Say what you want about Walmart, I doubt if any of your or my naysaying will have much effect on them. We really haven’t slowed them down much, nor have they changed even one policy. I have a continuing nightmare that a Republican will be elected and the economy will finally crash beyond repair.

The only place left to work will be Walmart or Monsanto and my choice is to ignore any conscience I have and take a job with one of them. So 50 years on, what do you know about Walmart?

1) Many municipalities look to Walmart coming in to create jobs. What is the effect of a Walmart on the job market in the US?
a) For every job lost, 2 are gained
b) for every 2 jobs gained, 2.8 are lost
c) In toto, Walmart has no effect on total jobs
d) For every job gained 3 are lost.

2) Sam Walton opened his first discount store in what city?
a) Bentonville, Arkansas
b) Rogers, Arkansas
c) Harrison, Arkansas
d) Springfield, Missouri

3) Women account for 67% of Walmart hourly employees. What percent of Walmart management are women?
a) 50%
b) 67%
c) 15%
d) 5%

4) As an individual employer, Walmart is third in the world behind what two other entities?
a) The US Defense Department and the Chinese Army.
b) Exxon-Mobil and the US Defense Department
c) The US Department od Health and Human Services and the Russian Army
d) The Us Post Office and The US Department of Defense

5) The six Walton heirs have more net worth than what percent of the bottom of the Americans?
a) 10%
b) 20%
C) 30%
D) 40%

6) Due to low wages and benefits, Walmart employees cost US taxpayers how much per year? (eg for health care, food stamps)
a) $10 billion
b) $7.5 billion
c) $3 billion
d) $1.5 billion

7) Which former presidential candidate was once on Walmart’s board of directors?
a) Newt Gingrich
b) Hillary Clinton
c) Mike Huckabee
d) Rick Perry

8) Walmart is virulently anti-union. One store in Canada was unionized. What was the result of this unionization?
a) the store was closed a couple months later
b) Walmart sued and the union was thrown out by the Canadian Supreme Court
c) the store remains the only unionized store in the chain
d) the union eventually dissolved and the store remains open and non-union.

9) Germany is a major union country. What is Walmart’s status currently in Germany?
a) Walmart must pay a stipend to operate in Germany
b) Walmart is unionized in Germany
c) Walmart operates both unionized and non-unionized stores in Germany
d) Walmart left Germany many years ago over union issues among others.

10) Approximately what is the annual sales for Walmart?
a) $100 billion
b) $450 billion
c) $750 billion
d) $1 trillion

Makes me think of that old joke from Cedar Rapids. When a group of citizens went to the mayor to complain about the smell, he opened the window,

sniffed and said, “It smells like money to me, boys.” We learn toaccept certain things if the price is right.
Here come the answers – today’s price $4.98!

1) b) for every 2 Walmart jobs, the US loses 2.8 jobs.

2) b) Rogers, Arkansas

3) c) 15% – and they on average earn less than their counterparts

4) a) the US DoD (3.2 million) and the Chinese Army (2.3 million) Walmart (2.2 million)

5) c) 30% (closing in on 100,000,000 people)

6) d) $1.5 billion

7) b) Hillary Clinton

8) a) the store was closed – what did you expect? The Canadian Supreme Court eventually upheld Walmart’s right to close their store, even for reasons of unionizing

9) d) Walmart left Germany many years ago. Again, what did you expect.

10) b) $444 billion was the latest figure I could find.

Much of this information was found either on wikipedia.org or http://sumofus.org/post/walmart-at-50/?akid=615.48602.iGuzPu&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1