“You can’t create a team spirit when the situation is so one-sided, when management gets so much and workers get so little of the pie.” — SAM WALTON, Wal-Mart founder, whose vision has since been betrayed
YOU KNOW THAT OUR WORLD has turned totally topsy-turvy when Wal-Mart--the low-price, bare-knuckle retailing behemoth known far and wide as the Bully of Bentonville for its ruthless corporate practices--is suddenly putting on airs and positioning itself as (dare I say it?) metrosexual.
Yes, the world’s largest and meanest merchandiser--stung in the last few years by a grassroots rebellion of employees, small businesses, unions, neighborhood groups, environmentalists, and others that it has been so arrogantly stiffing--is now straining to project a kinder and gentler image: urbane, upscale, green, socially responsible… even sensitive, for goodness sake. The image spiff-up comes as Wal-Mart executives have made a marketing decision to move from their suburban/rural base into cities, reaching out to a clientele that wants finer goods… and a more refined company. [ read more ]
There'll be a crush of cameras at the front door of the White House on January 20 as scores of media outlets scramble to record the moment that the new president walks in. But, wait--who're those people who'll be sliding in quietly behind him? They're the ones who'll spend the next four years whispering in the president's ear, sitting in strategy sessions, running presidential councils, filling agency slots, and pulling the levers of executive power.
