Sam’s Dream Is Dead

Sam’s Dream is Dead

Before April 5th, 1992, Wal Mart was world renowned as a prestigious company with very high morals, based upon values such as hard work, fairness for employees, supporting American goods, and providing a fair price for the consumer. On April 5th, 1992, Sam Walton, founder of Wal Mart, died of cancer. Soon after that, the cancer known as American big business took hold of Wal Mart, laying Sam Walton’s dream to rest along side him. Wal Mart is now a tyrannical force of cover ups, unfair labor practices, scandals, and outright lies.

Wal-mart depicts itself as a company that is dedicated to its workers and the production of American goods, strictly following Sam’s dream. Recently they have shifted from this position into a company that is only concerned with the bottom line, no matter the consequence to its employees, the surrounding communities, or the quality of life of the people that consume and produce goods they sell in their massive supercenters. The suspect business practices of Wal-Mart are artfully hidden behind smiling advertisements and publicity that often conceals operations that Wal-Mart carries out behind closed doors. Wal-Mart not only hurts the surrounding communities through unhealthy and unfair competition, rather, they destroy the lives of their workers and consumers by collecting every possible cent and exploiting their workers to an absurd extent.

In a recent advertisement, Wal-Mart focuses on three important “values” which it directly contradicts through its business practices. “Savings to customers, commitment to community, and opportunities for workers” are apart of “Sam’s Dream,” referring to Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. The ad seems to take an overt opposition to the film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price by attempting to refute or publicly address and subsequently cover up the facts addressed in the movie. The ad also features the quote, “They say when a Wal-mart comes to town, it’s like getting a pay raise” referring to the low prices and the savings of the customer as a result. Also, the Wal-Mart ads that every Wal-mart associate qualifies for healthcare benefits for only one dollar a day, while in reality, many employees are forced into social services for relief (New Pro-Wal-Mart Commercial).

Not only in the narration and words depicted on the screen, but the smiling faces and the positive environment of the workplace is Wal-Mart trying to relay a sort of content with being employed by the business. Employees are shown interacting positively, of course, with customers and how Wal-Mart is able to help with families trying to make ends meet by saving them, on average, over $2300 per year. Also, depictions of the communities surrounding Wal-Marts are shown with many happy and playful children, some even holding an over-sized check in efforts to show Wal-Mart being a compassionate company that gives back to communities, starting the fact that over $245 million dollars was given the past year (New Pro-Wal-Mart Commercial).

Many of the facts touted in this advertisement are in direct contradiction with the facts purported in the film in attempts at combating the negative light Wal-Mart has been shown in. In the film, it is stated that Wal-Mart drives down the wages made by local communities by almost 3 billion dollars a year. With further research, the film then reports that the actual figure is closer to 4.7 billion dollars per year in lost wages due to the construction of Wal-Mart in local communities (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price).

Also noted in the film is the cost of Wal-Mart to local public assistance agencies and the healthcare benefits that it claims to provide to its workers. The film states that the annual cost of Wal-Mart to taxpayers directly linked to it’s workers not having health and other assistance programs is over 86 million dollars. The film then goes on to point out that Wal-Mart discredits this information by calling it a “union hit-piece.” However, the film shows that Wal-Mart is aware of this information, posting a memo stating such facts as Wal-Mart being substantially above national averages (sometimes twice as much) in employee’s dependency on public assistance programs and social relief. Wal-Mart is then shown to cost over $450 million dollars of taxpayers money to cover the lack of benefits and the dependency of children of Wal-Mart employees. For uninsured employees, it purported that it costs over $202 million of taxpayer’s money.

One academic journal explores Wal Mart’s healthcare practices further. In January of 2006, a bill was set into Maryland law in which companies with 10,000 or more employees must spend at least 8% of their payroll on healthcare, or contribute what they fall short on to Medicaid. Wal mart insisted otherwise, claming that the legislation was