Is Walmart Good For America?

Walmart began as the realization of a dream, achieved by a hard-working American man who grew his local 5 and Dime shop into a successful, globalized mega-retailer. But before Walmart became the atrocity it is today, it was an American company with American ideals: according to the Frontline program, Sam Walton pledged at one point to only sell American made products. It wasn't until the 1990's that Walmart truly expressed its enormous economic power by turning its head to China, which in turn became the worlds largest producer of cheap goods. My, how the (made-in-Guangdong) tables have turned.

To answer the question: is Walmart good for America? I have to say a whole-hearted NO. I hold no personal grudge or bias against Walmart; in fact I applaud the efforts to assist the American consumer in achieving the ability to buy goods at the "lowest prices", which in turn helps the everyday person save money. Or, is it all just a facade? From the Frontline program we learn about Walmart's lowest price point program which lures the consumer in, and leads them to probably purchase items which are NOT the lowest price. We have also learned that Walmart gains a massive profit from purchasing Chinese made goods. Walmart is probably the largest importer of Chinese-made goods and materials in the entire world. One thing I find the most disturbing about Walmart as an enterprise is its relationship with China. I did not realize the true enormity of the interdependence of the two, and especially that China has economically boomed 100fold over the past 20 years because of Walmart and its purchasing power.

Another problem here is how Walmart and its competitive quest for purchasing and selling the cheapest priced goods possible has negatively effected America's economy. Sure, as I said before, Americans are able to buy a variety of products at low prices. But what about the hundreds of suppliers that, in order to compete with their peers who outsource labor, were forced to close American plants, lay off thousands of American workers, in order to cut costs? These suppliers to Walmart are so critically dependent on the Walmart consumer that in order to keep their businesses afloat were forced to themselves open factories in China's poorest provinces, where they could produce their products at the lowest cost.

I think the real question should be, is Walmart good for China? The answer to that would be an overwhelming Yes. The American trade agreement with China was designed to benefit the United States economy, but in fact has achieved the polar opposite. According to Frontline, the Port of Long Beach receives an overwhelming $38 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods yearly; and at the same time, only exports approximately $3 billion worth of American raw materials to China. China uses these materials to make the goods that companies like Walmart buy from them. Its almost like the "World Systems Theory" of global economy we learned about in the text book. In this situation, its almost like America is the periphery, and the newly industrialized, factory-laden Chinese provinces are the core. We are now dependent on China to keep our economy afloat. I see something seriously wrong with that.

The Chinese economy is expanding at an unprecedented pace. Poor peasants who would ordinarily be living in rural villages are now flocking to cities, expanding them, and working for wages that are extensive enough to support the worker's poor families back home. Its not to say that the worker's situations are ideal, in fact, many work long hours and the conditions may be inadequate.

Again, I am not totally opposed to Walmart. I know that it allows many Americans to be able to feed and clothe their families when they otherwise may not be able to afford to do so. However, I do feel that most Americans do not understand the magnitude of power that Walmart has over the economy, of the consumer. I think that if consumers were more educated as to where and how they were getting these "always low prices", they may think twice about where they shop. Perhaps its time the real economic power was taken back from capitalist mega-giants and back into the hands of the people where it belongs.

(My other thoughts about Walmart appear in my "global inequality" post from last month.)

my 3 year -old gender-stereotypes!

So my daughter Ava is 3, and very smart and articulate for her age, I may add. She was in the bath the other day, playing with her 3 rubber duckies; one yellow, one blue, and one pink. She was dividing her similarly-colored foam alphabet letters into piles, color-coding them among the ducks (the blue duck had a blue pile, the pink duck had a pink pile, etc.). Ava was talking to herself and setting up the ducks' "families" when I decided to ask her who each duck was (e.g. names, etc). She without pause, pointed to the pink duck and said "This is the mommy duck." Pointed to the blue duck, "This is the daddy." And to the yellow duck, she said "This is the kid." Hmm. So in order to investigate a bit, I asked her why she chose to assign them in this way. Very matter-of-factly, she said that the pink duck was the mommy "because she's the lady cuz she's pink." And the daddy? "because 'mans' are blue." I found it very interesting that at such and early age, and without any specific teaching or instruction from me or my husband regarding society's perception of gender based on these two colors, my child assigned them the same way as the majority of American children would. And she's only 3!

Just thought I'd share my little "experiment"!

Family Duties

I completed the Family Duties chart while referencing my own familial experience ( I am married with 2 small kiddos). And all I can say is, "Wow. I DO work really hard!"

I have spent the last year or so of my life, and more so recently, really thinking that perhaps I was unjustly feeling overwhelmed with all the mundane tasks that I must complete daily. Pretty much all the "childcare" falls on my shoulders, as well as housework, laundry, meals, appointments and errands, plus my own schooling on top of everything. However, I try not complain about these things because a) my husband works long hours himself, albeit outside the home, b) I myself do not have a job outside the home, so therefore since I am here, I should be the one responsible for getting these things done, and c) it was my choice to stay at home with my kids instead of working, so therefore that choice goes hand in hand with the assuming of these responsibilities.

For some reason, though, looking at the results of the chart really puts my "job" into perspective. I do a lot of work!! and much like we have learned in the textbook, most of the work my husband does in our household involves chores that grant him lots of freedom as to when they need to be completed. He does most of the "man's work" (when he's home and not deployed, in which case the whole chart would need to be re-written with me as the sole contestant), and I take care of the domestic duties. I was also surprised to see such "chores" like birthday shopping and vacation planning on the list (as Ms. Lerner mentioned in the podcast). I never really considered them to be "duties", but now looking back it is obvious that if they were things that needed attention, it was probably me who had to make the time to attend to them!

I am not complaining about the work I have to do, but admittedly it does get difficult and overwhelming at times to have such a large responsibility on my shoulders. The situation does work well for us though, and even though on paper perhaps the division seems unfair, it is the way our family has chosen to handle these duties. And I also realize that in time, these roles will shift again once I return to the workforce, or when the kids are old enough to go to school, or when my husband retires...

Religions of the world!

I viewed the Adherents.com website, per our assignment, and studied the pie charts and demographics on the world's religions. I can say that I was very suprised by some of the information!! First of all, I knew that Christianity was large, but I really did not realize that it made up over 30% of the world's religions. Secondly, I honestly expected Judaism to be right up there in the top 2 , or at least top 5 world religions. I was so shocked to see that less than 1% of the population is Jewish! Especially since the two largest religions are based upon fundamental teachings and scripture from Judaism. Really amazing.

Another shocker to me was how small Scientology is. For a religion that is in the media constantly, embodied by celebrities and basically one of those religions that you hear being debated over and over, it is practiced by a suprisingly few amount of people. Scientology was at the bottom of the list, even being out-numbered by "zoroastrianism" and "Juche"....What??? (two religions that I have never even heard of!).

I really found these statistics interesting. In fact, I passed this info along to my brother-in-law this morning and we reviewed the site again at breakfast this morning! Just thought I'd share my thoughts with you all!

The Secularization of Society

This is a difficult question to answer, because in many aspects, religion today is just as strong as it ever was. Even though less people go to church than they used to, I think the textbook says it right when the author states: "...religion remains a significant force, albeit often in new and unfamiliar formats" (Giddens et al. 523). Merriam-Webster dictionary defines religion as ": a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices", the key words in this context are "Personal set" of practices. Fewer and fewer individuals classify themselves as "religious" or "belonging to a religion", however the belief in God and the fundamentals that go hand in hand with faith remain strong for many people.

But is this true for the majority? I am not so sure. I still consider myself spiritual, though not "religious". I hold beliefs and values that are common to several different denominations, so it would be difficult to classify myself as belonging to a specific religion. Even though I would like to find one, I do not have a church that I frequent or belong to. But I do hold my "personal set" of views of faith very close. Although I think its unfortunate, I believe that our society in general is becoming increasingly secularized as time goes on. The text book makes a good point, arguing that religious bodies have lost much of the "social influence, wealth, and prestige" as they used to hold. I think many people now are too busy, to "politically correct", and too caught up in their own consumer-driven lives to really allow themselves to be influenced by religion.

Hopefully, I am wrong. I do not feel that this path is necessarily the right path for society to take; in fact, I feel hopeful that most people continue to practice faith in their own way and have not abandoned it completely. Aside from the moral regulations and rules that religion enforces, there is much good to be had when one has faith in God. Fundamentally, most of the major religions ultimately revolve around the same core values of respect, love, and compassion towards mankind and the world we are a part of. Perhaps a state, or government, or bureaucratic entity can exist and function just fine without religion. But can a person?

Internment of Japanese Americans

Until reviewing the Densho website, I honestly had limited knowledge of the Japanese American incarcerations of World War II. I recall learning a bit about the situation at some point in the past, but I was never taught about it in school growing up or exposed to any kind of documentaries, movies, media, etc. that were common for educating about the Jewish Concentration Camps in Germany. I actually find that fact very strange. It seems that the writers of our history keep that part of America's past under wraps.

I learned from Densho that Americans were very racist towards the Japanese and these prejudices and stereotypes allowed for a major injustice towards Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is so interesting to see that the fear was not just rampant among the general public, but was actually encouraged by the media and politicians of the time, even the President of the United States fed into the hysteria. People accused the Japanese Americans of espionage and providing information to the Japanese. Japanese Americans often were not even recognized as citizens, instead terms like "non-aliens" were used. The fact that these families were torn apart and sent to concentration camps, here on U.S. soil is just mind boggling. America, a land created by emigration, has one of the worst racist track records in the world. Throughout our short history there has been segregation, stereotyping, racism, class discrimination, etc. This is really ironic considering over 99% of our country is based on nationality that is NOT Native American!

However, the treatment of the Japanese Americans at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor is not much different than the "racial profiling" common in our country today. After 9/11, many individuals that appeared to be of middle-eastern descent were automatically looked at with suspicion and caution. The Patriot Act, new airport security measures, and other governmental implementations that were dubbed "random" acts for screening for terrorists had obviously narrowed down their targets to individuals who looked a certain way. Because the hijackers and terrorist plotters that attacked our country that day were Muslims from abroad, many Muslims living in America were also looked at as the enemy. The only real difference, aside from the lack of prison camps today, is that America has a large liberal and unbiased population that has sort of kept the hysteria "in check" and pointed out injustices in the media and other propaganda as it happens, before it can become an epidemic. Although the treatment middle eastern Americans and Muslims is absolutely unfair, it is actually really brings the fear and discrimination of the WWII era Japanese Americans into perspective. We all are all guilty of the "not me" phenomenon, but can any one really say that they have never been on an airplane, since 9/11, and not noticed a person with whom they've looked at with some degree of suspicion? Even unjustly so?