youtu.be/RXmnBbUjsPs Walmart - The High Cost of Low Price Watch this video! I know its long. I know you are busy. But you need to see what is happening to our communities. You are helping to erode our towns and the local businesses that support local charities, sponsor local youth sports leagues, local schools, local community service projects and so much more. This film is titled Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. It shows how the practices of this company are screwing the customer, screwing their employees, screwing the American suppliers, screwing neighboring businesses and screwing the local communities they claim to be helping. The film presents an accurate and negative picture of Wal-Marts business practices through interviews with former employees, small business owners, and footage of Wal-Mart executives. The film starts out in our local community of Middlefield showing how a local hardware store plans to compete with Walmart moving in to the rural Amish community of Middlefield. The first fifteen minutes of this film will break your heart as you watch Walmart actively destroy this local company of nearly fifty years that has supported its hometown with a love and passion that Walmart will never share. The movie also uses statistics interspersed between interview footage, to provide an objective analysis of the effects Wal-Mart has on individuals and communities. The film features archival footage of Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott praising the corporation at a large employee convention, intercut with interviews designed to undercut Scotts statements. It also includes ebullient TV ads for Wal-Mart, which seem disingenuous when intercut with the other material presented in the film. The documentary argues that Wal-Mart underpays its workers, paying them an average of $17,000 per year (in 2005 dollars). According to the interviews, these wages are too low for employees to afford Wal-Marts health insurance, so management counsels workers to apply for government programs such as Medicaid. The producer of this film also shows evidence backing up claims that Wal-Mart hires undocumented workers for their cleanup crews, paying them well below minimum wage. Other criticisms of the retail mega-chain include Wal-Marts anti-union practices, its negative effect on mom and pop stores and small communities, insufficient environmental protection policies, and its poor record on workers rights in the United States and internationally. Scenes filmed abroad document factory workers in Bangladesh and China creating Wal-Mart goods for as little as 18 cents an hour. One 9-year veteran of Wal-Mart testifies that he was moved to tears when he viewed the conditions in clothing manufacturing facilities in Latin America. He reported the abuses but the company did not correct them. The documentary also argues that Wal-Marts parking lots have unusually high crime rates, a situation that could be vastly improved if the company were willing to spend the money to place cameras outside the stores. To avoid accusations of a partisan POV, most of the movies interviews are of politically conservative, patriotic, red state citizens who are distressed about Wal-Marts policies and impact. As the film draws to a close, the film documents the efforts of several communities that have successfully blocked Wal-Marts from opening in their towns, suggesting that others should do the same. Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price has enjoyed good reviews and earned a 93% on the Tomatometer at Rotten Tomatoes. The Boston Globe calls it advocacy journalism at its most unsparing, and it demands to be seen, discussed, argued with, and acted upon. The ViewLondon reviews says, if the films intention was to make the audience very angry indeed then the film is a resounding success. The film has been endorsed and promoted by MoveOn.org; unions, through the Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch campaigns; and other groups. Some reviewers have observed that while the documentary features stories of former employees and residents of communities that Wal-Mart has impacted, it does not sufficiently explore the customers role in Wal-Marts financial success, despite its business practices. The federal government subsidies that support the decimation of local communities and the destruction of smaller mom & pop style businesses is heartbreaking and has a horrific un-American flavor. Although it appears that Walmart is the worst offender, all big box stores are hurting locally owned stores. Often the smaller stores offer similar or better quality items, more often locally produced, far superior service and information and do so at about the same price if not less as youll find in a Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, and others. Take a few minutes. Watch the entire film. Watch just the first fifteen or twenty minutes. See what is really going on. Every dollar you spend at a Walmart is funding things you need to know about. Take the time to at least listen to what the film says so youll be better informed. Thanks for your consideration. youtu.be/RXmnBbUjsPs Walmart - The High Cost of Low Price
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 03:21:41 +0000
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