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Effects of Walmart

In: Business and Management

Submitted By beasty
Words 2874
Pages 12
The Economic Impacts on Wal-Mart
Sam Walton developed the first Wal-mart in Arkansas on July 2nd, 1962 with a dream in mind. That dream wasn’t to create a multi-billion dollar empire, but instead to bring practical items to the people in his area at a great price. Since the inception of Wal-Mart, the dream has been replaced with one of achieving the greatest profit possible. With the possibility of future growth over the horizon, Wal-Mart will stop at nothing to achieve that, including pushing past any obstacles that stand in their way. They will achieve that even if that results in negative effects on the local, state, or national economies. Wal-Mart has made a large presence in the United States, but it has not necessarily been a positive presence. Wal-Mart employs more people than any other company in the United States outside of the Federal Government, yet the majority of its employees with children live below the poverty line (PBS, 2009). With so many people below that poverty line, most of these people are forced to rely on government support systems such as Medicaid, and food stamps. Wal-Mart executives were reported as saying, “why should we pay for insurance when the employees can use the government”, and that is exactly what the company has decided to do (Greenwald, 2005).
In 2010, Wal-Mart offered a healthcare plan to their associates with a premium of $27 per pay period for full family coverage, which is about $702 per year. This plan however has a very high deductible of $4,400. That means that a Wal-Mart employee with a $4,400 annual deductible, and a yearly premium of $702 would have to pay $5,102 of their own money before the insurance offered through Wal-Mart would pay for anything. Considering the average wage for a Wal-Mart associate is $11.75, this would equal almost 25% of their yearly salary, before taxes were even taken out (Angotti,

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