Over the past several years, we have all read, heard and most likely had conversations about Walmart and their impact on the American taxpayer. But in conducting research on the subject, there are many things we have not heard unless we specifically take the time to intently study the company. There are issues involving Walmart that I do not believe we as a society, should simply let pass what the typical apathy response, that nothing we can do will make a difference. And this is an issue, that both Democrats and Republicans can collectively address. We will present some of our ideas, but first some facts and statistics that may be a reiteration to some of you and unknown others.
According to Forbes, the Waltons are the richest American family, with a net worth of $144.7 billion. (http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/)Even more significant is that, in 2012 it was estimated that three major family members who receive dividends in the amount of $3.1 billion for the interest in the company. Astonishingly, when you add their entire wealth, the Walton’s earned more money than 42% of all American families. Wealth and UC Berkley stated the following in their article:
Last December I put the wealth held by those on the Forbes 400 list and the subset of Waltons into some perspective (here). In 2007 the total wealth of the Forbes 400 equaled the wealth of the bottom 50% of families in the U.S; wealth held by the Walton-six was equal to that of the bottom 30.5%. In 2010, the cumulative wealth of the Top 400 ($1.35 trillion) and the share held by the Waltons ($89.5 billion) equaled the entire bottom 56% and 41.5% of families, respectively. The ever increasing concentration of wealth at the top continued over this period.