Friday, December 5, 2003|
More Wal-Mart news, this time from the New York Times. The article's first line says it all: "The company that ate America is now swallowing Mexico." 10:34:32 PM | Wal-Mart has become the Blob of retailers, ever expanding and consuming everything in its path. Another notch on their belt of "accomplishments," I guess. By the way, the other two articles are up at the LA Times. The second part is about Wal-Mart's effects on suppliers, focusing on factories in Honduras, Bangladesh, and China. Pretty shocking, as you'd imagine. Wal-Mart demands lower prices or increased quality every year, and if they don't get one or the other, they move their business elsewhere. The Times artfully presents the factories in their Wal-Mart pecking order -- the Honduran plants pay their workers the most and the Chinese plants pay the least. Bangladesh often gets undercut by China. What a world. Marketed to Mexicans by the country's largest retailer: "American-style" jeans made in Bangladesh; LA Lakers tees sewn up in the sweatshops of Dongguan, China. And in every store, of course, that 89 cent jar of Ragu. Juice squeezed from freshly picked Baja tomatoes. 
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Last update: 7/17/05; 10:07:38 AM .
