The person who wrote that article needs to watch the documentary called "The High Cost of Low Prices" done by the Public Broadcasting Corporation. The documentary talks about how the company pays its workers so little that many of them are on food samps and other public assistance. When Walmart opens in a small town the local business owners go out of business because they cannot compete.

In it's drive to offer low prices the company forces producers to move all their opeations overseas or else Walmart will not sell their stuff. One has to look at what happened to the U.S. company Rubber Maid. Walmart told it to lower its costs or else it would not sell it products. Rubber Maid innovated and streamlined its production so much that it became the "Company of the Year" for a major business magazine. That was not good enough for Walmart and they stopped selling Rubbber Maid products.

Rubber Maid went bankrupt, the Chinese came in and bought all the machinery and patents and shipped it back to China. Now Rubber Maid is being made in China and sold at Walmart once again.

So when Rubber Maid destroys the local economy there is nothing left but to work for them. But in the end those same workers earn even less becasue they have to subsidize Walmart with their taxes. Walmart gets a lot of tax breaks and incentives when they go to a town.

People should also read the boook "Nickel and Dimed" about a woman with a Ph.d who went about the country working at minimum wage jobs. She has a section about Walmart; it's great read.