An independent academic conference, sponsored by Wal-Mart, will feature both the pros and cons of the retailer's impact on the U.S.
"As part of an increasingly aggressive campaign to burnish its image, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. decided in August to sponsor an academic conference to explore the retailer's effects on the U.S. economy and local communities.
...Some of their findings, which a few of the researchers released before the conference, tend to confirm what Wal-Mart critics have been saying for years.
At least two concluded that Wal-Mart stores' pay practices depressed wages beyond the retail sector... One study concluded that Wal-Mart's giant grocery and general merchandise Supercenters brought little net gain for local communities in property taxes, sales taxes and employment; instead, the stores merely siphoned sales from existing businesses in the area."
FULL STORY: Wal-Mart Seeks Unbiased Research -- and Gets It
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