Toggle Menu

Walmart Paved the Way for Poverty Wages

Walmart's bottom-line business model has made the Walton family billions, while pushing employees onto public assistance.

Melissa Harris-Perry

November 26, 2012

On Black Friday, hundreds of Walmart workers protested the superstore’s unfair labor practices and “Always Low Wages” policy. While Walmart’s bottom-line business model has made the Walton family billions, their employees in California were 40 percent more likely to need public assistance. Walmart is not only slashing prices on flat-screen TVs—they’re suppressing wages and costing tax payers millions of dollars. Nation columnist Melissa Harris-Perry checks the numbers to see why the Walton’s “Live Better” math—which claims their low-price model benefits all families—doesn’t quite add up.

—Christie Thompson

For more on the fight against corporate greed, check out Allison Kilkenny’s coverage of “Occupy Walmart.”

Melissa Harris-PerryTwitterMelissa Harris-Perry is the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair and Professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs and the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wake Forest University. She is also the co-host of The Nation’s System Check podcast.


Latest from the nation