Wal-Mart Runs On Ground In Canadian Courts

Walmarts glory days will end when Peak Oil really kicks in. It depends upon cheap transportation to ship the shoddy crap from China to here and cheap gas so people can drive to the shopping malls. In the meantime continue the unionization drives, fight every new Walmart that tries to invade your town or neighborhood, and above all, boycott the neoconazi slime!

I wonder though.......Ain't Walmart big enough that the US govt. would subsidize it?<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27chicago.html?ex=1154664000&en=029291ece5507348&ei=5070&emc=eta1">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27chicago.html?ex=1154664000&en=029291ece5507348&ei=5070&emc=eta1</a><br />
Chicago Orders ‘Big Box’ Stores to Raise Wage<p>---<br>"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."<br />
- Justice Louis Brandeis

Here in Williams Lake, the red hot "conservative" town council, with 2 exceptions, one of them NDP, was willing to spend $100,000 on court costs to fight opposition to Wal-Mart being dumped next to a high priced subdivision. Now the site turned out to be unsuitable and there's panic: "Where will Wal-Mart locate now?"

When it comes, it will devastate the economy of the town, but people are panting to get the "cheap prices"

My wife and I were in Kamloops 3 years ago and as we've never been inside a Wal-Mart store, we went in, pushed a buggy around for a half hour, then walked out without buying anything. The products were junk and the well known brands were higher priced than we could buy them in our local stores.

When Wal-Mart comes and wipes out some of the businesses we buy from, we may be forced to go to Wal-Mart on occasions, but if we never set foot in the dump it will be too soon.

Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.

You’re right, what is generally cheaper in price in Walmart is what they call price leaders that they advertise in their flyers to get people in the door; otherwise, everything else is at most the same as anywhere else or more expensive. This is not to mention that the last time I bought something in Walmart many years ago I remember having to wait in line 20 minutes at the checkout. I also remember that just about every shirt I bought at Walmart fell apart at the seam or had little lines of fabric missing from the weave.

Walmart ran into this problem years ago in which their competitors matched their prices by adopting Walmart’s practice of forcing manufacturers to cut costs (mostly labor costs) to the bone. Walmart’s response was to push the US government (Clinton’s administration I believe) to open up trade with China so they could push their manufacturers to move their factories overseas for the cheap labor and of course their competitors have now done the same so Walmart is now again no bargain. The end result is a marked weakening of the US economy’s manufacturing base and expansion of lower paying service jobs. It’s a constant wonder to me how American citizens fail to see the connection between their current economic troubles (slump and huge trade deficit) and this company, which I guess is the syndrome of “if it isn't my job on the line then it doesn’t affect me” which of course is crap since people’s ability to buy the product you make is affected by their wages.

Last I heard, Chinese workers are now refusing the garbage jobs in American and other foreign factories for higher paying ones of Chinese companies who are now becoming stronger than American companies and in some cases are selling more of their products in the US than American companies; how ironic is that.

I personally have not bought anything in a Walmart for years out of principle because I know how this company operates and it makes me sick to my stomach to think about supporting this greed machine. I have easily been able to find the same products or comparable ones for the same price and do not have to wait in huge lines to get them.

I've been in the local Sprawl-Mart a few times, but rarely buy anything myself.

Mostly I just go there to hit the McDonalds because it's within walking distance and I can get my fry fix without having to drive anywhere.

My own opinion of wal-Mart is that is is a parasitc corporation that strip mines cash from every locality it sets up shop in.

They take, and give precious little back.

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"and the knowledge they fear is a weapon to be used against them"

"The Weapon" - Rush

<p>Rick,</p> <p>it’s more typically the case here that local governments subsidise them through multiyear property tax abatements (on the theory that they won’t look for greener pastures once the abatements end). I don’t know if they’ve attempted and/or achieved the same up there.</p><p>---<br>Shatter your ideals upon the rock of Truth.<br />
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— The Divine Symphony, by Inayat Khan<br />

I believe dangle both carrots & sticks at municipal council yokels...........

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"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."
- Justice Louis Brandeis