Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week Thirteen: "Is Wal-Mart Good for America"
It seems as though, after watching this film that Wal-Mart is not good for America. As the people who were interviewed in the documentary said, because Wal-Mart is outsourcing our jobs to China, we are losing many job opportunities for workers in America today. The U.S. economy is in decline, and as the interviewer said on the show from the way the people were describing the country we are exporting cash crops and importing products more like a third world country than like the first world label we have come to acquire. The deal that Bill Clinton made with China doesn't seem to be helping us as much as it is China. Wal-mart has us in a Catch-22. Their prices are low so we love them, but because they are low, we lose our jobs. If we don't support them we might open up more positions in America, but then we would have to pay higher prices. It all depends on which price we are willing to pay there will always be a give and a take.
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Emily,
ReplyDeleteYou are right. We are certainly in a Catch-22, stuck between low prices and jobs. I think we can get out of this scenario entirely by understanding that with higher prices comes higher paying jobs and a better overall standard of living. Walmart is not only bad for America, but also bad for China and the Asian countries. They are forcing workers around the globe into terrible working conditions. Perhaps if we are able to stop showing interest in these outrageously low prices, we will in turn, raise the standard of living, increase the amount of good paying jobs available, and open up the competition to companies who take care of both their customers and their employees.