Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

I saw this excellent movie, for free, with and audience of nearly 200. I knew Wal-Mart was truly evil before I saw the movie, but I was still surprised by the extent of destruction they cause. They use slave labor (below minimum in China), abuse employees, prevent the formation of unions, destroy small communities in America, inadequately provide security for their parking lots, and on and on.

Fortunately, this movie ends on an up note. People are organizing against Wal-Mart and helping to curb Wal-Mart's expansion.

I highly recommend the movie to everyone. Here are a few comments from Roger Ebert:

Cast & Credits - A documentary by Robert Greenwald.

It's the biggest retailer in the world, and every American taxpayer is subsidising its record profits to the tune of more than $1.5 billion every year. Director Robert Greenwald (who made the feature films "Steal This Movie" and "Breaking Up," as well as the documentaries "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Uncovered: The Iraq War") examines how this company, which became a joint venture with China in the early 1990s (reversing its founder's commitment to "buying American"), has become both an American institution and a feared and despised juggernaut that is destroying the small business economy and driving down wages for workers.

"I don't go to Wal-Mart because the cheaper prices are not as important to me as the thought that I'm getting those cheaper prices at the cost of the lives and labor of Wal-Mart employees. And also, the prices are not necessarily that much cheaper, because American taxpayers are paying for a lot of Wal-Mart's health care. A lot of Wal-Mart's employees are working at Wal-Mart -- nevertheless they're on welfare, they're nevertheless getting [government-subsidized] medical aid -- because Wal-Mart isn't paying them enough money to live. And that's not fair."
-- Roger Ebert, "Ebert & Roeper"

http://www.walmartmovie.com/


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