In 2010 Walmart, with 2.1 million employees, was the largest corporation in the history of the world. Its revenues of $405 billion exceeded the gross domestic product of Sweden and Saudi Arabia. The company's clout made it a frequent target of popular satire. A 2008 episode of The Simpsons was set at "Sprawl-Mart," where Homer was offered a job as Executive Greeter. "Is there a chance for advancement?" he asks. "No," the manager says. "You get to work overtime without us paying you extra." In 2006 Saturday Night Live ran a satirical advertisement for "Sale-Mart," a big-box store that was "all about low prices." Toothless employees expressed satisfaction with the company's dental plan. The announcer told shoppers to hurry to the pharmacy, "where generic prescription drugs are two handfuls for a dollar."
Real-world critics of Walmart leveled similar charges. A labor union website described Walmart as a "death star" that "destroys all other economic activity in its path." Others complained that many Walmart employees qualified for public assistance.
In 2009 Walmart, whose motto is "Save Money Live Better," claimed that it saved $3,100 per American household. Former CEO Lee Scott credited Walmart with
¦ Essentials of Industrial Growth
¦ Railroads: The First Big Business
¦ Iron, Oil, and Electricity
¦ Competition and Monopoly: The Railroads
¦ Competition and Monopoly: Steel
¦ Competition and Monopoly: Oil
¦ Competition and Monopoly: Retailing and Utilities
¦ American Ambivalence to Big Business
¦ Reformers: George,
Bellamy, Lloyd
¦ Reformers: The Marxists
¦ The Government Reacts to Big Business: Railroad Regulation
¦ The Government Reacts to Big Business: The Sherman Antitrust Act
¦ The Labor Union Movement
¦ The American Federation of Labor
¦ Labor Militancy Rebuffed
¦ Whither America, Whither Democracy?
¦ Mapping the Past:
Were the Railroads Indispensable?
((••-[Hear the Audio Chapter 17 at Www. myhistorylab. com
¦ John A. Roebling's design for the Brooklyn Bridge, then the longest suspension bridge in the world, was widely hailed as an artistic masterpiece, an illustration of the beauty of functional engineering.
Source: © 1993 E. Michael Beard Www. errolgraphics. com.
Having "democratized consumption" in the United States by enabling "working-class families to buy former luxuries like inexpensive flat-screen televisions, down comforters and porterhouse steaks." A retailer helps society best by lowering prices, or so the company contended.
The debate over the human costs of corporate efficiencies echoes the one that accompanied the rise of powerful industrial combinations during the last third of the nineteenth century. Then, the power of the railroads enabled them to bring substantial benefits to thousands of communities; but this power also enabled the railroads to ruin those who opposed their will. Industrial corporations followed suit, especially in steel, iron, oil, and electricity, providing millions with new and improved products at lower prices. But the industrial behemoths also controlled political processes and often subjected workers to unsafe and exploitative conditions. Reformers and labor leaders denounced this concentration of wealth and power. Some advocated regulation; others called for revolution. Then as now, defenders of big business pointed out its benefits: new technology, better products, lower prices.
The question remains: Does the efficiency generated by economic concentration justify its threat to smaller businesses and communities—and to democratic institutions? ¦
The daily passenger train of the Union Pacific on its transcontinental line, crosses the Rocky Mountains. In 1869, just after the transcontinental line was completed, travel from New York City to San Francisco took nearly a week. First-class passengers, who rode in special cars such as those pictured, paid a fare of $150. Second-class passengers paid less than half as much, but they were crowded into cars that were attached to freight trains.
World History
