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first off, i think that penn and teller are great magicians. as hosts of this dimwitted show "bullshit" penn and teller are still great magicians. sometimes i like to think that the show is itself a prank, and stuff like the opening sequence of the clip is fodder for that theory. but if they aren't joking, then they lost me in the first 30 seconds, at the point the writers decided that what they were after in this segment was "walmart hatred"....
i detest walmart. but they are in the position they are today for a variety of reasons--the center of their operation is the kind of integrated logistical system they have developed--which is kinda like the ford motor company (from the 1910-1920s) of this mode of operation--a continuous system every aspect of which is automated to the greatest possible extent with extremely tight controls at every step of the operation. their supply chain is extremely capital intensive, which in itself puts them at an advantage. they are at one level an example of the extent to which the kinda famous paper on globalizatino done by the boston consulting group was correct: in this context, a real advantage goes to the supply chain that is in place first. alot of the problems that walmart generates for itself, its workers, its suppliers and *their* workers also follow directly from the way this system operates.
any automation is double-edged--it is about efficiency understood as an abstraction and so is about deskilling work, reducing the value of labor, atomizing the workforce and imposing the lowest possible wages. walmart itself does this to its own workforce--and extends this into very militant anti-union policies. i find anti-union companies repellent--even as i am not a fan of the old american model of trade union organization--but the idea that workers should be prevented from organizing is repellent to me. even if there were no other problems with walmart, and no matter how cheap the shit you can buy there, i would not shop there on the basis of their anti-union policies alone. by extension, if you do shop there, you are de facto endorsing these politics.
these problems are self-evident if you do ANY actual research into walmart's labor practices--and watching a bullshit episode of bullshit is not research--it is infotainment. but hey, maybe it doesn't matter to you.
and this is but one area: the problems walmart creates for itself relative to its own workforce are in force in spades when it comes to the implications of its pricing structures on suppliers---their supplychain is huge and so encompasses a wide range of conditions, of firms operating in different legal and political contexts, so it is hard to say one thing that obtains universally within a supply chain of this size--but what one can say is that walmart treats repressive political environments and antiquated labor law as part of a competitive advantage and routinely ignores the consequences. other firms on the order of nike have been forced---and i mean forced--by political pressure to try to address these problems (exploitative labor practices, abuse of workers, forced unpaid overtime, appalling working conditions, ridiculously low wages, etc.)--in their 2004 corporate social responsiblity audit, nike claimed to have hired a team of "experts" from mit to investigate the "mysterious" connection between their pricing structures and abusive practices amongst suppliers--walmart has delat with this by trying to not release information. but it is routinely acknowledged that walmart suppliers are among the worst in some sectors--and their pricing is the driver of it.
but hey cheap shit is cheap shit, eh? and it would be a very american attitude to focus entirely on the shortest possible term and not think too much about what it means.
i could go on and on about walmart.
i'd rather pay more for sustainably produced goods. period.
but i live in a city and these options are readily available.
it must suck to live out there in the american hinterland, in one of the many areas where alternatives have been squeezed out of existence by walmart's predatory store location practices.
then you have to rationalize having no meaningful choice in the matter.
but you do get alot of cheap shit. much of which would remain almost out of reach for you if you were living on walmart wages. but dont beleive me: do some research.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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