That's right, they do. And when people get priced out of their home (through more expensive cost of living, not just home prices) then they should adjust their living to compensate by attempting to move to a place where their money can take them further rather than resigning to live in poverty. Doesn't work for everyone, but it works for a lot more people than currently elect to do it. And none of it is Walmart's fault.
No, but this has to do a lot more with Federal Reserve policies driving hidden inflation than Walmart agreeing to pay a particular salary.
I don't know what this means. But politicians on both sides of the aisle drive inequality measures, because both benefit from it.
Wal-Mart vs. the Unions
In October 2003, some 70,000 union employees of the nation's three largest grocery chains went on strike in Southern California over their employers' plans to cut wages and benefits. The three chains -- Kroger, Safeway and Albertson's -- determined they could no longer be competitive in the Southern California market if they had to pay their employees as generously as they had in the past. Why? Because Wal-Mart, the biggest grocer in America, was coming to town. Though Wal-Mart had a presence in California for years, it had recently announced plans to introduce 40 Wal-Mart Supercenters -- 200,000 square-foot retail and grocery stores -- to the area. "The supermarkets themselves were terrified that they would be undercut -- severely undercut -- by Wal-Mart," says
Edna Bonacich, a sociology professor at the University of California, Riverside, "and that it would drive them out of business."
In 2003, Wal-Mart paid its hourly associates an average of $9.64 per hour -- almost $10 less than the average hourly wage the California supermarket workers were receiving1. "We don't necessarily pay the exact amount that they do in terms of dollar per hour," Wal-Mart Vice President Bob McAdam tells FRONTLINE. "But we have a competitive package of benefits and pay that we believe is what's attracting people to work for our company." That "competitive package" includes profit sharing and 401(k) programs, the opportunity to purchase stock and to move up the corporate ladder. "[Critics] don't always value the promotion opportunities that come with a job at Wal-Mart that might not be available for people with unionized job," McAdam argues. "Last year we promoted 9,000 of our hourly associates to management position."
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/transform/employment.html
The unions were a reaction to the power of the companies, of course they were too powerful after a time but there needs to be a balance. Now we know perfectly well Bob McAdam there is covering for the fact that WalMart created a desert, however many rose to management 90% were now very poorly paid workers. There is such a thing as too big and too powerful in an economy. That is why monopolies and mergers are studies. But Walmart was a juggernaut, people got cheap prices, good, but they got a LOT of hidden costs.
Last year in 2017, Trump's first year Chinese imports to the US surged 15%. Did WalMart giants and similar have anything to do with an increasingly disastrous balance of trade?
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/business/economy/walmart-china-imports-job-losses.html
"Imports from China by
Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and biggest importer, eliminated or displaced over 400,000 jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2013, according to an estimate by the
Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group that has long targeted Walmart’s policies."
Walmart is now a major part of the US economy. There is a direct relationship between it's success as a corporation and the middle class and lower being squeezed to near nothing. It is not the only giant who has destroyed diversity of the economy however I believe that "too big" company breakups may be required to bring heath back to capitalism.
http://fortune.com/2017/06/30/walmart-food-stamp/
Walmart Could Lose $12.7 Billion in Sales Over Next Decade if Food Stamps Are Slashed
The food stamps go to the workers in traditional smaller companies who lost their jobs I guess. Want to look into how Wal-Mart lobbied for food-stamps? I don't know if they did but I kinda think they will have been responsible for the expansion of these programs far more that xyz politician or party.
