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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Walmart Effect - New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer
In the 1990s and early 2000s, before tech giants came to dominate the discourse about corporate power, Walmart was a hot political topic. Documentaries and books proliferated with such titles as Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price and How Walmart Is Destroying America (And the World). The publicity got so bad that Walmart created a war room in 2005 dedicated to improving its image.....................They calculate that poverty increases by about 8 percent in places where a Walmart opens relative to places without one even when factoring in the most optimistic cost-savings scenarios.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/walmart-prices-poverty-economy/681122/
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-- Walmart rolls back DEI programs in wake of Trump's election
-- As the Republican Attorneys General Association leaned further into promoting Trumpism and sowing doubt about U.S. elections, major sponsors including Walmart resumed their contributions to the group.
--Walmarts PAC has quietly donated nearly $1 million to campaigns ahead of the 2022 midterms. While the company has a dont rock the boat strategy, it contributed to 41 election deniers
-- Trumps top donor contributions as of September 2024 included Walmart at number 2
onecaliberal
(36,331 posts)Midnight Writer
(23,131 posts)We used to have six supermarkets, a bunch of neighborhood markets, Mom and Pop pharmacies complete with soda fountains, bookstores, appliance stores, hardware stores. Most of these stores paid decent wages and had cheerful employees who would go out of their way to help a customer.
Now we have a Walmart and a Home Depot. Employees there act miserable. Locally owned stores are gone.
appalachiablue
(43,099 posts)radical noodle
(8,819 posts)Rural areas that are farther removed from bigger cities may have several little towns within a 20 mile radius. They all fall apart when Walmart moves into just one. Walmart becomes a meeting place in a way. Go to Walmart on Saturday and see your neighbors.