Wal-Mart: Good or Bad for America?

I don't have a black and white answer to the question. From my point of view, it was inevitable that they'd become so huge (~3% of U.S. GDP). If it weren't Wal-Mart, it'd be some other company. I've shopped at Wal-Mart many times, and I like their prices. I don't go there much anymore because it's always crowded and it's just not a good shopping experience. I don't have a problem at all about Wal-Mart buying so much of their products from China (I don't remember the exact %, but I think it's around 75%?). That's global trade and it's not fair for us to impose tarrifs on Chinese goods just because we can't produce them cheaper here. However, what I'm certain of is this: Wal-Mart helps to destory neighborhoods. However, they're not at fault solely because the process of destroying city neighborhoods started hapenning independently of Wal-Mart: people started to move out of the cities into suburbia in the boom years following World War II. In fact, I'd argue they've played a very small part in the process. It was JC Penney, K-Mart, and many other companies that played a perhaps more significant role a long time before Wal-Mart. And even if those companies destroyed "mom & pop shops", it's the consumers who made the final choice. Anyway, that's somewhat of a separate topic for a great conversation...

Here's an excellent Charlie Rose interview with Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart:


Also, check out this Frontline special about Wal-Mart. I think it is definitely biased against the company.