Wal-Mart. The names strikes fear into any business owner, no matter what the size. But why do they fear them, and why should we as students at CSUMB fear Wal-Mart coming into Marina? The principles of our institution here at CSUMB are to cater to the historically undereducated and the working class. Being that Wal-Mart exploits these very groups, what obligation do we as CSUMB students bare? Whether you like it or not, one thing is certain; Wal-Mart is a force that will lower the standard of life here at CSUMB.

Often times people site that Wal-Mart creates jobs, brings in tax revenue for the community, and provides inexpensive goods. This is all true, but it is only half of the truth, and a half-truth is worse than a lie.

Half Truth #1: Wal-Mart creates jobs.

So what? What kind of jobs are they creating? Jobs at Wal-Mart are notoriously low paying with poor benefits that you don’t even qualify for until after 2 years. The nature of the job is such that anyone can do it with little training which means that individual workers are easily replaced if they begin to question the above mentioned inequalities. Historically, low skilled jobs have been made livable by the introduction of unions to protect the rights of workers, but because of Wal-Mart’s adamantly anti-union stance, this potentially leveling force has been rendered an impossibility. Furthermore, Wal-Mart usually ends up hiring recently laid off workers from its better paying competitors who have been forced to downsize or close as a result of the introduction of a Wal-Mart. And if nothing else, Wal-Mart has numerous cases of discriminatory hiring, firing, and promotion practices, that means you, ladies.

Half Truth #2: Wal-Mart contributes to the tax base.

So Wal-Mart pays what its supposed to pay to local governments, great, that’s the half of it. Now that we have done some basic addition, its time to really pull down our thinking caps and do some basic subtraction. Wal-Mart costs city governments in infrastructure development. Cities are often saddled with the costs of new water mains, power lines, and sewage necessary to support their giant ugly box. Things like stoplights, and turn lanes for increased traffic may be necessary. Not to mention, Wal-Mart has a deplorable environmental record leaving toxic mess all across the country for municipal governments to clean up, (assuming clean up is even possible.) And if that’s not enough, in many communities that have been invaded by Wal-Mart, the loss of tax revenue from the closing of existing businesses alone is enough to negate the positive taxes Wal-Mart brings in. Ooh, that stings doesn’t it, Councilman?

Half Truth #3: Wal-Mart provides inexpensive goods.

Right, mostly inexpensive for them. These goods are almost without exception produced in cheap labor markets over seas, thus undermining American industries. Additionally, the goods are produced under horrendous working conditions bordering on slavery. So on this one, yes its true, some tacky bathroom hanger is cheaper at Wal-Mart. But every dollar you save at Wal-Mart is at the expense and the direct suffering of a worker, usually female, often times under the age of 16, whose only fault in life was lacking the foresight to choose different parents. It is no more your right as a consumer to buy cheap goods from Wal-Mart today, than it was for someone in 1835 to buy cheap cotton from a slave plantation. Your right to cheap dorm room accessories, or even groceries, does not trump the right of a young girl in Honduras, or China to be treated like a human being. CSUMB community must take a stance on issues such as this, or simply cease to matter.

Christopher Huerta