Walmart’s Greed Continues With Neighborhood Markets

It’s not enough that Walmart’s profits are 1.8 million an hour. Now they want to further decimate the grocery industry.

As if devastating the economies of small towns isn’t enough, Walmart is now going after grocery stores with the increased launch of their Neighborhood Markets.

Walmart’s Neighborhood Markets were created in 1998.  With sales at their Supercenters slipping, Walmart has decided to go up against the grocery industry which has battled against the retail giant for decades.

Approximately 35 million consumers shop at Walmart daily. Walmart generates about 1.8 million in profits an hour. They want more!  Most of their employees are paid only an average of $9.00 an hour, a rate hike which only came about because of massive public shaming.  Many Walmart associates are part-time workers, and have been forced to rely on public assistance.

Their recent foray into the dollar store-type market failed  – thank God! Walmart Express stores started in 2011. Now numbering about 150 in the United States, they were directed at the highly successful Dollar General market share, which has vastly expanded into small town areas where a Walmart Supercenter would not be feasible. Because many of these rural and small towns have no grocery stores – many of which have been put out of business by a nearby Walmart, residents with limited income and lack of transportation have started to use the dollar stores as their food market.

The company announced 2 days ago that it would be shuttering all U.S. and foreign Walmart Express stores and closing some underperforming Supercenters.

Walmart’s greed is insatiable.  They’ve decimated the economies of thousands of small towns over the past 5 decades.  People then become reliant on the very entity which destroyed their livelihoods for both employment and goods.

I’ve seen this firsthand living in rural America over the past 30 years. Time and again the once flourishing economies have been wiped out by the building of a nearby Walmart.  In the town where I lived for 15 years, the locally run grocery store finally failed ten years ago. The 45 year-old family owned Booker’s Hardware has been on its last legs, the shelves holding fewer items as years go by. How long will that institution continue? Everyone must drive either 10 miles one way to the nearest smaller Walmart or 25 round trip to a Supercenter. There IS nothing else!

Walmart is building one of their new Neighborhood Markets not far from my home in suburban Florida.  Not 3 miles away IS a Walmart Supercenter!

Just outside the 55+ community where I live there are two grocery stores: a Publix and a Winn Dixie, which are also accessible by residents of our community to reach by golf carts.

I won’t be shopping at the Walmart Neighborhood Market – EVER! There is no need for it here. There are plenty of other grocery stores nearby. This is just another money-grubbing ploy by Walmart to gain ground on the grocery industry.  They’ve obviously hoodwinked the greedy planning commission and local government to approve its building.

We don’t need it!

I refuse to add to Walmart’s wealth and greed, and will continue to support Publix and Winn Dixie.

        

Guns, Bribes, Corporate Greed: What Has Happened To Us?

Day after day I sit at this computer reading news headlines, and day after day I wonder what in the hell has gotten into us?

Lately it seems  that we’ve lost our flipping minds!

Missing lately is a sense of common sense.

Our respect for others is gone, any sense of compassion for the citizens of this country by corporate America has vanished. Our voice in government has been obscured by money & influence. It’s like “We The People” don’t matter any longer.

GUNS:

Under the Second Amendment, as least for the moment, citizens can buy guns that are almost identical to military issued weapons.

These weapons have only two purposes:

• To kill as many humans as possible in the shortest time.
• To kill them so effectively that they are literally shredded.

However, these military-type weapons are legal for ordinary citizens to buy because one can use them for target practice or hunting or shooting events.

That’s nice.

That’s also insane.

Why are citizens allowed to have firearms so close to what police or the military have?

This is even more insane!

This is a lack of common sense and responsibility by our highest court and the United States government.

It’s kowtowing to special interest groups (read NRA) and a ridiculous fear that we’ll hurt somebody’s feelings or ~God forbid~ violate Second Amendment rights.

Bullshit!

There are plenty of other firearms to have to hunt and target shoot with.

Grow up, people!

~~~~~~~~~

GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION & INFLUENCE:

Our government has been corrupt for a long, long time.  I am not a political law person, just  an ordinary citizen who has some questions.

Why isn’t it illegal to influence our government officials?

Obviously lobbying isn’t.  Obviously bribery isn’t.

It’s done in the halls of this government and in every state every day!

If it IS illegal then we need to lock up most of our government!

The only losers:  the majority of the American people and the environment.

For instance, companies like Monsanto are using the world as Guinea pigs with GMO food, herbicides, pesticides and the United States government is letting them get away with it.

We are dying of increased rates of cancers. Our pets are dying of cancer, bees are disappearing, our groundwater has high concentrations of Atrazine and Round-Up.

Little children are getting cancer whereas this was once a disease of older people.  The FDA, USDA, EPA have been influenced – or should I say -threatened – by Monsanto and other monolithic companies.  Yet we have our richest of the rich like Bill Gates, under the guise of being a humanitarian, is promoting Monsanto’s agenda to help feed ~and poison~ the world!

We are also being systematically poisoned and sickened by food corporations by the use of additives and chemicals that in some cases, have only the say so of the manufacturer that they are safe.

The FDA has ruled for the food companies, allowing manufacture and sale of these foods, using the test results OF the food company’s biased testing, while omitting review of any independent tests.

This is fraud!

We are held hostage by the corporations and our own government.  Oh, there are a few who are fighting for us in Washington but those who are in it for the greed and money outnumber them.

To me the scales have been tipped so far out of the hands of the American people to favor corporations.

We literally have no say any longer.

What has happened to our elected officials working FOR THE PEOPLE instead of the corporations?

Simple:  money!

This is despicable!

What can we do, though?  If the ones who write and pass the laws are influenced against us – how can we ever hope to change things?

I am sickened at what our government has become:  fighting like a bunch of little children, totally ignoring why they’re in government in the first place ~and~ ignoring the American people…, but still they bicker on, passing watered down legislation to supposedly protect us or help us.  The corporations and special interest groups have more money and thus, more voice than “We The People.”

This is NOT our government any longer – we have been shut out!

~~~~~~~~

CORPORATE AMERICA:

The American worker is screwed.

Back to corporate America:  GREED reigns and the workers who are out on the floor of the large corporations are treated almost like slaves.

We’ve lost our jobs to third world nations to “save money” in corporate pockets.

Walmart, the nation’s largest employer, buys clothing from factories in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia – yet they still screw their own workers regarding wages and benefits.

Before Obamacare, companies like Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and others adopted the cost saving initiative of only hiring people part-time for just enough hours NOT to qualify for any benefits.

I worked for Lowe’s from 2003-2007. When I was hired people could work full or part-time.  Now, only their top store management and some department people are full time.  Everyone else is hired part time.

The corporations of this country are purposely destroying the lives of most of the workers in this country by denying hours, a living wage and benefits.

We are going to become a service-orientated nation, fighting over jobs at fast food restaurants.

We are going to die premature deaths because ~like me~ millions of people cannot afford healthcare so we do not go for regular checkups.

More of us are going to lose our homes because we cannot get enough work to keep up the mortgage payments or taxes.

WHY?  Because this country is now run by greed by corporate America!

They will NOT invest in this country; they will not spend the money it takes to create the jobs that millions of us need.

They will just continue to take, Take, TAKE and walk on the broken backs, shattered dreams and lives of the average American citizen.

SHAME ON YOU CORPORATE AMERICA!  You can save this country but you won’t.

~~~~~~

Where IS common sense?

Why has it left our government?

Why aren’t WE THE PEOPLE organizing and fighting back to get OUR country back?

Why do we have corporations making decisions and literally, running our lives?

Don’t we matter anymore?

RELATED:

MONSANTO:  Feeding and Killing the World (Food Truth Freedom)

Atrazine & Round-Up: Persistent Chemicals  (Food Truth Freedom)

An Activist Is Something You Are

I guess because I’m an old hippie, part of the 60’s generation which cut our teeth on the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. We tried to raise the red flag on the environment and other causes. Perhaps, too, it’s because I’m a Libra:  the sign of justice and peace.

There is strength in numbers. Speak out, stand up for your rights and the rights of our fellow human beings!

One of the search terms that appears on my site here is the word “activism” and “how to be an activist.”

Activism is not so much something to “be” but more of a sense of what one is. Complacency about social issues does not make for good activism. Self-centered or wearing blinders isn’t conducive either.

Passion and love are also about activism. Compassion, too, is a large part of activism and so is anger! What moves you for the good of all? What enrages your soul about conditions, be they societal,  environmental, political or other?

Activism is many words: love, hate, compassion, sympathy, anger, hope, dreams, vision and direction.

It feels.

It is the fighter, the  Muhammad Ali in us but also the compassion of Mother Teresa. It is the determination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the peace of  Gandhi. It is the rage of every protest and a desire for accomplishment.

It is not for one but for all.

Whether you take on Wal-Mart, the NRA, civil rights, human rights, the environment,  our food system, animal rights, protection of children, the elderly, the greed of corporate America or politics – the list is endless – as are the emotions.

Activism is not a flat-line of spirit.  It is up and down, a heartbeat and alive. It is consciousness and moving forward.  Its direction is always for the good of all; never for the greed of one.

Activism is getting out there, connecting with those of like minds no matter what the cause.

It is writing, reading, researching and getting facts straight for your cause. Information is key to any battle, something that every four star general will tell you.  Know your “enemy,” your subject because for every fact that is hurled from you there will one hundred that are flung back in your face.

Like molasses, activism can be slow going.  One step at a time.  Like a sculptor, pieces fall but they also come together in the final piece.  This is why the minds of many are helpful. Activism is patience and also give and take. It is focus and determination.

So, activism is not something that you can BE – it is something that you are from your soul because it encompasses so much of you.

Are you ready?

Bangladesh Factory Fire: Wal-Mart and Others Could Have Prevented This!

Bangladeshi citizens protest in the aftermath of the factory fire which killed over 100 people. PHOTO: Reuters

In the deadly Bangladesh fire that has killed at least 120 workers, Wal-Mart and other large companies were certainly aware of the conditions.

One hundred twenty lives lost for — what?  GREED!  Over one hundred lives lost so that Walmart, Sears and even P. Diddy can make more money. Their families will mourn the death of their loved ones and lose the pittance  they depended on for this slave labor.

WATCH:  The ABC News  report .

Now it seems that Walmart has stated that the factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for them. In a report from CNN they’ve said:  “A supplier subcontracted work to this factory without authorization and in direct violation of our policies. Today, we have terminated the relationship with that supplier,” Wal-Mart said Monday.

Time will tell IF this is entirely true or not.

The International Labor Rights Group has also asked for support from the world community  to look into the cause of the fire.  Major brands such as Sears, Wal-Mart, Dickies and others who are well-known here in America, as well as other popular brands worldwide, were manufactured there.

What have we come to in this world when the lives of these  people are so insignificant that they do not call for adequate protection from dying in a fire while at work?   How can Walmart and  other mega-rich U.S. corporations dare to look the other way regarding the hundreds  who have died worldwide in factory accidents  that produce their goods?  Where is the sense of outrage in the awful conditions in which some of these workers live?

Oh – wait – silly me,   I forgot!  These people are even more expendable than the U.S. workers employees in the stores!

Investigations into this fire need to be totally transparent.  It is Wal-Mart’s responsibility as purchaser of goods from factories like this to demand safe working conditions for these factory workers.

I’m sure that large companies like Wal-Mart can afford to have more direct oversight in making sure its suppliers provide safe conditions for workers. They  spend an absurd amount of money each year spying on their own workers;  why not some undercover spies for factories to make sure this doesn’t happen again?  Unannounced visits would be a good thing to see exactly how the employees of these factories are being treated.

Of course, remembering how they treat their U.S. employees, it may be too much of a stretch to imagine them working with international workers’ rights organizations ~or~ to think that they even care!

The sad thing is that Wal-Mart and other retailers  have been  outsourcing their products  for years in places like Bangladesh and China to evade U.S. labor laws and worker protections.  This is one more example of the cold heart of this corporation.  “Save Money, Live Better” means that the Walmart executives can live better.

It’s just another reason to boycott Wal-Mart!  In fact — let’s ALL try to buy more american-made goods!

Striking Black Friday Wal-Mart Workers Face Lies, Bribes & Intimidation

Josh, has become one of the poster boys for the Our Wal-Mart strikers!

Wal-Mart Black Friday strikers are facing a number of ploys designed to convince them not to join the nationwide walkout.

In one store the posted Employee Rights notice has been covered up to omit the section of worker’s right to concerted action.  The company has offered a 10% additional discount for those working Black Friday; in other words, bribery!  Wal-Mart has even called Black Friday “Associate Appreciation Day” to further placate the Black Friday strikers. Some associates report that Walmart has even threatened some Black Friday strikers.

Our Wal-Mart, the group founded by employees is leading the strike.  Wal-Mart asserts it is the UCFW, United Food and Commercial workers union which is involved in assisting workers.  Wal-mart also claims that the strike is an attempt to unionize, but the Our Wal-Mart group only wants attention brought to their issues of low pay, retaliation against workers who speak out,  unsafe conditions, among others.

Walmart asserts that is indeed does have clout in this walkout and has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board insisting the Black Friday strike violates labor laws which prohibit strikes over 30 days, which must have a petition filed to join a union.    But the company might find itself in hot water because as the striking employees are NOT trying to unionize, as Wal-Mart claims, but want to bring attention to the company’s abusive tactics.

Corporate America — beware and take notice.  YOUR company could be next!

Wal-Mart Black Friday Strike: They Strike For ALL OF US!

This strike at the country’s largest employer, Wal-Mart, could cause a ripple effect regarding labor laws across the United States. GO WAL-MART STRIKERS!!!

I side totally with the striking Wal-Mart workers who plan to walk out tomorrow, Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Allow me to blabber on for a few minutes about this Wal-Mart action and why we all need to support it.

Now I realize that some of you love Walmart. Their cheap stuff and mantra, “Save money, Live better” sounds like they care about you.  They don’t.  All the Walton family cares about is their wallets – period.  As their wealth is vast, any potential unrest in the company will be squashed.

Of COURSE they deny any wrongdoing.   They’re lying through their teeth! It’s their word, or the word of their PR people against HOW MANY WORKERS? Unrest in the company has been swept under the rug for many years;  I think the broom has just been yanked out of their hands, broken  in two.  There’s a big lump under the carpet; the dirt is spilling out.

The internet is rife with information about Wal-Mart’s employment practices, but I hardly think that they are the only corporation which uses subterfuge and illegal tactics against their employees.

What IS behind the Black Friday Strike?  Wal-Mart has, in a sense, trampled workers’ rights. They do not want their workers to be able to unionize because that will give workers something Wal-Mart fears:  power! Hence the harassment and dirty tricks involving their employees and the baldfaced lies to the public that they are a company that cares!  Bullshit!

While some complain about the unions, remember that in those early days the unions stood up against employees’ mistreatment. They championed worker’s rights,  rallied against child labor, wanted to make sure that employees had safer working conditions and helped get the right of workers to be aided in the case of injury.  READ MORE at the History Channel.

Now we’ve come forward over 100 years.  Not being a union member I will state the two points:  labor unions were good and sometimes ultimately bad.  Good, in that they helped to bring about drastic change and protection to all employees.  Bad, because their high wages and benefits during the heyday 40-50 years ago, probably helped in the shift to manufacturing overseas (see Bureau of Labor Stastics link below) as corporate America’s 1% got greedier. ll in all, though, standing up for workers outweighs the bad.

This Wal-Mart Black Friday strike is certainly drawing attention to the current situation of employment.  As our economy increasingly shifts to a service sector, corporations might want to take some serious notice.  In the following link from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,  scroll down the page through each category and the trend will become clear.  More service area jobs, outside of the booming healthcare industry, like retail trade, is 4th on the list of the projected growth sector.  Wal-Mart — are you listening?

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/About/Projections-Overview.htm

What is my hope for this strike?  Employers in every sector need to pay attention to the Wal-Mart Black Friday walkout, and not just in retail.  My wish is that this opens up the closet of dirty little secrets for every large company who mistreats its workers with threats of retaliation,  unfair and unrealistic company policies that hearken back to the early days of the last century.  This Black Friday walkout is the can opener on the can of worms, and my wish is that employees of every company help to turn the crank.

It is TIME that the workers of this country unite again. We are fast losing our right of respect as human beings in the workplace.  Increasingly employers hiring only part-time employees who aren’t given enough hours to qualify for any benefits, even on a limited scale.  Individual corporate mandates  forbid employees to work another job.

We are human beings, not machines.  Unlike a car, where one gets in, turns the key and goes off at 100 mph, stops, then gets back in and does it again: the human body is not designed to do that.  Corporate America has forgotten that.  Nothing matters but the bottom line.  We are all expendable; when one falls, someone else will take their place. The economy being what it is we’re so desperate for work that we’ll take anything, even if it borders on modern-day slavery; even if it demeans us, reducing us to just another number on a payroll.

Wal-Mart’s Black Friday strike is the line in the sand.  These employees are drawing that line for themselves, but also for every other worker in this country! This is our line in the sand, too! We want respect restored to the workplace, recognition of our humanity, encouragement and praise for what we do for our company instead of threats, intimidation and harassment. What happens here, at the nation’s largest employer, will hopefully produce a ripple effect in labor laws. Others will come forward from different companies to stand up for their rights and for your rights, too.  We are all one collective workforce family and every single one of us working today, should THANK the Wal-Mart employees who are brave enough to Stand Up and Live Better!

Wal-Mart strikers:  I’M WITH YOU, 100%!

TO FIND A STRIKE at a Wal-Mart near you, click HERE!

Wal-Mart Could Revitalize U.S. Economy

America’s largest employer could revitalize the U.S. economy by purchasing more “Made In U.S.A.” goods

Wal-Mart, the country’s largest employer and the world’s biggest retailer – buying more made in the U.S.A. goods! It’s got the potential to put millions of people back to work in American businesses, revitalize the economy and make the United States revisit its past as a world-class manufacturer.

Admittedly, it is a far-fetched dream, one that may have some of you asking, “What kind of drugs is she on?”

According to the 2011 Forbes 500 statistics, Wal-Mart is ranked #1.  Wal-Mart is the country’s largest employer.  1.5 million are employed here in the United States, another 1 million or so worldwide.

Some history first:  Wal-Mart’s buying power is the stuff of legend in retail. Popular belief has it that Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton insisted on purchasing U.S. goods. At first he was willing to buy from American manufacturers, but they had to tow the line. In the 1980s when the company went through its largest expansion, the “Buy American” strategy lost its shine. Walton was not interested in investing long-term in America because costs were too high. Being the shrewd businessman that he was, it was all about the bottom line.

In his autobiography, Made In America  he stated, “We’re not interested in charity here; we don’t believe in subsidizing substandard work or inefficiency, so our primary goal became to work with American manufacturers, and see if our formidable buying power could help them deliver the goods, and in the process, save some American manufacturing jobs.”   This didn’t last long.  The hunt for cheaply produced merchandise from overseas began in earnest for Wal-Mart in 1981 in Asia, where his competitors had laid groundwork.  If they floundered, Wal-Mart stepped in and took over.

Outwardly, Wal-Mart continued to defend “Made in America” but secretly increased its importing from overseas.  In the early 1980s, Wal-Mart stated that its imports were around 6%. Not so, says Bob Ortega, author of In Sam We Trust, the history of Wal-Mart. In reality they were about 40%.  Wal-Mart set up PREL (Pacific Resources Export Ltd.) to disguise its involvement in the east.  This would allow Wal-Mart to purchase products without being directly involved, on paper, that is.

Fast forward to today.   Our economy is in the tank.  The exodus from American-based manufacturing is the greed factor running in high gear.  Where once this country was a proud land and our economy strong, corporate America has sold out; sold us all out, you, me and millions of others.  It is sad that so many companies which were founded here have outsourced jobs.  The voice you hear on an 800 customer service help line, once had an American accent, now sounds decidedly Indian or Middle Eastern or Asian. Often their limited command of English is barely understandable, names they’ve taken to “sound more American,” laughable:   “Hi, my name is Joe,” but you know it has to be something unpronounceable.  Right here at home, today, Verizon, the nation’s largest phone carrier, is looking to outsource more of its customer service jobs.  My friend Pat, who is a 30+ year veteran, could lose her job.  My sister who works for J.P. Morgan Chase says there is a chance that her job will be sent to the Philippines. This leaves me to wonder:  are there going to be ANY jobs left or are we all going to have to flip burgers?

We’ve seen the gluttonous rise of Wal-Mart across this country, and now they’ve gone overseas.  Many other retailers have done the same, gleaning most of their products from China, Taiwan, India and other countries where wages are low.  Many of these well-known retailers have set up dealings like PREL.  Lowe’s has LG Sourcing  where is gets all of its store merchandise from China.  The next time you visit a store, look at the bottom of what you are buying.  Chances are it will say, Made In China or, to be politically correct and have a two language labeling system, Hecho en China.

Back to my dream:  what IF Wal-Mart alone invested more in America?   Just Wal-Mart!  What would happen if they bought more from U.S. companies right here at home?  Imagine what it would do to the economy, employment and manufacturing statistics in this country!  WOW!  An American company like Wal-Mart buying from U.S. based manufacturers would put employment numbers back on track again!

Imagine if that furniture you bought for your kid’s college dorm room was made in the U.S.A., or that set of tools you bought Dad for his birthday was made here, too.  How about the new flat screen TV, DVD player or the set of sheets you gave Grandma for Christmas?  The new winter blankets, socks, the baby shower gifts, new clothes for your kids for school and their school supplies – all made here in America. That new bicycle for your little sister or a pair of new shoes for yourself – MADE IN THE U.S.A!   The list is endless!  Everyday things that we all use or buy for others; there are so many things that could be made right here in the USA and put lots of people back to work! Keep rolling on this in your own mind!  It could have very profound effects, snowballing into a considerable amount of job growth for the United States.

Of course this IS a dream, though.  For as long as greed rules or the bottom line is king – unless there is some sort of legislation mandating the percent of purchases must be from U.S. companies, this will never happen.  As long as the pull of China is strong, Wal-Mart and other U.S. companies and manufacturers will not return to the American shores.  China has taken over the United States without firing a single shot.  They’ve got us all by the wallet and Wal-Mart, Lowe’s and others are leading the charge.  Shame on you all!

Wal-Mart’s image has suffered greatly in the last few years.  This would be a great way for them to redeem themselves and help this country in the time of need; a fantastic way to spur economic growth and raise employment.  Creating more jobs here in the U.S. would help Wal-Mart’s PR campaign as well as millions of Americans!