Working Life

    Stacy Mitchell’s eye-opening book, Big-Box Swindle, has just been released in paperback.  It’s a book that you’all should read and maybe give as an early holiday gift  to your city council and state legislators so they can have the ammunition to shoot down big-box tax advantages and pass new policies that foster equitable and […]

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    For a long time, I’ve been saying that the dollar has to come down. A lower dollar would be an easier solution to, for example, the trade issues with China, compared to trying to get the Chinese to change its currency policies. So, the fact that the dollar is sharply down–even now equal to […]

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    It’s been a while since I checked in on the Beast of Bentonville. Turns out that the Beast is not getting a lot of love half way across the world in India. Forbes magazine reports that: Brand recognition isn’t always fun, as retailing giant Wal-Mart is finding out in India. Days after it signed […]

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    You might remember that Wal-Mart was making big-time efforts to get into the banking world–which elicited a huge wave of protest. Well, never say the folks at Bentonville aren’t relentless. If the company can’t get its way into opening up a bank, it will do the next best thing, as The New York Times […]

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    The Wall Street Journal has a piece today about the Federal Trade Commission’s suit against Whole Foods to block its purchase of Wild Oats Markets. But, inside the story is this revealing little nugget: The challenge would be one of the few brought under the Bush administration, which has broadly interpreted antitrust law to […]

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You kind of figured this one would get ugly. From a report in today’s Wall Street Journal:   Fired Wal-Mart Stores Inc. marketing executive Julie Roehm took aim at the retailer’s chief executive and other senior executives, claiming they skirted its ethics policy, accepting travel, concert tickets and preferential prices on yachts and jewelry.   […]

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 Yesterday, Human Rights Watch published a pretty damning report on the big bad folks at The Beast–aka Wal-Mart. Not surprisingly, the Bentonville Bullies come off as, well, not just bullies but lawbreakers… “Wal-Mart workers have virtually no chance to organize because they’re up against unfair US labor laws and a giant company that will do […]

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Count me as one person not shedding too many tears about the death of Helen Walton, the matriarch of the Walton family–she of the $16 billion net worth. After all, this family, worth tens of billions of dollars, has made live a living hell for thousands of workers. And just in time to mourn dear […]

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Leave it to the Norwegians to show what needs to be done with abusive corporations. The Norwegian government is dropping Wal-Mart stock from its $285 billion pension fund. Could this spark a broader dumping of Wal-Mart stock around the world because of the company’s abhorrent behavior? Norway has very strong ethical guidelines for its government […]

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This is an example of what a determined effort can do. The Beast of Bentonville is throwing in the towel in its efforts to get into the New York City market: Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation’s largest city, Wal-Mart’s chief executive said […]

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