Wal-Mart is planning a statewide takeover of California. As if its regular sized megastores aren’t big enough, Walmart’s newest reign of terror are their twice-as-large Supercenters. The second largest employer in the nation next to the Department of Defense, Wal-Mart has 1494 regular stores in the US alone. In addition to this, 1386 of these Supersized consumption centers exist in 43 states – but none in California. Yet. Walmart headquarters is planning to expand its empire into California this year, choosing 40 locations in their expansion plans.

Not your Neighborhood store...

There is a popular myth that opening new Wal-Mart stores creates hundreds of new jobs in the community, but studies have shown that the megastores wipe out so many small businesses that on average for every two jobs created by Wal-Mart, three jobs are lost. In a 1994 report, the Congressional Research Service warned Congress that communities need to evaluate the significance of any job gains at big-box stores against any loss of jobs due to reduced business at competing retailers. The report also pointed out that these so-called new jobs "provide significantly lower wages then jobs in many industries, and are often only part-time positions, seasonal opportunities, or subject to extensive turnover."

The Real Story is that when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood, it devours local businesses and lowers community living standards. Walmart also contributes to the massive loss of American manufacturing jobs to the global south, where Kathy Lee and her cohorts are permitted to operate slave-like operations in sweatshops free of regulation. Two 1998 studies that examined clothing on Wal-Mart racks showed that more than 80% of the the apparel items were made overseas, often in countries where child labor is prevalent. One difficulty that many Americans see Wal-Mart as friendly folks from Arkansas bringing the community the cheapest prices in town. But don’t be fooled, this Megaconglomerate took in $244 billion in revenue in 2003, and recently surpassed ExxonMobil as the largest and richest corporation in the world with annual profits of a record $8 billion last year. Being America’s second largest employer, you’d think a company with this much surplus could afford to provide its employees with a living wage, health care, and job security, but you’d sure be wrong. Where do the profits go? Into the hands of the Waltons, of course, the ruling family of the Wal-Mart empire.

Of the 10 richest people in the world, five are Waltons. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London’s "Rich List 2001" as the wealthiest human on the planet, having sacked up more than $65 billion (£45.3 billion) in personal wealth and topping Bill Gates as No. 1.

Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton wasn’t born into riches, and hundreds of variations his success story float around the internet about how he turned a million dollars in debt into 8 billion dollars in surplus. But while they tell you how he did it, they never really say how he did it. Walton lived the “Great American Dream�. He pulled himself up by those stubborn bootstraps and started selling. Then he learned if you sell enough you become rich. Destroy your competition and you become super-rich. Keep your employees underpaid, limit their schedules to part-time to avoid paying benefits, get your merchandise made overseas where labor standards are non-existent, and you become the richest man in America.

Walton died in 1992, but his empire has lived on, and grown exponentially.

Other Fun Wal-Mart facts: As America’s biggest retailer, Wal-Mart is also its biggest gun-seller. Campaigners for tighter gun-control laws accuse Wal-Mart of marketing firearms irresponsibly and being too lax in selling weapons to teenagers. When rock star Sheryl Crow alluded to this on a recent record, Wal-Mart banned it from their 2500 stores. Wal-Mart owns 30% of the US Consumer market, including 20% of all music and video sales, 28% of Dial Soap’s sales and 24% of Del Monte Foods’ sales. Wal-Mart sells 15% of all grocery food in America. (that’s $50 billion+ in grocery sales annually!) Wal-Mart employees earn 20% less than those at unionized supermarkets. Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in Canada and Mexico as well as the US. Wal-Mart owns ASDA, the UK’s largest supermarket chain. Wal-Mart has 1,494 stores, 1,386 Supercenters, 532 Sam's Clubs and 56 Neighborhood Markets in the United States. The company has 1.1 million employees in the U.S. and about 300,000 overseas. Wal-Mart's annual sales in 2003 were $244 billion. It's net profit was $8 billion. Wal-Mart's net income grew 20.5% from 2002 to 2003.