Seriously...stop telling me Wal-Mart openings are NEWS!  
Thursday, October 25th, 2007

News stories like this are exactly why I cannot watch the news on television, and have to look it all up on the internet so that I can choose what I do and do not have to learn about.

The last sentence in that article should have been the headline:  [Wal-Mart] will employe 350 people; the store received 6,000 applications.

Therefore, when I happened to see five minutes of my local ABC News channel, there they were giving a preview of "Top Stories," one of them being "Wal-Mart Supercenter Opens in Cleveland."  That is not news!  That is an advertisement.

If that were going to be on the main page of our local news site, as it is, it should say:  "Here, little Clevelanders.  I know your city is poor and the economy is rough right now - here, have a Wal-Mart, and go save some money by taking it away from other people's health care benefits.  Here are some lead-ridden products from China, low low prices, come on.  SAM's Club is right around the corner, since you can't afford your prescription co-payments."

Here's some REAL Wal-Mart news.  Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has offered about $875 million U.S. dollars to purchase the remaining stake in its Japanese subsidiary.  The bid is a doubling down in the Japanese market by Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr.

Wal-Mart will be focusing more on foreign growth.  Lee Scott told investors this week that his focus is on looking abroad for growth, and wants to add Russia to the list, though most of their growth will be in China, Canada, and Mexico.

Wal-Mart profits more from adjusting its sales to meet the statistics of people's shopping habits while living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Those 1 million China-made cribs that were recalled last month?  Oh yeah, those were stocked at Wal-Mart.

Check out just a few of the stories on WalmartWatch.com.  Check out a few of the stories on discrimination, schools getting short-changed, women's rights, fair labor practices, health care, community impact.

Where is that, amidst the swirling worldwide "news" stories and stock reports about Wal-Mart?

We may be saving a buck or two short-term, but to what consequence?  Is Wal-Mart good for us?

   

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