So Wal-Mart refuses to sign on to reforms for Bangladesh factories drawn up by labor groups and NGO's:
Wal-Mart will not sign Bangladesh accord
Color me un-surprised. Of course the uber-greedy Walton family's PR reps have put a happy sheen on this barbaric screwing-over of workers after the horror of the recent factory collapse, claiming that they think they'll meet safety targets faster using Wal-Mart's own internal reform plans. (Translation: No safety improvements at all, other than upgraded Mercedes for Wal-Mart's corrupt execs.)
This is the inherent problem with uncontrolled capitalism, or any form of capitalism where the robber barons start to gather political power. Over the short term, crooked firms like Wal-Mart can actually gain a market pricing advantage by brutally mistreating their workers and exposing them to lethal dangers, whatever the long-term consequences and real costs fobbed off on society as an externality. In fact, corporations (as Wal-Mart has) even use this as an excuse to lay off workers and drive down wages in a bid to get as close to slavery as possible.
Unless, that is, we can react skillfully to such atrocities, with appropriate boycotts, sanctions and other political pressure. The Waltons' greed is shameful, far out of line with their father's ideals. And despite all the bloviating by Ayn Rand idiots about "pulling themselves up by their bootstraps", it's remarkable how most of these conservative billionaire blowhards- the Waltons, Kochs, Richard Mellon Scaife- did practically nothing to "earn" their wealth other than choosing the household of a rich pair of parents to grow up in.