It's an interesting read. http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/walmart/

For too long we have thought of Walmart as the store's owners had instructed us to think of it: as a way to save money and improve life in the United States. I have never believed this to be true. Why? Because so many of their products are imported - mostly from China. And because I worked in retailing back in the late seventies when all this importing began. I was working as a buyer-trainee for a large department store chain when we bought our first cheap import - a line of cotton tee shirts from overseas somewhere. The "import program" would save us tens of thousands. But instead of passing on all those savings to the customers we would pass on only a little - and make a huge profit.

Wow. The talk back then was that imports were the thing of the future. Coming from a town where there was a clothing factory on nearly every block I worried. If we bought tees, dresses, and other clothing items from overseas eventually the factoriy ladies (and so many of my friends mothers, and even some fathers, worked in these factories) would have less work and eventually might even be out of work, wouldn't they? Sadly, my fears eventually came to fruition. There are now NO factories in our little town and there haven't been for about a decade. Most of them started disappearing in the eighties.

We are a great group of people in the U.S. But too many of just leave our thinking to the "experts." Too few of us question, wonder,challenge or probe when someone in charge, a professional or an "expert", tells us how to think or what to do. Long ago I taught myself to draw a long line, look at where that line could lead. And in the case of savings thru cheap imports the line lead to where we are now: we've closed up the vast majority of factories, lost most decent-paying jobs for the unskilled, and turned into a country where you can barely survive if you don't have a profession.

And, as a result, we've built up foreign economies - principally China's economy - and nearly destroyed our own.

Ever notice how so many people in our country today who are living a solid middle-class life are in the necessary SERVICE jobs? (I'm not talking about waiters/waitresses, etc., but, rather, service jobs in the fields which we cannot do without.) How many people do you know who make a great living because they work MAKING something at a factory or elsewhere? Take a look around...probably most of your friends who make a good living (aside from the doctors, lawyers, and other highly educated professionals) are either workign for: the government (U.S., state, county or local); in education; in medicine; in insurance; in the utility field; in computer, equipment or other servicing. Well, am I right? How many bring home a good paycheck because they work MAKING things?

Now think back thirty years - before imports became the norm AND before medicine became an "industry". I know I can remember back when LOTS of people worked making shoes, televisions, trucks, clothing, furniture, and so on. In those not-so-long-ago days men and women made a GOOD living producing American-made goods. With their paycheck most men, and women, if necessary, could pay for rent or a comfortable home, for utilities, for healthcare, for good food for several children - and manage to put a little away for a rainy day. Not so today. A married couple can both work full-time at a place like Walmart and still be under the poverty level - and sinking further and further into debt each year. The cost of gas, utilities, food, healthcare and a home has risen at a much higher rate than paychecks for unskilled labor.

So many of our parents who worked at unskilled jobs had a dream for their children to go on to a higher education. And many of us did go to college. But not everyone is meant to go to college or be a white-collar professional. And today if you don't go to college, if you don't have the ability to work at a job that requires a high degree of training, or if you don't have a connection, or luck, or whatever, to get a job with a utility or other necessary service - you should still have the opportunities to provide for your family the way the WWII vet did for their children.

I don't know if we can turn the U.S. economy around to save the mddle class, which is rapidly disappearing. The little guy can no longer just work hard and save money. It would take the wealthy, many of whom have already made their money thru paying very little for imported goods and the wealth that came from that type of behavior, to be willing to give back. And it would take a NEW attitude from Americans: sometimes what you pay less for costs you many times more in the longrun.

Most of all, we need to learn how to THINK and not react. I know a woman whose son worked for one of Walmart''s competitors for years. He was a hard worker and he made a good amount of money in management. Slowly but surely Walmart's tactics of undercutting prices edged away at this man's employer until finally they had to make cuts. He was laid off permanently. His mother, instead of blaming Walmart, blamed the company who laid off her son. She then took all her business to Walmart and encouraged others to do so, as well. Surely she meant well but, obviously, it wasn't a wise way of thinking.

It's time to wake up, America, and realize that when we talk about the rich helping the poor we are not talking about the redistribution of wealth in the U.S. If you are comfortable or wealthy you probably made your money from many working poor, not from other wealthy folks. Our country can be saved only if the people with the money are willing to make less profit and put the jobs back here where they belong - on U.S. soil. And if the folks who can pay more for American made goods must made a conscious effort to do so. People in the positions to do so need to take measures to reduce the cost of necessities such as heat, electricity, food, medicine, etc. Everyone needs to care about their American brothers and sisters who are falling through the cracks.We need to feel that we are all in this together. It's time to turn America around. And it's time to remember that our country was made great not just by the men in suits who run the Walmarts, sit in offices, or own large businesses but by the factory ladies, and men, who worked so very hard every single day for a living wage.

Since 1999!

Isn't it hard to believe how quickly the years have passed?

Things have changed quite a bit in the decade since NIPPIES ® first went online.

We have many plans for the future. There will be more photos, drawings and amusing stories.