Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
by Rick Young
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DVD details
Actor: Hedrick SmithDirector: Rick Young
Brand: PBS
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-10-04
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
DVD Reviews of Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
DVD Review: Is a monopoly good for fair business practices?
Summary: 5 Stars
To understand the economic effect of Wal-Mart on the United States, maybe it's best to start by looking at their enormous growth in a relatively short time. Aggressive is a good word to describe this company's approach to retailing. In 1970, there were 38 stores. In 1980, it was 286 stores. In 1990, Wal-Mart had 1500 stores and overtook all of its competition in 1991 to become the largest retailer in America.
Part of this huge influence on our markets can be partly attributed to an ill conceived, permanent trading agreement with China during the Clinton presidency. In the early 1990's, Wal-Mart flooded their store inventories with manufactured goods from China and low wage countries. These products had a high mark-up which seriously boosted profits. By the late 1990's, Wal-Mart was dependent on low cost Asian imports but it suited them well financially.
China pays employees anywhere from 25 to 50 cents an hour for work. This helps keep production costs down. So much so that it hurts American companies trying to compete and has even forced some of them out of business. As stated in this program, Wal-Mart has some 6000 global suppliers for its goods and 80 percent of those suppliers are in China. Knowing that China is the largest exporter of consumer goods to the U.S. economy and Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the U.S. economy in consumer goods, it becomes abundantly clear that Wal-Mart has designs on dominating all retailing in the United States. One interview with an employee from the Port of Long Beach also reveals some interesting information. The port brings in 36 billion dollars of consumer goods from China each year and the U.S. exports 3 billion dollars of raw materials to China.
With a massive imbalance such as this, you can only imagine the frightful trade deficit it can create. Since this program first aired on November 16, 2004, Wal-Mart reported record sales of 285 billion dollars, up by 11 percent. The commerce department reported a record trade deficit with China of 162 billion dollars, up by 31 percent. With these figures in mind, one expert in this program estimates that this lopsided economic situation has caused America to lose approximately 1 million jobs to China since the early 1990's.
This documentary is not all one sided. There are interviews for and against Wal-Mart and their business practices so it is a fair look at both sides of the picture. In the end, from my viewpoint of the evidence given, it appears that Wal-Mart is not good for America for many obvious reasons. This mega-company appears to hurt the U.S. economy more than help it. To further examine Wal-Mart and their structure, I would highly recommend the documentary `Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price' in conjunction with watching this one.
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