Everyone knows Walmart, since they are the worlds biggest retailer. The real question is not if you have heard of them or not, it is how much do you really know about them? Do you understand how they became the company that they are today? What about their business practices or how they compensate their employees? I think it is fair to say that the majority of consumers do not know much about the company, just how low their prices are on their favorite items. We have all seen the negative effects that bad companies have had on our nation. The Enron scandal eliminated retirement pensions for thousands of employees; when the warning signs were recognized it was too late to save these accounts. What is puzzling is how we have a company that operates like they do and not too many people are concerned about how they conduct business, with only a few exceptions. Obviously unions are one of their most vocal opponents because their employees are non-union. Labor rights groups have stood up against them as well because of how they are obtaining these cheap goods and if the workers in China (or wherever) are being treated fairly, and paid reasonably. Smaller local groups have also formed to fight new Walmart’s coming into their neighborhoods or when an existing store is proposed to become a Supercenter.

Economists have taken a look at what the ramifications are to a state with Walmart’s in it and the numbers might surprise you. Since the company doesn’t offer the best compensation structure for wages and benefits some of their employees are actually receiving government assistance for medical care and food. What is troubling about this is that they makes billions in profit every year, but can’t get their employees decent medical insurance and this is one of my primary beefs with them as a company.
A study by University of California Berkeley back in 2004 determined in the state of California, was paying 86 million dollars in health, food and housing assistance on Walmart employees. The study showed that the employees couldn’t get by with their wages and needed something from the state to help get by. Taxpayers in the state are expected