It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.
SYMPOSIUM: WAL-MART CEO LEE SCOTT SPEAKS… Wal-Mart Facts yesterday posted the prepared text of Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott”s address to the company”s Year Beginning Meeting. My co-blogger Jonathan has proposed a symposium where we all examine and discuss the speech. Keep reading…
SYMPOSIUM: LEE SCOTT AND JOE STALIN… No. I don”t think that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott is in anyway the twisted sick monster that Joseph Stalin was. But a story from one of Dr. David Williams undergraduate classes on the Soviet Union is instructive in understanding Scott”s speech yesterday. Keep reading…
SYMPOSIUM: HARMONIC CONVERGENCE…? Of course every other Wal-Mart watcher on the planet took note of Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott”s posted speech on Wednesday. The appraisals range from the snark to adoration, but I found Andrew Leonard”s take on Salon interesting for its comparison of Lee Scott to Bill Gates. Keep reading…
AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring twinkiemp. Keep reading…
WAL-MART”S MANIFEST DESTINY… I”m not sure why this op-ed piece from 2004 popped up this morning, but I like it as a time capsule of then. Written by a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute – the epitome of the cult of me – it portrays Wal-Mart as the true protector of the American Way. Keep reading…
A PEAK BEHIND THE CURTAIN… The events detailed in the three-page memo from Owen Barder are nearly 10 years old and much as changed in the Wal-Mart world, but the story remains instructive of the level of access the company has wielded in the past. Keep reading…
WHICH SET OF NUMBERS OUGHT WE TO USE…? Others have taken notice of the innocuous line in Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott”s speech last week concerning Wal-Mart”s intention to help employers, “manage how they process and pay prescription claims. thus signaling its entrance into pharmacy benefits management. Keep reading…
WALK-IN CLINIC GOES BUST AT WAL-MART… As part of what I see as it”s attempt to lease out over-built retail space, Wal-Mart has rented space to 80 walk-in health care clinics across the country. That number dropped when nurses at 23 CheckUps came to work and found the doors locked. Keep reading…
WILL MOVING TO NEW YORK HELP…? We”re all used to reading stories about thousands of people lining up for jobs at Wal-Mart. What we haven”t seen is news that Wal-Mart is laying off workers; not in the stores, but in the Bentonville-based apparel department. And the people who don”t lose their jobs? Keep reading…