Wal-Mart: Your Neighborhood Price Discriminator Since 1962

I came across this website recently regarding the current status of one of the largest companies that has ever been established in the United States, Wal-Mart. In recent years, Wal-Mart has become the focal point of attention in the eyes of many anti-monopolists because of its enormous size and authority across numerous countries. One of the most prominent capabilities of Wal-Mart is its ability to price discriminate. In this article, the author seems to be targeting the failure of the government and other regulatory institutions for the uncontrollable expansion of Wal-Mart’s power. Wal-Mart’s chairmen were able to obtain exemptions from anti-trust, tax, and criminal laws that other small and large corporations are forced to abide by. Wal-Mart has forced the outsourcing of American jobs to lower-wage countries only to turn around and sell their products at highly inflated prices back to Americans. You may ask why such a friendly company would do such a thing to its most valuable consumers. There is only one answer for this: profits. Wal-Mart reaps the benefits from their sales and ultimately redirects them away from Americans. Throughout this entire practice, other law-abiding companies are losing out on profits and are being forced to go out of business. The ability of Wal-Mart to sway the government, policymakers, and the media has led to a decrease in competitiveness across large and small corporations alike. Arguments in favor of large corporations such as Wal-Mart claim that these companies provide substantial tax revenue to communities as well as providing employment for people that otherwise are unable to get jobs. While it may seem plausible in its demeanor, Wal-Mart, as a whole is in violation of the federal Robinson-Patman Act and similar laws that prohibit price discrimination. Wal-Mart is even capable of making its way around paying overtime to employees which even further lowers the prices of goods at the expense of its employees. Ultimately, this is eliminating the nearby competition from the very people that purchase their products. Instead of handing out smiley face stickers at the front door, Wal-Mart should, in fact, be handing out stickers featuring distressed faces.