The Rise and Fall of an American Empire

How good does it feel to know you're getting a bargain?

You walk into "Gary's Grocery" and walk down the aisles, looking at the boxes of cereal and the bags of potatoes. You have $100 to spend this week on food and snacks for yourself and your family. You check out of the store satisfied with your purchases. Your cart is almost full, you've got the essentials, and even had a little left over for some treats. You are happy.

Next week, same routine, different store. You heard a friend talk about what he picked up at Wal-Mart last Saturday. All of the sudden, you aren't satisfied with what you purchased last week. Instead you feel as though you got ripped off.

How can one store, ten times the size of another store, with more employees, more stock, and more overhead afford to sell the same goods I buy at "Gary's" for almost half the price? This is where is gets very tricky. Some claim it's buying power. They get better prices on products because they can afford to purchase in higher quantities. Others might blame the low wage's of the company. Arguing, they pay their employees squat and limit their hours which allows them to squeeze pennies off the prices of their products. Some people believe it's a combination of the

two.

One thing is for certain, no matter how you spin it what they are doing is illegal.

Wal-Mart's Growth Is Simply a Failure of Our Federal Government to Enforce the
1936 Federal Law [the Robinson-Patman Act] Prohibiting Price Discrimination

http://www.lawmall.com/wal-mart/

The way most major corporations conduct business is, actually, in violation of the Anti-Trust statutes, specifically the Robinson-Patman Act, that were voted on, and/or accepted by American lawmakers throughout the years, to stop "Big Business" from becoming "all-powerful". These laws forbid "discriminatory pricing" on the basis of buying power or certain 'alliances' between businesses. They are intended to make the playing field fair for all business. Not the business that can afford to skirt around the laws in place to restrict them.

Well how do lower prices hurt the American consumer?

Lower prices on products are great for the individual American consumer and their wallet. It allows them to buy more for less, which in turn gives them more 'buying power'. The individual consumers 'buying power' is the corner stone of the American economy after all. However, what happened in the case of Wal-Mart is their pressure on the manufacturer to produce 'lower cost' goods. They use their 'buying power' to 'persuade' the manufacturing industry to "cut costs." The manufacturer cannot afford to lower the prices of their goods, so they are forced into a predicament. Normally they are forced to go over-seas with their manufacturing. In third world countries, labor laws are scarce and the wages are low(er). They can pay a teenager in Thailand the same in a week as an American will make in a day. As a result of the 'out-sourced' labor "forced" upon the manufacturer by Wal-Mart, the money we spend at the retailer is no longer coming back to Americans in the form of pay checks. Rather, most of it is being sent over seas to pay the cost to manufacture, ship and package most of the goods we purchase from Wal-Corp. Stimulating inflation.

That said, the only real solution to the 'Wal-Mart Problem', if you believe there is one, is to stop shopping there. It appears that Government and Business have become so intertwined the laws in place to protect Americans from big business go un-enforced.