by Samual Seward

Created on: February 07, 2009

With 5,300 stores in the United States, Wal-mart is becoming the fastest growing retail chain in the United States
(Rossi 157). The stores are not hard to find as you travel the highways of the United States. With its' low prices and inviting smiley face character it is becoming difficult not to resist the inviting blue glow of their neon signs.

There has been much debate over the power in which Wal-mart has over their employees. Some would say that the lower prices are good for Americans but others would say that their low prices cause major problems. I reside with the latter debate. Wal-mart has created many problems in our society such as forcing their employees to work at a low wages that force them into poverty.

Wal-mart has become a driven capitol force in the United States raking in over one billion dollars a day. They make enough money that out of every two hundred dollars that you spend, nine go to Wal-mart (Rossi 156). This is an incredible amount of money which Wal-mart drives into it stores daily and why not? It is a free market business system which allows them to gain as much profit as they wish. The United States
is not Socialist but when the corporation sends this money straight to their own greedy hands without contributing to the welfare of their employees, they harm the whole country.

In a country where there has been a rise of the minimum wage the average supermarket employee earns on average $2.00 more then a Wal-mart employee. An average employee of Wal-mart brings home $1000 a month. A family of three in 2001 would in fact be below the federal poverty line with an income of $13861 annually (Miller 205). Even though this is above the minimum wage in some states such as $7.25 in Pennsylvania it is difficult for a family to survive on.. Being the largest supplier of jobs in the United States, Wal-mart should have responsibilities for their employees. Imagine paying for health care with that income. Do you think you could do it? You think that Wal-mart would have a good health care plan for their employees, but the truth is stranger than fiction.

The truth is that fewer than half of all workers are on the Wal-mart health care plan. This seems wrong for such a large corporation. The average big business, such as IBM or Microsoft has an average of 66% employees on their health care plans. That means that an average family depending on Wal-mart for their income cannot afford health insurance for their children (Miller 207).

Why does Wal-mart have below

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