Reviewed in thegoodhuman.com

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell

David Duprey, Associated Press

If you have been looking for an uplifting, positive good news summer read, look no further! Sorry, couldn’t resist…this book, “Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses” by Stacy Mitchell is not exactly an easy summer read but rather an infuriating look at how big box stores are destroying independent businesses.

“Some chains have responded to criticism by establishing “codes of conduct” for suppliers and regularly inspecting their factories….Li Qiang, who used to work at a toy factory in China, now heads China Labor Watch and says that Wal-Mart gave his factory days of advance warning before an inspection so that the owners could clean up, coach employees on what to say, and create fake time cards to hide brutally long hours and wages below the legal minimum….On the day of the inspection, the workforce in the factory was reduced from 500 to 100 and those that gave correct answers to the inspectors were rewarded with a bonus equal to thirty-six hours’ wages.”

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Related:

Excerpt: Big Box Swindle: The Fight to Reclaim America from Retail Giants, AlterNet.org

Low prices, but at what cost?, Stacy Mitchell, StarTribune/MN

America's Middle Class Can't Take Much More Punishment, Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
Whether we like it or not, America is in the midst of revolutionary economic changes that are crushing the middle class.