Wal*Mart

Is the house that Sam built a shell for China? Did Sam employ the teachings of Sun-Tzu with the purpose of  laying the groundwork for the People’s Republic of the Americas?

I don’t know, I have been hearing a lot about Walmart’s connection to China and their level of involvement with the Peoples Republic.  While this picture may be a bit extreme, it is representative of the sentiment out there.  Is it justified?

After the jump I have included some unvetted statistics that have been circulating around the interwebs.  If you can dispel or validate any of them please leave a comment.

Unvalidated Wal-Mart Conspiracy Theories:

• The Masons created Wal-Mart in an attempt to push the ideals of socialism,
• Wal-Mart workers are brainwashed into believing that they should only think with a corporate mind,
• The Wal-Mart Cheer is derived from KGB brainwashing techniques,
• Wal-Mart is trying to control the global business world and become THE STORE,
• George Bush has secretly protected Wal-Mart from human rights prosecutions,
• Wal-Mart made half a billion dollars off of the attacks of 9-11, and the subsequent attack on Afghanistan,
• Wal-Mart is slowly causing the death of the middle class in the United States,
• Wal-Mart imports  illegal immigrants to clean floors at stores across the country,
• Wal-Mart is a government conspiracy hatched during the cold war to enable access to China,
• Wal-Marts communication systems are a tool used by chinese agents to report to their control officers,
• Wal-Mart participates in industrial espionage for China.

I’d appreciate any help in dismissing or validating the above.  Below are the contents of an email I received detailing the scope and size of Wal-Mart.

From a recent email:

HOW BIG IS WAL-MART? 1 . At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day. 2 . This works out to $20,928 profit every minute! 3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick’s Day than Target sells all year. 4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears Costco + K-Mart combined. 5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer. And most can’t speak English 6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World. 7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years. 8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie). 9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the  world. 10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago. 11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth’s population is approximately 6.5 billion.) 12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart 13.  The value of product for Wal Mart passing through the port of San Diego each year is a larger sum than                      93% of   countries Gross National Product (GNP) …and that is only ONE port …one way that Wal Mart gets  it’s          stuff. 14.  Of the 1.6 million employees, only 1.2% make a living above the poverty level. 15.  Wal Mart’s head office is located and centralized in Bentonville. Due to this fact, there are more millionaires per              square mile there than any place on Earth 16.  The official U.S. government position is that Wal Mart’s price are no lower  than anyone else’s when compared  to a typical families weekly purchases. That’s the view of the statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) responsible for calculating the consumer price index 17.  92% of everything Wal Mart sells, comes from China.  Another 4% comes from Chinese owned companies in the             U.S. or in 3rd world countries. 18.  Wal Mart and MOST large companies, take out life insurance on it’s employees, without their knowing.  If an                     employee dies, ALL the insurance moneys go to the companies.  i.e. An employee making $18,000 per year,             dies, and the company might make as much as $1million.  Most often these moneys, coming from what is commonly referred to as “Dead Peasant Life Insurance Policies”, is paid out to executives as bonuses.              (A common practice, unknown by the common man) 19. Wal Mart now averages a “profit” (not sales) of $36billion per year.

You May also be interested in:

• Americans unemployed + those losing work hours = record 12.5 percent.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: This is ‘one of the worst jobs reports’ ever.
• Price & Value: Store Brands vs. Name Brands
• 78 Million Baby Boomers
• McDonald’s, Wal-Mart stop some tomato sales
• China in TIME’s Top 10 Lists
• Panjiva: Panning for Gold in Numbers
• Why China’s consumption will go strong in 2009 – Paul French
• China to demand details of security technology from foreign companies
• China Is One Lousy Investor. And This Is What We Are Waiting For?
• Visions of China Through the Magic Lantern
• China’s New Labor Contract Law. Harmonized Out Of Existence?

~ by vwbora25 on 12/06/2008.