Economic model followed by Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers is no boon for the middle class

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/25631274.html?location_refer=Opinion

By STACY MITCHELL

Last update: July 18, 2008 - 7:08 PM

Katherine Kersten tries to represent Wal-Mart as a hero of working families. But what Wal-Mart has saved poor and middle-income Americans -- and there's reason to doubt the depth and durability of the discounts Kersten cites -- it has taken that and more from them in diminished job opportunities and reduced income.

It's not just Wal-Mart. Rather, it's the economic model that Wal-Mart perfected and that others, including Home Depot and Target, also follow.

The rise of these powerful retailers over the past 20 years has decimated two long-standing pillars of the American middle class.

One consists of small business owners, tens of thousands of whom, along with their employees, have lost their livelihoods as the big boxes have taken over.

Manufacturing workers are the other. Since 1990, the United States has lost some 3 million manufacturing jobs. Many of these losses can be traced to big-box retailers and the relentless pressure they have placed on companies to cut costs by moving to countries with low wages and lax labor laws.

Starting a small business or getting a union-wage production job provided a path out of poverty for generations of American families. No other company has done more to close these avenues to a middle-class life than Wal-Mart.

FULL 2 page story at link.

:kick:

there were probly 3 million manufacturing jobs eliminated in the rust belt of Pennsylvania. Not counting Ohio, Jersey, Indiana and the rest of the steel/auto producing states.

in the earlier days of Wal-Mart their stores were proud to display "Made in America"....once that was lost the harm began. Also remember, the Wal-Mart family is beyond wealthy and yet their employees are not well paid or cared for. They care only for the bottom line. imho