard of practice for retailers.

There’s nothing we can do but try to do what the small manufacturer in Ohio did – go to Congress and try to get China to change their prices. Our government needs to take a stronger stance against China and their low wages and terrible working conditions. Make them pay more to their employees and treat them better, which would drive up the prices of the goods they churn out. If their prices were brought up a little higher, there may be some American manufacturers that could start competing again.