Debating Walmart: Always Low Prices, Always a Controversy

At a debate last night over the policies and practices of the world's largest company, Wal-mart, panelists traded statistics and retorts on issues ranging from vacant lots to the very nature of capitalism

"Who will lose if the critics of Wal-mart succeed in harming it?" asked panelist Luke Boggs, executive director of the advocacy group Americans for Wal-mart. "If Wal-mart is beaten down, the poor would be the hardest hit," argued Boggs. "But they will not be alone."

Boggs flew from his home in Georgia to join Jennifer Sung, associate council at New York University's Brennan Center, and Ryan Sager, a columnist at the New York Post, in discussing the pros and cons of the big box retailer.

The conversation, hosted by the Columbia Political Union in the Satow Room of Lerner Hall, centered on the controversial practices of low wages and strong bargaining that the retailer uses to keep its prices low. Proponents say that those practices save the average U.S. household an estimated $2,300 per year, while critics counter that it is forcing down the average wages and health care benefits of workers as other companies try to compete, driving thousands of working poor to Welfare and Medicaid and costing taxpayers millions.

"As the largest retailer, it does set the standard," said Sung, who works as an advocate for low-income workers through the Brennan Center. "It certainly has made hay of its bargaining power," she said, arguing that the company dictates the terms of employment for its 1.3 million employees in the U.S. as well as the industry as a whole.

"In a market system, the value of your labor is what someone is willing to pay you," countered Sager, who added that much of the current opposition to Wal-mart's move into urban areas has come from the United Food and Commercial Union, the nation's largest union of grocery workers.

"There is no overwhelming monopoly in the retail sector," said Boggs, who also took issue with the idea of a living wage. "What is a living wage?" he asked. "Who decides what a living wage is, just some people sitting around in a conference room? I think that's pretty arbitrary."

The night ended with many strong opinions and little middle ground between the panelists.

"We would all like to see everyone making six figures and paying lower prices," Sager said, cracking a smile. "But that's just not going to happen."