Before Wal-mart, the trend in the American workplace was to internalize the cost of doing business. American companies tried to compete with everything from higher wages, to better health care benefits, to limiting the work-week to 40 hours. In its ruthless pursuit of cheaper products, Wal-mart has reversed the trend, by externalizes its costs anyway it can. These costs are first explicit in nature, by receiving tax breaks to operate in some cities or the tax dollars that Wal-mart employees utilize for health care/public assistance. The costs are implicit as well; these big box stores destroy local economies, are known as a bad neighbor and are also harmful to the environment.
When General Motors was at the top of its game, it operated in a comparatively gentle, competition-free environment. It could afford to be generous. Today, the Big Three show what happens when a company continually raises benefits while failing to grow. Blaming Wal-Mart for America's wage stagnation......
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Approximate Word Count: 1305
Approximate Pages: 6 (260 words per double-spaced page) |