Wal-Mart is able to roll back prices by using unscrupulous business practices.  The first thing Wal-Mart does when it moves into a community is to use cutthroat pricing to eliminate the competition.  This purposeful undercutting of local retailers is designed to put a stranglehold on any community Wal-Mart enters.   This control of the market sets off a chain reaction that hampers the entire local economy. 

When Wal-Mart goes to such great lengths to lower production costs it is almost impossible for more responsible merchants to compete.  Consequently, a Wal-Mart's opening means the mass closing of local hardware stores, clothing retailers and supermarkets.  Independent & government studies from across the country have concluded that for every Wal-Mart that opens 2 supermarkets are forced out of business.

The most comprehensive study of Wal-Mart's impact on workers shows that it reduces earnings per person by 5 percent.   This study was conducted in 2005 by an economist from the National Bureau of Economic Research.  It used Wal-Mart's own store data as well as government data for all counties where Wal-Mart has operated for 30 years.  The study found that the average Wal-Mart store reduces earnings per person by 5 percent in the county in which it operates.

So when Wal-Mart says they are rolling back the prices, they are rolling back the wages and benefits of not just their employees, but of the workers in the entire community.  In fact, in 2005 the average supermarket employee made 20% more an hour then the average Wal-Mart employee.  And as far as healthcare, 2/3 of all Wal-Mart employees do not participate in the company health plan because to do so would require them to pay roughly 1/5 of their take home pay.  That's 20% a person's take home pay and they still would face a hefty deductible. 

But it's not just the Wal-Mart employees who pay the price.  When a Wal-Mart opens in your community we all pay the price, because the largest company in the world also has the largest percentage of its employees on public assistance.  In fact they hold seminars explaining to their employees how to apply for welfare & food stamps.  Think about that, a company turning an $11 billion dollar a year profit, shifting cost of healthcare & wages to you the taxpayers. 

The bottom line is this, when Wal-Mart moves to town, responsible businesses and good paying jobs move out!   So, think about that before you shop at a Wal-Mart or Sam's Club.  Because the next store to close could be yours.