Wal-Mart: How much are low prices costing you?

A Wal-Mart has opened up in my old hometown of Clio, MI.

So it goes.

It's the same Wal-Mart that doesn't pay its employees enough to stay out of poverty.

The same Wal-Mart that tells its employees to go on government assistance when they can't afford the company's healthcare plan.

I should mention said government assistance given to that portion of Wal-Mart's 1.3 million total employees costs tax payers $1.5 billion a year.

The same Wal-Mart that lowers property values of the towns it moves into. Who did you think was going to move into those empty buildings where the independently owned businesses used to be?

The list goes on. In some cases, when a Wal-Mart comes to a town they offer seven figure subsidies to the retailer, taking money out of municipal coffers that should otherwise go to the public school systems, not a $288 billion a year company (2005 figures). In recent years new Wal-Mart stores have been blocked in some parts of the country. The Vienna Township Planning Commission tried to block the rezoning for the land used in the Clio Wal-Mart but evidently something went wrong. I couldn't find that Clio gave Wal-Mart any subsidies but I did find that Wal-Mart gave the city of Clio grants in the amount of a whopping $11,500. Below is the motion notes from the meeting:

Wal-Mart Resolution

Motion by Commissioner Schiebel, second by Commissioner Marshall to discuss the Wal-Mart Resolution.
Voice Vote: Motion Carried

"The purpose of this resolution is to thank and recognize the Clio Wal-Mart for its contributions of eleven thousand one hundred fifty dollars to the City of Clio. Six thousand one hundred fifty dollars will go to the Police Department toward a “Live Scan” electronic fingerprinting system and five thousand will go toward the Clio Amphitheater Roof repair and replacement."

Wow, so Wal-Mart is going to possibly destroy what I have always considered an excellent network of family-run businesses Clio has and all it cost the retail giant was a concert hall roof and a fingerprint machine. That, my friend, is one hell of a trade off.

I hope the residents of Clio, MI are smart enough to realize this and stay away from a company that will do nothing but drag them down.

Here is a link to a documetarty about the joys of Wal-Mart