Is Walmart killing the American Dream of Small Businesses?

Wal Mart is also costing a bunch of jobs by importing so much cheap junk from other countries. You can't import into any country with out hurting the work force. You also can't import without sending a lot of American dollars into the economies of other countries and robbing our own economy. Wal Mart is not a friend of the American People. Art

Did you open up a can of worms or what??!! I have read all the discussions and I have to agree with you that WalMart DOES hurt other businesses when they come to smaller towns. The other businesses can't compete, so usually end up closing their doors. Of course people shop where they can get the better deals, that is just a given, but it doesn't mean they have to like the fact that they are helping to put the other places out of business. I do know people that have worked at WalMart and is not all a bed of roses. Unfotunately WalMart is a big business, so making a profit is the bottom line, no matter how they treat people to get there. As for your question about ideas to recover the economy, I think the gov't should be sending the American people stimulus checks, rather than spending all that money on baling out the big businesses. If the people had the money, then they would spend more which would help the business community.

Walmart does run the small businesses out. We live in a small town and since they came in, we have lost Kmart and Big Lots, along with some smaller businesses. We need to get factories back here and start making our own products and quit allowing so much to come from everywhere else.

Start with the basics, from scratch, basically. That was my idea to help our economy. Small time organic farming. Selling fresh produce at flea markets and farmer's markets...and go pro at that. Thing is, now there's this bill in Congress that'd penalize me and many others in small businesses relating to food...and my confidence is wavering in that I will be able to be an example of how much working with one's own hands and ideas can change the country. A more paranoid soul than I'd say that this bill was proposed BECAUSE many people like me'd gotten this idea and that it threatens the huge companies that make a profit at our expense (As a small organic farmer who bought my seeds and plants for a dollar a pop and intends to save seeds from my harvest...I can easily compete with Walmart's prices)...but I know that it's just that our nation's in crazy times, and people're scrabbling. Walmart is OK in a prosperous economy where nothing's wrong. Problem is, that's not where we're at now. We actually haven't TRULY been there for years, for if we had been...we wouldn't be where we are now. Too much favors big business and not small business...and actually, niether can really live without the other. You don't strangle your boss and expect to get paid... All I know to do, is keep struggling against it all. To keep trying. To keep doing what I can. I figure, at least in my case, if the bill passes...I'll turn to barter, instead of money to skirt the new rules. It'll make a ton of extra work for me, and I won't be benefitting the economy as much as I otherwise would have...but...*shrugs*

"I had thought of going into business myself in several different options but each time I thought about it I found myself thinking of Walmarts pricing and buying power and knew that any business I could afford to start could not compete against such a global monster." Well then you simply lacked the spirit necessary to succeed. There will always be competition. You need dedication to win and clearly you lacked that. You know John Shnatter was only 23 when he founded Papa Johns Pizza. He was up against two companies, Pizza Hut and Domino's that were both older than he was. They'd bee around since 1958 and 1960 respectively and the idea that he could create a nationwide chain to compete with them was ridiculous. He persevered because he believed in his product. "The days of little main street stores that helped employee townspeople and the money was spent in their community are long gone." Not true. There are still small towns with small shops. They're all over Florida between the big cities. "Now we have Super Walmarts and Super Targets, neither are friendly to American small businesses." They're not supposed to be. It's a competition and their goal is to win. It's not their job to coddle their competitors. "Targets are French" That's a stupid lie you probably read in a chain e-mail. "Target is a publicly held U.S. company (NYSE: TGT) and has been based in Minneapolis, Minn. since its founding as The Dayton Company in 1902. Target is not now, nor has it ever been, foreign-owned." http://www.target.com/Corporation-Supports-Veterans-Company-Help/b?ie=UTF8&node=10790581 Feel free to visit their website to read about their charitable giving. I volunteered for Give Kids the World for years and I can tell you that Walmart practically bankrolls the place. They provide more than half the corporate donations received and encourage their employees to volunteer their time. Perhaps you could care less that they are giving money to grant the wishes of terminally ill children, but to me that's a pretty big deal.

I know just what you mean. Walmart, especially, reminds me of a big bully. They come into a town and have such very low prices that it is hard to resist shopping there. Once they have put a number of smaller stores right out of business, their prices start increasing by quite a bit. They did that in my town as well. They have little competition at all here and the prices actually aren't so great anymore. I try to avoid shopping there at all but honestly there are not a lot of choices in the area anymore. I do think that Americans are seeing where we went wrong and would be more willing to spend locally given the choice and if their purses could possibly afford it. The problem is that it has gone so far at this point. I really have no answers for you here. I don't know what could possibly turn things around now.

While I agree that Walmart is bad for small businesses,they probably employ more people than those small businesses will ever employ.They also creats revenue because they create jobs.When a Walmart opens other businesses,such as fast food restaurants,ususally follow.This in turn creates more jobs.So,while I sympathize with your problem,I think big box stores actually help the community as a whole more than they hurt them.