Wal-Mart, America’s largest retailer, where 140 million people shop each week, is not seeing much of a recovery for the U.S. economy. The low-price behemoth has now seen seven straight quarterly declines in sales figures. According to the company’s CEO, it’s because their customers—who let’s face it ARE America—are simply too damned broke to buy much anymore. From CNN/Money:

Wal-Mart’s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

“We’re seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure,” Duke said at an event in New York. “There’s no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact.”

Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.

Lately, they’re “running out of money” at a faster clip, he said.

“Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year,” Duke said. “This end-of-month [purchases] cycle is growing to be a concern.

I must say that I’m far more inclined to trust Wal-Mart’s sales figures as a barometer of the economy’s health than the suspect reports put out by the government. They’re a public company, they can’t get away with lying with impunity the same way Uncle Sam can…

Doesn’t this make you wonder: How much more do the working class and the poor still have left to lose before things start to get really, really hot for Republican politicians? Imagine that you are the parent of a handicapped child, you can’t find work, you have no health insurance, first fuel and now FOOD is out of your reach? The people who are making decisions to reward billionaire racists like Donald Trump with tax cuts while your family suffers, well, they do have street addresses...

Normally, I am not one for violence, but this position is—how shall I put it—evolving. As the Republican pols around the country continue to cut the social safety nets that allow our society to rise above the barbaric, I sure hope to see the sight of hungry, angry mobs showing up with pitchforks and torches at their homes for a lil’ chat.

What do they expect them to do, just roll over and die?

Previously on Dangerous Minds
Mad Max in American: Our Republican Future?

I wish I could believe the masses would blame the Republicans. They won’t. They’ll blame Obama.

Sadly (or cravenly), I think what the CEO meant to say was that it was welfare checks, not paychecks, arriving at the first of the month. Most people are paid weekly, biweekly, or twice monthly, not on the first of the month.

Wal-Mart does a great job of making you feel poor the minute you walk in, too. They could at least be honest about why people have to shop there; many literally can’t afford to shop anywhere else.

I’m interested to know just how far a WalMart paycheck will go at Walmart.

Funny when you think about it: Cheap Chinese labor in effect underwrote a sustained US standard of living by making cheaper and cheaper goods as real wages dropped.

It’s a downward death spiral. Soon, China will outsource WalMart manufacturing back to the US.

@Em

My mother works at a Wal-Mart in North Carolina and I can tell you, her paycheck doesn’t go very far at all where she works, even with her discount, and she’s worked for the company for 8 years (so that’s after 8 years worth of, um… “raises”).  Every two weeks she buys just enough to keep her fridge stocked for a week and a half.  Anything more than that and she won’t be able to pay her bills.

They won’t blame the Republicans because they label themselves as conservatives. And conservatives are Republicans. Just like all liberals are Democrats. We long ago became a polarized society that is more concerned with stubborn adherence to however we label ourselves than whether we are crushed under the boot heel of the leaders that we so vehemently defend.

I think we are quickly approaching a tipping point at which a slight nudge or some unforeseen single event will move multiple American cities into rioting.

It’s in the air.  But people are too focused on their smart phones to notice.

Maybe people are burned out on buying cheap junk that breaks the first time they use it.

@Alessandro Cima

Just wait until they can’t pay for those, either!

Unfortunately, in this economy (Which I agree, Walmart is an excellent indicator) Obama is as much to blame as the Republicans, I am a democrat (not a liberal) and I don’t adhere to any label. What we need is another FDR, and Truman to straighten this mess out like the last time, which incidentally was “The Great Depression” created by THREE Republican presidents in a row! Iacocca for president !! Lol

Let them eat cake.

Reap what you sow, Walmart. If there was any company more responsible for the loss of American jobs, I’ve yet to hear of it. Walmart not only drives local shops out of business (no more money from those folks) but also drives large corporations like Rubbermaid out of business. Walmart refused to buy Rubbermaid products after RM raised prices. Instead, Walmart began buying cheaper products from China. Since WM has a monopoly, this resulted in Rubbermaid going out of business and the hundreds of American employees that worked there are also out of money.

If Walmart keeps sucking up all the money in the nation and refuses to even insure their own employees (WM recommends welfare to these people—really!)what would they expect to happen? The 5 owners of Walmart are worth more than most countries and they got this by screwing the economy. How rich are they? These evil, evil people account for 4 of the 10 richest people in America. The “poorest” is worth 20 billion. I tried to spend 20 billion in my imagination by buying the 5 most expensive homes, jets, artworks, etc….you can do this and come NOWHERE NEAR spending all that money. Any American who shops at Walmart is helping to destroy their own lives.

OK Mrclam, point well taken, so where do you suggest someone on unemployment, or a minimum wage job shop? That is something many many people would like to hear an answer to.

I have to agree with Paul, and add that Social Security and disability checks also are issued at the beginning of the month.

Walmart hasn’t Helped our country in any shape or form.. I have watched many mom and pop shops , all the locally owned hardware stores….you name it its gone because of walmart…And the hardware stores that did survive walmart got eaten by home depot…. no one cares…..Don’t ya just love politicians…...I know I do ...democrat and republican

Oh yeah ...walmart!?!! BIG F*%ING WAH !!!!

@Keith.  In my town, I buy clothes at Goodwill, food direct from farmers at markets, etc.  I barter and trade.  I don’t have cable or a TV dish.  I read books and borrow movies from the library.  Old PCs work just fine.  Ride my bike or take the bus instead of driving a car.

In fact, I can’t think if ways *not* to never need Walmart, etc.

I save money by keeping my money local instead of continuing to feed the Big Box Stores that serve merely as a conduit sending American wealth to China.

I can’t speak for your town.  But it’s pretty easy.

Keith:
I live on an income that barely affords me more than a roof over head, food in belly and basic utilities. That being said, I do my shopping at grocery stores, such as Frys and Albertsons in my area, and do MUCH better than at WM. the only thing I buy at WM pretty much is diapers for my kid. One can find a store that offers double coupons, 2 for 1 deals, and dollar mania sales and do MUCH better budget wise than at WM.

We better enact another tax cut for the wealthy pronto, or the economy will <i>really</i> be screwed.

Re: violence, pitchforks, etc. If there are riots, they’ll more than likely happen within the rioters own neighborhoods- as has generally been the case. Just more sad damage inflicted on sad damage- there’s never been a habit of going to the rich kids’ side of the track. Even less likely now, with the high price of gas.  And the poor may not even have cellphones for flash mobs.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but my feeling is that any upcoming disorder will likely impoverish U.S. culture even more. There’s a long way to fall before we hit 3rd-world conditions, there’s no reason we couldn’t hit that bottom, since people tend to act later rather than sooner. Just as importantly, 3rd world cultures seem to do an even better job of segregating and safekeeping the wealthy from the downtrodden. Which is why Naomi Klein’s commentary on the huge rise of corporate mercenary industries in the U.S. is so genuinely disturbing. That coupled with the huge size of the U.S. military- a standing army on U.S. soil is illegal? Not so much that it can’t be done. Citizens exercising their rights to bear arms? Pff. Good luck against those tanks and drones and “non-lethal crowd control”. And on and on.
On the other hand, insurrection might be a good way to burn a few calories. There’s always a bright side!

If the price of gas keeps going up we won’t be able to afford the torches… much less molotov coctails to burn down gated communities with…

We will just render fat for oil.

“I am not one for violence, but ...As the Republican pols around the country continue to cut the social safety nets that allow our society to rise above the barbaric, I sure hope to see the sight of hungry, angry mobs showing up with pitchforks and torches at their homes for a lil’ chat.”

Well why the hell would they bother? They either voted for these guys and would rather blame immigrants or Obama for their pain than one of their own, or else they didn’t bother voting in the first place—-in which case they’ll be hard-pressed to find the motivation to pick up a farm implement.

There should be a rule in newspapers and news shows whereby people quoted about the effects of government policy will also be identified, in addition to their name, as being a voter (or not) in the previous election.

“I must say that I’m far more inclined to trust Wal-Mart’s sales figures as a barometer of the economy’s health than the suspect reports put out by the government.”

Damn straight. Because thats where the buck really stops. You know, before the Fed and Unions get their hands on the pie.

Although your uncontested assumption that our economic woes are all a result of Republican doings is mighty “convenient”.

” I sure hope to see the sight of hungry, angry mobs showing up with pitchforks and torches.. “

Careful sir, your sounding awfully like Mr Beck.

yesterday in germany we had fuel prices around
1.70 euro per liter of unleaded gas (RON 98)
thats around 2.51$ per liter, and i believe you in he US use gallons, so that would be 9.53$ per gallon.
and know what, there are still people shopping in germany

and know what, there are still people shopping in germany

That’s because you still have UNIONS in Germany (26%). Germany and many of the European countries figured out that you can’t have a solid economy if everyone’s making 3rd world wages. You also don’t have to scrounge every extra penny to get Granma that surgery she needs.

“there are still people shopping in germany”
It’s war, boys! The Hun is on the rise!

“You also don’t have to scrounge every extra penny to get Granma that surgery she needs.”
True, the social System in Germany is going down, but its still better than in most places in the world (like in the US).
And that’s surely one of the reasons why we have high taxes in some areas, like fuel.

but i wonder how many people in the US were Ok with paying more for fuel, if their social insurance (if their were one at all ) would profit from it directly.

Here in Canada poverty is our best kept secret. The corporations can only go so far and then the whole economy will go down the shitter.

“but i wonder how many people in the US were Ok with paying more for fuel, if their social insurance (if their were one at all ) would profit from it directly”

Not sure I understand this. If you are asking whether people would be willing to pay more in the US for fuel in exchange for social services, the sad answer is probably no: They probably wouldn’t make the connection between saving money overall vs saving money on fuel.

That said, we have a lot more sensitivity to fuel prices, I think, that in Germany: The US is first of all BIG, and our populations far more scattered than in Germany. Aside from us city dwellers, Americans live in far-flung suburbs and, with little or no public transportation, drive far longer distances to get to work.

Also, we’re probably on average a lot closer to the poverty line, and any increase in fuel prices causes large numbers to no longer be ablee to make ends meet.

Our voting system probably also means that those living beyond their means in suburbs are willing to ‘roll the dice’ and try to not pay for health care, even though on average it would make overall costs on average cheaper for everyone. Those suburban dwellers have disproportionate voting power due to the electoral college system, so they keep the rest of us hostage.