Wal-Mart Is A Problem In Mexico Too

It looks like the United States is not the only country having problems with Wal-Mart. There are 870 different Wal-Mart outlets in Mexico. Just in the last week, Wal-Mart opened four discount stores, a Sam's Club, two resturants and a clothing store.

On Sunday, several activist groups from the United States finished a two-day meeting with ten Mexican labor, community and commercial organizations. They called the meeting the First Binational U.S.-Mexico Meeting Against Wal-Mart.

It is believed that Wal-Mart poses a threat to small Mexican businesses and to the national culture, much as they do here in the United States. For years here in the U.S., we have seen Wal-Mart move into small towns and destroy the small businesses there, leaving only a big-box store paying poverty wages.

Wal-Mart likes to say they bring more jobs to help a community. But the reality is that they destroy as many or more jobs than they bring, and the jobs they bring usually have very low pay and few or no benefits. The same thing is now happening in Mexico.

I wish the Mexican people luck in trying to take on Wal-Mart. But with the conservative business-oriented government they have, it will be a very difficult task. The conservatives in both countries seem to think that whatever is good for giant corporations is also good for everyone else. They are wrong.