Muscatine

This is something I've taken the time to do a little research on. In fact it was Sam walton who started the china trade for Wal-Mart. In his time with the company he had to compete with K-Mart which was at the time the biggest retailer trading with china.

Sam walton's motto was to bring it home to America. (AKA buy American) However the market didn't allow that possibility.

To claim there is no made in America merchendise at Wal-Mart is misleading at best. A Stanley screw driver at wal-mart is the same Stanley screw driver as at farm & fleet.

I have to agree with the last two posters.  Sam WOULD be rolling over in his grave, if he saw the way things are today, but, I gotta admit, we Americans don't seem able to compete in todays world economy.  Not to change the subject, but, I just got back from taking one of the grand daughters back home to Washington, Iowa.  I stopped at the Fruitland Shell station to put some E-85 in the tank.  $3.82? a gallon?  In Washington, Ethanol is $3.86, what's up with that?  The last time I put E-85 in my tank, it was over 80 cents a gallon cheaper?  So much for that, when I lose between 5 & 10 miles per gallon on E-85.  Maybe this is more of what I just said about competing.  Tom.

I've done a little research on this matter over the years as well.  One of the more lucid articles I've run across was written by Don Stott.  Mr. Stott is an economist of some note who, early in the article states, "Since Wal-marts are the largest importer of Chinese goods, and are directly responsible for perhaps 3 million American jobless, thousands of American factory closings, and decapitation of the American economy,......" and so on. You get the idea.

He further describes Waltons ambition to buy American first, but notes "I can find virtually no American made merchandise in Wal-Marts.  Sam's wonderful philosophy seems to have vanished."

To claim that it's all "okay" because Sam Walton had a higher vision, and to ignore the reality of the present day running of the corporation is just more gobbledeegood being thrown around by company folks.  All fine and dandy, but I'll keep going elsewhere.

**Frontline**

One of Sam Walton's earliest imports from Asia was team spirit. Enthused by a factory cheer he witnessed in 1975 at a Korean tennis ball plant, Walton instituted his own "Wal-Mart Cheer," still a staple of the company's corporate culture. He liked the dramatic device for its "whistle while you work philosophy."

Early in his company's spectacular expansion, "Mr. Sam," as everyone called him, decided to reach across the Pacific and make imports a pillar of Wal-Mart's business model. Forcing his American suppliers to cut costs, stressing sales volume over high margins, and wowing customers by showcasing one super low-priced item in each category -- all hinged on importing to find the cheapest prices.

"Sam was an advocate of importing. It was his vision," said a retired senior executive, who was a buyer in Wal-Mart's Hong Kong office in the 1980s, and who asked to keep his identity private. "Our first office was in Hong Kong, then Taiwan. Korea soon after. We'd visit factories, see how they store goods. You would look at every step of the process very carefully."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/wmchina.html