Why walmart is good for American - essay 2 (Argumentative Research Paper)

Why Walmart is good for American

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Walmart discount stores, supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club locations in the U.S. The company is on top of the Fortune 500 in 2010 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/). As the nation’s largest and most profitable retailer, it’s no surprise that Walmart has been the target of the debates from social to economic and political issues. Despite of the anti-Wal-Mart campaign, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has been a symbol of business success. The high volume in business enables Wal-Mart to offer low price products and services that other retailers cannot, provide numerous jobs, contribute millions dollars of tax for the government and also millions of dollars for charities. In many ways, Wal-Mart Incorporation has been bringing many benefits to Americans.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the nation largest private employer. The company provides million of jobs in the United States alone. What if there weren't any Wal-Mart at all? Would these current Wal-Mart’s employees be working or would they rely on welfare system that supported by the tax payers? What we could see is that our welfare system would explode. For this reason, in June 2010 the Chicago City Council zoning committee unanimously approved plans for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to build their stores in the city. According to The New York Times dated January 20, 2011: “Politicians who supported Wal-Mart said they did so in part because of potential employment and revenue for the city. Wal-Mart said it was planning several dozen stores in Chicago that would add 12,000 jobs over five years, and more than $500 million in sales taxes and property taxes for the city, according to the company's estimates” (The New York Times).

According to Mother Jones in her article “Up Against Wal-Mart”: “The company is the world's largest retailer, with $220 billion in sales, and the nation's largest private employer, with 3,372 stores and more than 1 million hourly workers. Its annual revenues account for 2 percent of America's entire domestic product” (Jones). Yes, with the company’s huge volume in sales and revenues, there is no doubt about how much Wal-Mart benefits to the government’s budget with sales taxes, property taxes and income taxes and also the job market with millions of jobs. Being the nation’s largest employer, Wal-Mart helps to release the government’s load of unemployed people that rely on the nation welfare system.

Wal-Mart is also known for its low pricing and wide selection of goods. The company’s “everyday low price” target has resulted in big saving for the poor Americans. According to Sebastian Mallaby in his article “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really” writing for The Washington Post Monday, November 28, 2005: “As Jason Furman of New York University points out that Wal-Mart's discounting on food alone boosts the welfare of American shoppers by at least $50 billion a year. The savings are possibly five times that much if you count all of Wal-Mart's products” (Mallaby). This saving has a significant impact for poor and moderate-income families as they spend a large part of their income on food and basic needs. The stores’ everyday low prices campaign also allows low-income households to afford flat-screen televisions or other high-tech devices with cheap prices.

While Wal-Mart supporters say that the chain's legendary low prices have democratized consumption, critics assume those low prices have depressed domestic wages. The critics allege that the retailer’s low pay and lack of benefits is bad for poor Americans. But as Sebastian Mallaby pointed out in his article “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really” for The Washington Post Monday, November 28, 2005 “When Wal-Mart opened a store in Glendale, Ariz., last year, it received 8,000 applications for 525 jobs, suggesting that not everyone believes the pay and benefits are unattractive” (Mallaby).

Anti Wal-Mart people also claim that the Chinese workers are getting low pay and sweating to supply the company with cheap products. In fact, the Chinese or other manufacturing workers in the third countries are usually farmers and living in areas where there are no jobs and the living conditions are poor. To protect Wal-Mart against this claim, Sebastian Mallaby also noted “But no study has shown whether Wal-Mart's tactics actually do suppress wages in China or elsewhere, and suppression seems unlikely in poor countries. The Chinese garment workers are mainly migrants from farms, where earnings are even worse than at Wal-Mart's subcontractors and where the labor is still more grueling” (Mallaby). Moreover, by exporting manufacturing jobs oversea, companies like Wal-Mart help to create jobs, rousing consumption and then circulating the money that benefit the local economy and also the world.

Yes, despite of all the criticism and complaining about the wages and benefits at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., millions of peoples are still working for the company. If people don't like working at Wal-Mart they can look for another job. But “all ways lead to Roma”. When I first came to America, I started with a minimum wage job at an Asian market, then I got a job at a restaurant and later at Wal-Mart. Everywhere I was asked to do multi tasks. The wages, benefits and working conditions were a little different from employers but all of those things did not make any big matter in general. Wal-Mart is just like other retailers and employers of less-skilled workers. The company does not pay a living wage that is enough for a family to live the dignified life .In fact, you can work at Walmart or similar retail stores until you find something better like I did unless you have no other choices. Then, Walmart is a good place to start for unskillful people, a part time working mother or part time working students.

The fact that more than 1 million Americans are Wal-Mart’s employees can say that its wage and benefit policy is at least as good as other similar employers’one. In fact, as Jason Furman of New York University pointed out in his research “Wal-Mart: A Progressive success story”: “Nevertheless, the available data is consistent with the premise that Wal-Mart pays wages that are comparable to the retail sector. Global Insight used a new data set provided by Wal-Mart to compare wages for seven positions at Wal-Mart to similar occupations in the same geographical area in 2004. It found that Wal-Mart paid an average wage of $9.17 for these positions, compared to $8.46 for a sample from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) weighted to match the geographic distribution of Wal-Mart jobs. Global Insight, however, did not publish results for a full set of occupations or wages” (Furman 5).

Not only benefit the nation’s economy, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has also donated to American charities with millions of dollars. When the Katrina Hurricane swept over the state of Louisiana in 2005, “Wal-Mart's response to Katrina -- an unrivaled $20 million in cash donations, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals and the promise of a job for every one of its displaced workers”, reported by Michael Barbaro and Justin Gillis in the article “Wal-Mart at Forefront of Hurricane Relief” for the Washington Post on Tuesday, September 6, 2005. “In 2009, the company spent $21 million on hunger relief and donated 116 million pounds of food, up from $12 million and 42.7 million pounds of food in 2008” informed by The USA Today dated May 12, 2010. The USA TODAY also published news on May 12, 2010 that the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. planned to donate to the nation's food banks to total $2 billion over the next five years with at least $250 million in grants would go to the buying refrigerated trucks to keep fruits, vegetables and meat last longer to make it from store to charity, and programs to feed children during the summer when they were not in school to receiving government meals.

Yes, the fact that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s contribution to American society is what we can’t deny regardless any criticism. Whether or not you choose to shop at Wal-Mart, everyone should appreciate it as an outstanding American institution. Productivity and consumption are the principal driver of economic progress. As long as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. continues to increase the quality and quantity of production and consumption, it will remain America’s top retailer. Today, Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the country, the largest grocery store in the country, and the third largest pharmacy. And with its size, Wal-Mart is continuing to grow and to contribute to American economy and communities. From raising tax revenues and lowering overall pricing on goods, to creating new jobs and donating to charities, Wal-Mart has benefit the communities it serves throughout the United States.