Originally Posted by
deburn
Yes low prices are small consolation to those that lose their jobs because of outsourcing, but it is incorrect and unfair to blame Walmart solely or largely for this. We have been outsourcing for much longer than Walmart has been in existence. And manufacturing has been in a steady decline for a very long time as well, again much before Walmart came into the picture. In the past you could earn a very comfortable living with little education or skills - that's quickly disappearing and again that's across the board, not just at Walmart and it's certainly not a new or recent phenomenon
Walmart has certainly accelerated offshoring though. Having Walmart sell your goods is a trap. It's the best thing that could happen to you - you'll grow like crazy. Then, every year, they're going to demand that you lower the price. And you will have to, because you can't afford to lose their business. Eventually you'll have cut all the fat you can from your domestic operations, and they'll still come back and demand more. At that point, you'll be firing your domestic employees no matter what you do; tell the "no" and lose so much business that you have to close down or drastically downsize, or move offshore.
It's happened to many manufacturers.
Walmart makes a good show of being US friendly, but like most companies, they're pretty ruthlessly just going for the bottom line, even if it means moving jobs to asian slave-labor camps. They don't do it directly of course, but they force others to do it.