© Lucas Jackson / ReutersWalmart slave handling Christmas decorations
As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart imports a lot of cheap stuff from China because there are a several shoppers out for the best bargain available. In its report titled, "A Conservative Estimate of 'The Wal-Mart Effect,'" the Economic Policy Institute finds that Walmart "accounted for 15.3 percent of the growth of the total US goods trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2013."
In 2013 alone, over $49 billion in Chinese products was sold to Walmart, according to the EPI report. That same year, the trade deficit between the US and China was $324.2 billion. Between 2001 and 2013, that deficit cost the US economy 3.2 million jobs, which either went to China or were phased out entirely. The manufacturing jobs lost at the hands of Walmart-China trade make up about 13 percent of that total impact.
Comment: The reality is that Walmart destroys local businesses, which puts a huge strain on local economies. When behemoth corporations enter smaller cities and towns - which make up a large portion of Walmart's store chain base - then small local businesses in the area suffer immensely and all too often go out of business. When Walmart claims that it brings "new jobs to local communities" what it's saying is that it brings menial unskilled low paying jobs that can obtained by the people who no longer enjoy the benefits of working for small local businesses because those small local businesses were forced to close their doors due to Walmart. In other words, Walmart is simply pointing out the end result of the devastation it causes.
Further, Walmart is notoriously anti-union, anti-living wage, anti-benefits, and essentially amounts to a psychopathic operation run amok - the company operates strictly for the benefit of its shareholders with little if any regard for the workers in the company that make it all possible.