Walmart explained, in one picture:

[riqster]

Nothing else to add. Says it all.

[Octafish]

1. .

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[EEO]

3. That sums it up nicely.

[Auntie Bush]

4. Is that really true or a photo shop?

[maggiesfarmer]

6. it's "true", but maybe not what you excpect

http://www.funism.com/art/I75project.html

BTW Auntie, google image seach now has a function to search for images by image url:
copy the image url (right click on image, "Copy Image URL" or similar text depending on browser)
go to https://images.google.com/
in the search bar, click the small camera icon (search by image)
paste the url -> SEARCH

just learned, very useful

[Auntie Bush]

11. Thanks for the info...I'll have to try that. nt

[tofuandbeer]

19. Great tip! I didn't know Google had that. Thanks! I'll be using that A LOT!

[riqster]

24. Very cool tip!

[PeaceNikki]

25. The other photos from that collection are great, too

A few..

[MADem]

26. The guy who creates those things and other stuff as well is somewhat of a socially aware artist.

The I-75 Project
by Norm Magnusson.

For the past few years, I've been creating what I call "art of social conscience:" tv spots, viral emails, paintings and posters, but none of it has engaged viewers as much as this series of "historical" markers, each one a small story containing a discrete point of view.

The types of people who stop to read them are collectively defined more by their curiosity about the world around them than they are by any shared ideological leanings, which makes them a perfect audience for a carefully crafted message. And unlike most artworks on social or political themes, these markers don’t merely speak to the small group of viewers that seek out such work in galleries and museums; instead, they gently insert themselves into the public realm.

"Are they real?" is a question viewers frequently ask, meaning "are they state-sponsored?" I love this confusion and hope to slip a message in while people are mulling it over.

These markers are just the kind of public art I really enjoy: gently assertive and non-confrontational, firmly thought-provoking and pretty to look at and just a little bit subversive. ....

http://www.funism.com/art/I75project.html

Credit where credit is due, certainly! Very creative guy...

[whatchamacallit]

5. Can't believe I'm RECing one of your threads!

[Cirque du So-What]

7. In this case

you're 'RIQ'ing the thread.

[whatchamacallit]

10. Ha!

[riqster]

16. DUzy!

Bonus for realizing it's not a "g".

[riqster]

15. The planets have aligned.?

[benfranklin1776]

8. Awesome! Says it all perfectly.

Always low wages, lowered standards of living and lower quality of community life, always.

[A Simple Game]

12. Really, is that all you have to say about Walmart? Good grief.

How could you forget lower quality of products?

[riqster]

23. And not just at Walmart.

Their impact on quality is felt almost everywhere: http://grist.org/business-technology/2011-11-11-is-your-stuff-falling-apart-thank-walmart/

A good read. Heart patients, have your nitro handy.

[calimary]

13. GOOD one, benfranklin1776!

"Always low wages, lowered standards of living and lower quality of community life, always."

And it can indeed be enlarged just a tad, adding what A Simple Game just suggested -

"Always low wages, lowered standards of living and lower quality of community life, lower quality of products, always."

[elzenmahn]

9. Says it all...

...and both sides of the political aisle have been so taken by the Friedmanist "global free market" bullshit that permeates the Corporate "conventional wisdom".

[grilled onions]

14. Perhaps A Footnote

On this sign would list a few victims....Georges General Store,Downtown Pharmacy,Sal's Cafe,The Sweet Shoppe, plus all those earning sad wages at said culprit on main sign,allowing others to get away with less than decent,living wages,lack of benefits and total lack of respect for workers and not much respect for shoppers either.

[riqster]

17. To list all the people Walmart has harmed in a single city block...

It'd take a couple billboards, at least.

[valerief]

18. Except for one thing: I don't shop there. nt

[riqster]

20. Nor I.

Shitloads of people do, though.

[lpbk2713]

21. Apparently Wally World hasn't made signs like this illegal yet in this community.

... or the pic was taken just moments after it was erected.

[riqster]

22. Hey man, give 'em time, ALEC can only do so much.

[merrily]

27. Especially while focused on TPP.

Once ALEC can overrule state governments, that should free up more time and energy for picking us and the planet clean. They already have most of the money, and have polluted a lot of the air, but food and water are getting scarce.

[bvar22]

28. There was a time, not too long ago, when Big Boxes,

especially Out-of-State Big Boxes, were prevented from moving into an area and destroying locally owned businesses by undercutting them.

That was back when the Republican and the Democratic Party cared MORE about The People than they did about $BIG MONEY$.
Sadly, this is no longer true.

[Smarmie Doofus]

29. There's an "Education Department" that Walmart hasn't bought yet?

Where, where, where!?!?!?

[laundry_queen]

30. K&R nt

[Curmudgeoness]

31. I cannot imagine how many of these signs are needed

all across the country. But they should be mass produced and used.

[Flora]

32. It is such a shame..

But in some way, we are all to blame. I am trying to figure out what happened to the demise of mom and pop stores that made our country great and the only answer I can come up with is "convenience". We all work, try to stretch our hours and dollars, and therefore shop at the big boxes. I know here, in what was once a small town but became a "bedroom community" to New Orleans, we all long for the days when we could shop "downtown" and get everything we needed from standard groceries to an evening gown, but those days are gone. What the hell happened? "Downtown" is now antique stores and restaurants for those in the Big City to come visit. How do we get it back...

[riqster]

34. I hear ya. I try to shop at chains as little as possible.

Same with other business transactions. The more mom-and-pop shops we support, the more they can survive.

[malthaussen]

35. I don't think convenience is the answer, though.

Certainly not in urban communities and small towns, where there were delis and groceries on every corner. And they were often owned by hard-working immigrant families who used unpaid labor (their children) and stayed open from dawn to dusk.

Standardization, marketing, and low prices due to economies of scale are part of the cause, I think, and I wonder if raising rents on commercial properties also didn't play a role. Then a lot of those hard-working immigrants sent their children to college, and the family business went away when Mom and Pop retired.

But I think real estate may be a bigger part of the reason than we appreciate. Lots of people made money buying up property, racking the rents to force out the small proprietors, then bulldozed it and built another mall. And in the suburbs, it was even easier: buy a couple hundred acres of cabbage farm and pave it over and build a mall. Or a condo community. And since it's your mall, you can only rent to the "known" brands, thus providing no venue for an independent operation.

About the only Mom and Pop operations that haven't totally succumbed to the Franchisization of America are pizza joints, at least in areas with a heavy Italian population. Not sure why that is, but I wish it were true of other kinds of businesses as well.

-- Mal

[Wolf Frankula]

33. Cheap Junk From China

Chinese Junk used to be a ship, now it's what Walmart, (I call it Swillmart) sells.

Wolf