Ever seen the parking lot at Eugene’s West 11th Avenue Wal-Mart on any given night? The lot is usually packed, and it makes the adjacent Target look deserted in comparison.
Wal-Mart is the Superman in the world of ailing discount heroes. In some areas, the Arkansas-based “el-cheapo” chain has stores less than five miles apart, creating a dominant presence in suburbs by bullying their way through city building codes and asphyxiating competitors.
According to Time magazine, Wal-Mart’s goal is to have a 30 percent share of every major business it is in. And the company’s variety of business endeavors has grown, from cheap towels made in India to used-car sales in Houston. That’s right, soon you too can purchase your very own lemon decked out with Wal-Mart tires, seat covers and G-rated CDs such as John Tesh (sorry, sinful Snoop Dogg albums are not sold at faith-based Wal-Mart).
Wal-Marts are so hot in America that the company is mounting an expansion that will increase from 3,400 U.S. locations to 5,000 stores in five years. Hiring for all of the new stores will give Wal-Mart a workforce that outnumbers the U.S. military. Just when you thought the epitome of big American business couldn’t make us look more like capitalist (and cheap) hee-haws, the company plans to invade Japan and has successfully pushed its way into Mexico, Brazil, Germany and China.
Wal-Mart has proudly announced it will increase the number of stores in China from 25 to 40 next year. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any weirder, at the Supercenter in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, employees have their own fight song: “My heart is filled with pride … I long to tell you how deep my love for Wal-Mart is.” Creepy.

The gloomy irony is that the same Chinese capitalists who patronize the Asian version of a “white trash” American grocery store are contributing to the exploitation of their own people.
The Nation reported the company refuses to tell labor-rights activists the locations of its factories. Last year, Wal-Mart was kicked out of the Domini 400 Social Index, a socially-responsible investment fund, for failure to respond to “calls for change” and not upholding a standard of labor rights. Besides Wal-Mart, only Nike has been removed from the fund for the same reason.
Not only does Wal-Mart have questionable manufacturing practices overseas, the company’s image is suffering domestically from a class action lawsuit victory in Portland last month. The company was convicted of forcing employees, who are not unionized, to clock out and continue working. The case was one success out of 38 pending lawsuits.
To add insult to injury, Wal-Mart is being sued for gender discrimination. In July, a San Francisco judge will begin hearing Dukes v. Wal-Mart, a civil rights class-action lawsuit that may bring restitution to more than 700,000 women.
So if Wal-Mart is the part of the big-box world’s axis of evil, why don’t employees just quit? Why should anyone feel sorry for the “associates” — upper-class parlance for “cashier” — who are perfectly capable of filing complaints or walking away?
Well, most employees earn less than $10 per hour, are uneducated and are working in communities that offer residents few alternative jobs. Small communities where competition, such as mom-and-pop stands down the street, are easily bullied out of town are the types of places that Wal-Mart likes to set up shop. Jobs available for their skill level simply aren’t out there.
Big business has its place in the United States. However, I will think twice before handing over my money to a hopeless cashier and supporting the yellow smiley face brainwashing America.