On 8/27/05, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But there's also some evidence that WMT itself has hit something of a wall - > its base market is saturated and needs desperately to move into more > affluent, urbanized markets, where it has serious political and image > problems. (They're just starting to advertise in Vogue to work on the > image probs, and they're trying to buy black preachers and elected > officials to work on their political probs.)
The US market may be saturated but the world market is not. 30% of Wal-Mart's stores are outside of the United States, and you can be sure that many new Wal-Marts will be opening outside of the US in the coming years. Much of Wal-Mart's political activity is somewhat hidden, but it is massive - they were behind Oklahoma becoming a right to work (for less) state, and are a major force in the RTW campaigns in other states. The Walton Family Foundation gives $10 million a year to just one of the school privatization foundations it supports (CEO America). In the 1980s, Sam Walton was travelling in Central America around the maquilas that manufacture goods destined for Wal-Mart, and he became concerned about how nationalist (and even socialist) views were permeating some of the professional class down there, so he began a program, WISP, to bring students from Central American countries to several Christian universities in the Bible Belt. He said "The students will learn skills through the liberal arts curricula of these three fine colleges that will encourage...private development of their countries." -- Lance
