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I just read this post, Walmart to Chileans - “We Can Only Spare A Dime” from John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked over at the The Huffington Post and thought it was interesting, and poignant, enough to share here. Check it out:

Walmart to Chileans - “We Can Only Spare A Dime”

“They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?”
(Yip Harburg, lyrics, “Brother Can You Spare A Dime")

My prayers go out to the Chilean people during this time of crisis. I also feel it’s incredibly important in light of Walmart’s announcement yesterday that they would be donating a million dollars in aid, to provide some perspective on this “corporatocracy” in action.

On January 23, 2009, barely a year and a half ago Walmart’s press release touted “Walmart Confims Successful Tender Offer for D&S - Investment provides major foothold in key South American market.” While most North Americans, financial analysts and journalists did not take note of this announcement, those of us tired of being “hoodwinked” certainly did.

D&S at the time of the acquisition was Chile’s largest food retailer. Walmart’s Executive vice president and CEO of the Americas, Craig Herkert said, “Partnering with D&S, with its strong brands, and its position as Chile’s largest food retailer, is an important step in implementing Walmart’s international strategy. We continue to focus on portfolio optimization, global leverage and winning in every market.”

Walmart, because of this acquisition, now owns 58.2 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of D&S, while the Chilean owners now only hold 40.1 percent, with the remainder 1.7 percent being held by the public.

In both my books, HOODWINKED and THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, I’ve noted Walmart as a one of the companies that has avoided a true commitment to environmentally or socially responsible operations.

Walmart, Monsanto, De Beers, Exxon Mobile, Adidas, Ford, and GE are just some of the companies that exploit labor forces and destroy the environment in the name of enhancing their “portfolio optimization, global leverage” and greed-driven bottom lines.

When I read the announcement of Walmart pledging an initial one million dollars to aid grief-stricken Chile on Saturday, I could not help recalling the lyrics of Brother Can You Spare A Dime. Written in 1931, today it continues to herald the great failure of the predatory form of capitalism I write about in HOODWINKED.

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Do you want the real story about who destroyed America’s REAL economy?

We wanted to recommend a new book that just hit the shelves. In Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism And The Economics Of Destruction, New America Foundation’s Barry C. Lynn takes an explosive look at how Wall Street financiers took advantage of the overthrow of our antimonopoly laws to consolidate unprecedented powers.

They use these powers in ways that destroy jobs, degrade safety, crush independent businesses, forestall innovation, harm our environment, and threaten the political foundations of our democratic republic.

Not surprisingly, Walmart is a major player in this disturbing story. Lynn discusses Walmart as one of the quintessential examples of the destructive monopoly, arguing that Walmart needs to change its ways not just for the benefit of workers or communities, but for the entire economy.

Here is what others are saying about Cornered:

Cornered has changed my view of what’s gone wrong with American capitalism. Brilliantly argued and meticulously reported, it confronts with the age-old enemy of both progressives and libertarian conservatives—the power of monopoly.
-Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Brightsided.

This book is essential to understanding how we got into our current mess.
-Michael Mandel, chief economist, BusinessWeek.

This is a truly groundbreaking and eye-opening work that everyone interested in understanding how the world really operates should read.
-Ha Joon Chang, winner Leontief Prize in economics, author Bad Samaritans.

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To the right is Millswood eighth-grader Samantha Titus. She lives in California, and this week she had the chance to flex her arguing muscles in a debate competition at the Lodi Boys and Girls Club. The topic? If you guessed Wal-Mart - and this IS the Wal-Mart Watch blog - then commence patting yourself on the back.

Titus was one of about 25 middle school students to participate in the debate tackling whether the city of Lodi needs a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter - a battle that has frequently found its way onto our Battlemart Blog, as you can here, here, here and here.

Personally, I think this is a great story, and not just because those students arguing against the development so TOTALLY kicked butt. (Actually, all sides gave well-presented arguments, with those for offering job creation and convenience while opponents pointed out negative environmental impacts, poor wages and the effect on local business.) The real winners were all the students involved, who learned how to research an issue in depth while picking up a little thing called self confidence in the process:

Jeisen Elemen has noticed that the team of three boys and two girls that he coaches are less nervous with public speaking..."They were very quiet,” Elemen said. “Now, they are coming up and speaking out in front of a live audience,” he said.

And how did the students feel about the experience? Take us home, Samantha Titus:

“We’re teenagers. We like to fight with people,” said Titus. “We fight with our parents, so we should use our ability to debate.”

Local students debate Wal-Mart issue [Lodi News-Sentinel]

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While same-store sales rebounded ever-so-slightly in April, Wal-Mart continues to chug merrily right along, posting a 5% gain. Meg Marco at Consumerist explains it thusly:

A new survey of American consumers shows something very unusual — they’ve lost their interest in shopping. Is this lack of interest driving them to discount stores like Wal-Mart? Seems so...As interest wanes, more and more shoppers are heading to discount stores like Wal-Mart, says CNN.

So there you go. A little happy, uplifting news for your Thursday afternoon. We’ve lost our will to shop so much so, that we’re willing to go to Wal-Mart just so we can get it over with. So when the economy was going well Wal-Mart’s same store sales were flat, but with the economy in the tank, they’re rolling right along? Yay.

We’ll let Meg have the final word:

Have you “downgraded” to Walmart?

Walmart To Rest Of Planet: “What Recession?” [Consumerist]

A little less gloom at the store [CNN.com]

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Is it just us or have there been an unusual number stories lately about shoplifting from Wal-Mart stores? Try a google news search for “Wal-Mart” and it seems that every other story is about a petty theft from Wal-Mart.

What’s going on? Is it the economy that’s driving people to steal or something else that’s driving reporters to write about it? We know the lengths Wal-Mart goes to prevent shoplifting in its stores, but we wonder how its PR department feels about Wal-Mart getting in the news this way....

Here’s a (very brief) sampling:

Albany Times Union, April 14, 2009:

“A 19-year-old Rensselaer man was charged with stealing from a Wal-Mart store, police said Monday… John W. Halacy...was confronted by a store security officer, whom he pushed away to escape, police said. Halacy then pushed others away before jumping into a gold Dodge Neon sedan that sped off, police said.”

Myrtle Beach Sun News, April 13, 2009:

“A mother and her two sons were detained in Wal-Mart after an employee told police they tried to steal water purifiers, silverware, clothing for a dog and other items, according to a police report.”

WOWT-DT Omaha, April 13, 2009 : 

“Omaha Police cited two woman for suspicion of shoplifting, and released them. Wal-Mart employees watched as they picked up various items of clothing and stuffed them into purses.”

WROC-TV Rochester, April 12, 2009 :

“State Police in Watertown arrested, 28 year-old, Loren N. Woodard, of Evans Mills, NY for 3 counts of Petit Larceny and 2 counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child… Both subjects are alleged to have stolen a camera, value $538.00, from Super Walmart, St-11, in the Town of Leray and using a 5 year old child to assist in the theft on March 24 and March 25. Mr. Woodard is also alleged to have stolen a USB thumb drive, value $42.00, from Super Walmart on April 4.”

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Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced yesterday that he would not be supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. In actuality his decision will not only affect the bill itself, but it could first and foremost affect the ability of Congress to even vote on it, because without his vote Conservatives could filibuster the poor thing to death.

When legislation like the Free Choice Act is introduced in the Senate - assuming it makes it to the floor - there eventually takes place debate between Senators as to whether the legislation should be passed. This debate can go on indefinitely, most commonly referred to as a filibuster and taking the form of an exceptionally long speech (as in one lasting for a day or days, or a series of such speeches) to prevent the legislation from moving forward...and that, my friends, is where Senator Specter would come in. Sixty votes are needed in the Senate to enact what is called cloture - basically this sets a deadline for debate to end, after which a final vote is made. Senate Democrats currently have enough votes to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, but without Specter, there appears to be only 59 Senators that would vote for cloture - one fewer than needed to end debate and take the legislation to a final vote. Senator Specter announced his decision yesterday on the Senate floor:

The problems of the recession make this a particularly bad time to enact Employees Free Choice legislation. Employers understandably complain that adding a burden would result in further job losses. If efforts are unsuccessful to give Labor sufficient bargaining power through amendments to the NLRA, then I would be willing to reconsider Employees’ Free Choice legislation when the economy returns to normalcy.

Basically, the Senator had big business screaming at him from one shoulder, and labor from the other...and business (and Conservatives) won. Some, however, noted that while he decided not to support the bill this time, he did identify a need to reform labor law as it currently stands.

Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education and Labor Committee, said, “It’s disappointing that Senator Specter feels he cannot support the Employee Free Choice Act in its current form, but I welcome his recognition of the urgent need for labor law reform...I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find the best way to move forward with this important legislation.”

Republican opposes US labor bill, may doom measure [Reuters]

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The Institute for Local Self Reliance and the New Rules Project have developed proposals for closing four of the most significant loopholes — two involving state sales taxes and two involving corporate income taxes. Those proposals include:

1. Require large online retailers to collect sales tax;
2. Stop big retailers from skimming sales taxes;
3. Bar companies from hiding taxable income in subsidiaries;
4. Eliminate corporate “nowhere” income.

Not surprisingly Wal-Mart serves as a reoccurring example of poor corporate conduct, especially when it comes to skimming sales tax or funneling money through subsidiaries. You can read the entire story here. The article suggests that adopting the proposed changes would have several beneficial effects, especially considering the shortfalls facing many state budgets.

One way states could make up some of the shortfall is to close several common loopholes that allow large corporations to escape paying their fair share of state taxes. Doing so would ease the pressure on state budgets and have the added benefit of restoring a measure of competitive fairness for small businesses, which are unable to take advantage of these loopholes and end up shouldering a much heavier tax burden than their biggest rivals.

Four Corporate Tax Loopholes States Should Close [The Hometown Advantage]

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A push to get rid of wilted lettuce and rotten tomatoes is paying off for Wal-Mart, despite a grocery business that continues to score low in customer satisfaction. From Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart plans to advertise its produce in coming months to win over more customers after efforts to tidy displays, buy food locally and automate purchasing, executives said in interviews last month at the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Groceries account for more than 40 percent of sales at Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores and have outpaced the growth of most other products in the past year.

Despite the fact that Wal-Mart has undoubtedly prospered during our country’s economic...ummm...struggles, the perception of the quality being sold there remains low. In fact, on the American Customer Satisfaction Index posted by the University of Michigan, Wal-Mart consistently ranks at the bottom.

Customer ratings on meat and produce have trailed the rest of the store, said Bill Simon, Wal-Mart’s chief operating officer for U.S. stores...In terms of customer satisfaction, Wal-Mart’s grocery business ranked worst in the fourth quarter compared with six major supermarket chains, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index.

What this doesn’t bode well for is Wal-Mart maintaining its market share once the economy turns around. Indeed, Wal-Mart sits at a 68% satisfaction rate, 8 points behind the average supermarket score and over 4 points behind Wal-Mart’s own score from a year ago. If that continues, could an uptick in economic fortunes see shoppers returning to their old grocery shopping habits?

So, are we happy that Wal-Mart is trying to upgrade the quality of its produce? Or perhaps the better question to ask is, should we be concerned about the reasons why Wal-Mart needs to upgrade its produce in the first place? Couldn’t they have tried to avoid sub-standard produce right from the beginning? Beverly Crisp, a shopper interviewed by Bloomberg, was surprised on her most recent shopping trip that Wal-Mart’s grocery aisles weren’t “the mess” they had been previously - if that’s the general consensus among shoppers, Wal-Mart is going to need more than just new broccoli to fix its image.

Wal-Mart’s Push for Fresher Broccoli Boosts Revenue [Bloomberg]

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Surrounded by the enemy, with a story vaguely reminiscent of Frodo’s trek into Mordor (that’s for you Lord of the Rings fans - you know who you are), Target is wading into Benton County, Arkansas, home of America’s retail behemoth. A new store is scheduled to open tomorrow right in Wal-Mart’s backyard, with seven Wal-Mart supercenters, five Neighborhood Market grocery stores and two Sam’s Club outlets located within a 25-mile radius.

Like Wal-Mart, Target has steadily slowed its store growth, a trend that may continue depending on economic conditions. Ironically enough, the demographics in Benton County appear to be a good match to the template of Target’s average customer:

“Those demographics there [in Benton County], people have slightly more income on average, discretionary, and will tend to trade up from pure discounters...” And Target “is known very well for their housewares and apparel.” The typical Target “guest,” as the company calls its customers, has a median age of 42 with a median household annual income of $60,000, said Katie Benscoter, a spokesman at Target headquarters. A third of them have children at home and just over half have a college degree.

The store could have an ace in the hole - its new manager, Chuck Simmons, started his retail career at Wal-Mart and is familiar with the area. Still, to put things in perspective, Wal-Mart currently has five supercenters and 12 discount stores within 25 miles of Target’s home office in Minneapolis. And despite prices that are within 1-2% of Wal-Mart’s markdowns, Target continues to battle the perception that it is the more expensive of the two discount retailers.

Target set to open store in Wal-Mart’s backyard [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]

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Wal-Mart; Chicago.

Chicago; Wal-Mart.

Now that you’ve been reintroduced, will you be friends this time?

Time will tell, but opinions on whether the mega-retailer would be good for the Windy City continue to be sharply divided.

From KXMC CBS 13 [North Dakota]:

Because it’d be just awful if the retail giant moved into the city and started providing low-income families with jobs and access to low-priced goods. Big news in bad times: A major retailer wants to bring thousands of jobs to Chicago. But Wal-Mart’s offer is running into the same roadblocks it hit several years ago…

We’ll leave the question of why a North Dakota station is eyeing Chicago alone for now, beyond the fact that they might have Wal-Mart on the brain. Here’s the opposing view courtesy of BloggingStocks:

Whether Chicago and other cities should open their doors to Wal-Mart is a matter that has been debated for literally millions of hours. But it would be a shame to see the city completely abandon whatever principles it claims in order to raise quick cash in a tough economy. But if the city is going to try to make a deal with Wal-Mart, I know an unemployed former governor who is a master negotiator.

The last time Wal-Mart backed down from Chicago, it was because the retailer refused to agree to pay its workers under living wage legislation. This time, the question seems to be - Should Chicago take the quick jobs now, with all the negatives that come with them...or should it hold out for something better? Time will tell…

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Shhhhh...that tightening, squeezing sound...like a leather belt fighting the request to constrict one more notch. That sound you hear...THAT is the sound of consumer credit being tightened even further. As U.S. News and World Reports is reporting on its Alpha Consumer blog, all sorts of new factors may begin to be considered by credit companies doling out credit to the masses. Among those factors: residential location, profession, and shopping habits.

Consumers who happen to live in an area with a high foreclosure rate or who work in real estate, construction, or the auto industry also might find it more difficult to take out credit cards, says Casey Research. Even shopping at Wal could raise a red flag.

It would appear that Wal-Mart’s status as the place to shop for cheap items in this tough economy might soon turn into a warning mechanism for credit companies, worried that frequent customers may be frequenting Wal-Mart because they have no other choice. Could it be that shopping at Wal-Mart will become a credit negative??

Attention Wal Shoppers: No Credit for You [Alpha Consumer - U.S. News and World Reports]

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This morning, it was the news that rocked the financial world: Wal-Mart missed its sales estimates and cut profit outlook:

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, surprised investors who have seen it outperform rivals as the store of choice in a downturn. It said sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 1.7 percent, excluding gasoline—worse than Wall Street’s expectation of a 2.8 percent increase.

It also cut its profit forecast for its fourth quarter, which began on November 1.

As in the past, when sales take a dip in the winter, Wal-Mart blamed....the weather:

Vice Chairman Eduardo Castro-Wright said the company, which last month projected growth at the higher end of the quarter’s predicted 1% to 3% advance, said Thursday the holidays were more challenging than expected for retailers because of the economy and “severe winter weather” in some parts of the country.”

But the report this morning was a serious matter. It sent the market tumbling and others wondering if the retail sector would be able to recover at all any time soon. 24/7 Wall Street points out what some other stories seem to have missed - that for the first time in a while, Wal-Mart International has taken a hit as well:

Wal-Mart International has turned in sales improvement of 15% to 20% on a very consistent basis. In December of last year, that number fell by 10.4% to $10.7 billion. For the entire company, revenue was flat at $47.5 billion, which means that Wal-Mart US carried all of the load.

In many sales periods past, Wal-Mart has relied on strong international sales to boost the company while same store sales in the U.S. remain mostly flat. And Wal-Mart has made no effort to hide the fact that it is concentrating much of its projected growth in the international sector, while slowing down at home.

Make no mistake about it: Mike Duke has his work cut out.

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We’ve covered Wal-Mart’s wage and hour (and overtime) issues many times over, culminating with last week’s $54 million settlement in Minnesota. We all get that Wal-Mart would prefer its employees work through breaks. And we certainly know that when it comes to paying employees for overtime, well, Wal-Mart would prefer that be optional.

California wage laws are, not surprisingly, fairly strict. And now, with that state facing a financial shortfall, the LA Times is reporting that business groups and GOP lawmakers are using wage and hour law as a bargaining chip in negotiations over how to fix a $14.8-billion hole in the state budget. The argument is that state laws like those in California - the ones mandating breaks for workers working at least 6 hours in succession, and requiring an employer to pay time-and-a-half once a worker has worked more than 8 hours in day - are expensive for employers to follow and force them to flee the state for friendlier confines. Places where breaks are voluntary [for the employer] and overtime exists only in a fantasy dreamland.

Not surprisingly, California Democrats and labor officials in the state disagree.

Employers’ latest efforts to tie both the meal break and overtime issue to contentious budget negotiations are aimed at reversing basic worker rights, said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation.

“It’s about trying to help Wal-Mart and other big corporations get away from the long-established understanding that people should get a meal break at work” or be paid extra for extra hours, Pulasksi said.

“This has nothing to do with the budget or stimulating the economy,” said Barry Broad, a lobbyist for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other labor unions. “It doesn’t help the economy to lower 20 million people’s wages during a recession.”

It has been suggested that if state lawmakers can’t come to a consensus and close out these budget negotiations, a state government shutdown in the spring is a distinct possibility.

Overtime pay, rest breaks become bargaining chips in state budget crisis [LA Times]

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If you didn’t catch it, Lee Scott came out of hiding Sunday for a “roundtable” on the state of the American economy on Meet the Press, along with Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney, Fmr. Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

We were holding out hope that David Gregory would (in his first ever show) make a splash by grilling Lee Scott on wages and labor practices, but we weren’t too surprised when it didn’t happen. Gregory did at least point out that Wal-Mart has taken flak on health care and “driving down wages,” but Lee Scott effectively dodged the question - by mentioning that his company had added new jobs and saying how he “reached out” to the Obama administration on America’s economic situation. Unfortunately, no follow up was asked. CQ posted the transcript:

GREGORY: Lee Scott, you know, you’ve been criticized at Wal-Mart on, on health care issues, on driving down wages. As a business leader, and when you think about your successor at Wal-Mart, do you have a responsibility to help Washington with the employment picture?

SCOTT: Well, we’ve been fortunate this year with our business to have added 30,000 jobs here in the U.S. We’ve improved our health care, we’ve improved, I think, the general opportunity of our associates. So, criticisms aside, I think Eric’s exactly right. These are not times to be self-serving, and that’s why we have reached out to the new administration and said, “We want to be a partner on these things.”

We’re glad that the line about health care and wages made it into the show, but other than a testy back-and-forth between Granholm and Romney on the auto bailout, the rest of the conversation was pretty disappointing. There were some interesting points made, but every other question Lee Scott was asked was a big, fat basketball-sized softball that let him run down the talking points about consumers trading down and why they need Wal-Mart more than ever.

No basic questions about the whether Americans’ wages are too low, and if so who is going to be the one who starts raising them. Nothing on whether passing the Employee Free Choice Act could be a stimulus plan for America’s middle class. And nothing on whether Lee Scott’s company - which by all rights is profiting wildly from the recession - actually wants it to end. And if it does, what it’s prepared to do for its workers to make that happen.

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It’s been confirmed: Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott will appear in a roundtable discussion on Meet The Press this Sunday with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. The roundtable will be, according to MTP’s website, an “in-depth discussion on the troubled economy.” Tune in at 10:30 AM on NBC to check it out.

Also, this is David Gregory’s first show as the new host. (A one-on-one grilling of Lee Scott over his company’s low wages would be a heck of a way to make a first impression, no?)

Anyone have any other good ideas for questions to ask Lee Scott?

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Falling sales-tax revenues. An onslaught of vacant storefronts. When your state economy is based on growth, and the national economy goes in the tank, these are the dangers. According to yesterday’s Arizona Republic:

By late next year, more than 75 stores are expected to close, resulting in a loss of nearly 2,000 Arizona retail jobs. The turnover likely will offer shoppers bargains at various going-out-of-business sales and could eventually inspire an influx of newer, trendier stores. But the closures also have city officials scrambling to cover revenue shortfalls and deter commercial blight.

While Wal-Mart may be able to absorb the cost of closed stores and their leases, cities and towns are left dealing with empty buildings that can lead to a rise in crime and vandalism, the lowering of property values, and depressed sales for neighboring retailers when the closed store is the anchor for a strip mall. And for states like Arizona, a drop in sales tax revenue. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance has pointed out that some cities, such as Oakdale, California, or Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, require retail developers set aside money that can be used by the city to either demolish or maintain the site should the store or shopping center become vacant.

Some cities, like Mesa, Arizona, aren’t so lucky.

The shell of a former Walmart sits 2 miles from a Kmart that will close in January. A Mervyn’s and Circuit City will soon depart the area. Such losses this year contributed to Mesa’s $62 million budget shortfall. The city announced 315 layoffs last month.

Cities try to cope with shortfalls in sales taxes, blight left by shut stores [Arizona Republic]

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There are two important economic discussions going on right now in America, and too rarely are they tied together as they should be.

Not a day goes by without talk in the media of the ‘Wal-Mart Economy’ and Wal-Mart’s role in a recession. Similarly, with the proposed auto bailout being debated on Capitol Hill, we’ve heard endlessly about the supposed failures of GM, Ford and Chrysler to adjust and adapt.

Everyone tends to agree that more Americans are now forced to shop at Wal-Mart - whether they love or whether they hate it. Likewise, the talking heads know that the Big Three are suffering - whether or not they need to be bailed out, or are getting what they deserve.

But the two aren’t separate stories.

A couple of columns by the Washington Post Writers Group over the past two days have done a great job of laying out the differences between Bentonville and Detroit – and what that has meant for the American economy.

Warren A. Brown writes mostly about cars. A lot of his column defends Detroit’s efforts to make greener cars, but more importantly (for this blog post at least) - he draws a more realistic picture of what’s been happening in America:

“Here is where newspaper columnists—Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times comes to mind—routinely dismiss the idea of federal aid to an ailing Detroit, suggesting that the city and its automobile industry be consigned to the scrap heap of history, having failed dismally in their core mission to design and develop the kinds of cars and trucks Americans really want.

It is sophist nonsense, of course, the kind of tale spun by people who haven’t bothered to check the numbers, and who have paid even less regard to the history of their supposed knowledge.

The truth, all things considered, is that Detroit has done reasonably well. The American Three—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—still hold an estimated 47 percent of a home market that is wide open to competition from car companies all over the world. Until July of 2007, domestic automobile manufacturers historically held more than a 50-percent U.S.-market share. But in a country where consumers have made Wal-Mart the retail king—that’s Wal-Mart, one of America’s biggest importers of foreign goods—that was bound to change.

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Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.

This week’s issue begins with a Bloomberg report of Wal-Mart being placed on a list of most controversial companies. Also named - the company responsible for producing melamine-tainted milk in China. The list includes companies criticized for producing negative impacts on communities, health, and the environment, and was based on a study by RepRisk, a consulting firm that analyzes companies’ exposure to controversial issues and news.

You’ll also find stories from BusinessWeek and the Financial Times on how corporate giants like Wal-Mart are gearing up to battle potential pro-labor legislation in 2009. With President-Elect Barack Obama and the Democrats taking over next year, retailers are bracing to fight the Employee Free Choice Act – or EFCA – which could make it easier to organize unions in the workplace.

In addition to EFCA, you’ll find stories on Wal-Mart and the economy. And from the legal front, read about a $19 million discrimination lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart and Pepsi in West Virginia. Plus, in the world of product safety, read more about questions raised by the controversial chemical BPA, as well how Wal-Mart has been selling lead-tainted face paint for kids…a no-no anytime, and especially around Halloween.

And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe. Chicago city aldermen have a wish list for an Obama presidency; the fight continues over whether Wal-Mart can build near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia; and towns in California and Nevada deny Wal-Mart the ability to sell alcohol on its store shelves.

Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [November 12, 2008]

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Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.

This week’s issue begins on Wal-Mart and the economy, and whether Wal-Mart sales statistics can be used as a new barometer for the U.S. economy. You’ll also find stories on changes in shopper behavior, now that consumers are faced with less disposable income. And, you’ll find stories on Wal-Mart’s slowed growth, and the switch to smaller store formats by retailers across the country.

In addition to the economy, you’ll find stories related to next week’s election. Barack Obama highlighted the story of a 72-year-old man forced to go back to work for Wal-Mart in his half-hour special this past Wednesday night. Meanwhile, according to Reuters Wal-Mart vows to remain non-partisan in the 2008 election season, while the Financial Times reports on the candidates attempting to woo the so-called “Wal-Mart Moms.” Plus, there are suspicions that Wal-Mart is behind a new grassroots group recently set up to fight the Employee Free Choice Act, as reported in The National Journal.

Also: Find out whether a Wal-Mart case in Montana could lead to changes in that state’s campaign finance law.

And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe. A California ballot measure could lead to increased demand for more humane animal products, while citizens in Virginia continue to fight Wal-Mart’s attempt to build near an historic Civil War battlefield.

Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [October 31, 2008]

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The biggest oil company in the world and the biggest retailer in the world are loving life as the economy sinks.

Wal-Mart stock has risen 20% since the start of the fiscal year. Exxon Mobile just posted the largest quarterly earnings in American history- to the tune of 14.83 billion dollars.  The recession has done wonders for both companies; the volatile price of oil, puts Exxon Mobile in the position to capitalize on futures from supply-wary market analysts, while Wal-Mart continues to post double-digit profits because of the high number of price-conscious consumers who are forced to trade down - even if it’s against their will.

Many more-upscale retailers, such as Target, are not doing quite as well during the recession.  BusinessWeek reports that looking at the most recent quarter over the past year, Wal-Mart’s same store sales are up 5% while Target’s are down 0.4% and K-Mart’s are down 5.6%.

But these days are numbered. Wal-Mart knows that the recession won’t last forever. This week, they unveiled plans to focus more on renovating existing stores next year than opening new stores. Wal-Mart realizes that when the economy turns up again, many of its new customers will want to shop elsewhere - and they’re trying to stop it. The question is: will it work?

Wal-Mart Wins Big During Downturn [BusinessWeek]

These are heady times for Wal-Mart (WMT). The Bentonville (Ark.) retailer has been enjoying double-digit profit growth and strong sales as bargain hunters crowd its aisles. Its stock is up about 20% since the start of the year. And shoppers like Sal Garcia of Downey, Calif., are joining the growing ranks of loyal customers. “Look,” says Garcia, 52, putting the last of 10 shopping bags into the trunk of his Lexus, “all that for $54!”

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