Sally, I appreciate that from the horse's mouth is credible for you and I know it seems difficult to substantiate amorphous claims of "happiness", etc. Contrary to what a couple of others have said, I do not hate WalMart, I don't like their bullying tactics. I mourn the loss of small, local stores. I don't like that our culture has come to the point where people feel, as evidenced in Hubby's posting, that a company need not concern itself with bringing any value to its community; I loathe the misuse of "power over peons," which is exactly the way I view what Walmart has done ala the article for which harpgirl provided a link.

My son worked for a man who owns a LOT of rental properties in a small city, thousands of apts. He has many, many employees, makes an exceptionally decent living for himself AND pays his employees quite well, plus offers benefits, including health insurance. His rentals are clean, swell-serviced and maintained, and much sought after. Because he practises a "pass-it-on" philosophy, a sharing of his wealth, in very positive ways, his wealth continues to grow AND bring value to his community. One of the very positive things he does for his employees, after they'd been with him for over two years, if I remember rightly, is take them all, en masse, on a week's vacation, all expenses paid, every year. He hires a plane, makes all of the reservations, etc. then the whole group goes to such places as Cancun (my son loved that one!), Jamaica and other places.

My point is, he is a canny business man, he makes a good profit, yet he pays excellent wages, spends it and still has money to live very well. I think it has a lot to do with his positive attitude and the way he chooses to use that in running his business. There are other ways to run a business besides the run-over-your-competition and intimidate-your-employees way.

kat