This is a continuation of a series about why we decided to give up Wal-Mart for a year. Sort of a social experiment to see 1) if we can do it and 2) if we can live without the convenience 3) how our lives are effected by it (if at all). See related posts here.
Through out this year I will document our journey, on any issues we have finding things we used to get at Wal-Mart, if we can “afford” to not shop at Wal-Mart and other findings along the way.
This is my third part to explain more about why we are doing this, and to answer some of your questions. As I said before, I welcome your ideas and opinions, but please take some time to consider what it means to spend your money at Wal-Mart.
Right now Wal-Mart imports 80% of its goods from China. Which I know is also what Target, Big Lots and any dollar store does – imports goods from China, but Wal-Mart is where it all began. Wal-Mart took off with finding cheap items to sell to Americans. With this Former President Clinton decided to sign a permanent trade agreement with China, meaning we would all trade “equally” as they saw China as a growing economy that we would benefit from – they will buy all our natural resources/goods – it will be a perfect union!
Well, instead the plan backfired. At the Long Beach, CA port alone (where all of your TVs, tennis shoes and clothing reaches America), 36 Million dollars worth of goods are imported from China – all items we buy at Wal-Mart. And how much is China buying from us? Only 3 Million dollars in goods are shipped out of the US to China (leather hides, cotton, etc.) – making our trade agreement very unequal and not what President Clinton had hoped for. Meaning, instead of keeping our jobs here – we are shipping out all of our cotton, leather, etc. to go to China where they will in turn create t-shirts from the cotton and tennis shoes from the leather hides and then will ship them back to the US where we will buy them. And because of the job market in China and the cheap labor issues (which we helped create), the Chinese don’t even have money to buy anything besides basic needs – so of course we aren’t shipping anything in for them to buy from us – the trade agreement is hurting the US more than helping.
More on this topic – Is this Fair-Trade? – will be continued tomorrow.
Sources:
PBS Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good America? (watch for free on Google Video
erzsi1113 said,
September 9, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
I am really interested to read about your year without Wal-Mart. I have written on Wal-mart myself, and admire you going a year without it. I wonder if it would be different if you had young children, as I do… (I hope that doesn’t sound critical, I don’t mean it to…it’s just me wondering out loud…)
http://abrightfuture.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/they-may-be-evil-but-its-cheap/
Look forward to more Wal-Mart free updates!
God Bless,
liz
keshuvko said,
September 10, 2007 @ 8:37 am
Hhaha…
year without walmart sounds something adventerous!
tennyomelime said,
September 10, 2007 @ 9:24 am
I am definitely interested in reading about your year without Wal*Mart. I myself try to never shop there. I don’t even know when was the last time I bought anything from that store.
cowsbythefence said,
September 10, 2007 @ 10:34 am
Thank you! It’s too bad we’re such a Wal-Mart crazed society and often don’t think or care about how we get these low prices.
The Writing On The Wal » Blog Archive » A YEAR OF LIVING WAL-MART FREE… said,
September 11, 2007 @ 5:04 am
[...] Part 3 of the series, Megan stays focused on the China [...]
Missy said,
November 17, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
I’ve only been to Walmart once in over three years, and that one time was as a volunteer buying bulk food for a non-profit organization, not buying anything for myself. I figure, if you live in a town or city where there are grocery stores and other retailers close by, as long as you don’t know what the prices are at Walmart, you simply pay the average going price and budget accordingly. It feels good to know that I’m not contributing to this portion of this nasty corporate society. I hope more follow our lead!
Thanks for putting your blog out there, it’s a pleasure to read!
m3