Thread: Wal-Mart Accuses Film of Being Propaganda!

This can be found on Lou Dobbs' transcripts at www.cnn.com

DR. JOHN BRUENING, WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES: To even use American with Wal-Mart in the same sentence just-- I don't agree with at all. It's like a Chinese company to me only with American board members.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOBBS: Wal-Mart calls this film propaganda.

I'm now joined by Robert Greenwald, who is the producer and the director of the film.

Thanks for being here Robert.

ROBERT GREENWALD, WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE: My pleasure.

DOBBS: The motivation for this film, you ran into somebody and what happened?

GREENWALD: It was a neighbor of mine who had just been hired. He got a job at Wal-Mart, and I congratulated him saying that's great, you'll be able to get health care benefits.

And he said well, no. And he explained. And I don't remember the precise words, but he basically said, it's too expensive and it's too difficult.

But, then he said to me, totally sweetly, but those nice managers are helping me fill out forms, so I can get state aid. And I said wait a minute, the state of California, is going to pay for your health care, and you're working at Wal-Mart, a corporation that made $10 billion in profit?

DOBBS: How prevalent is that?

GREENWALD: Very, very prevalent. We have managers in the movie between employees working six years at Wal-Mart. They tell story after story of doing it.

This is systemic. This is not the rotten apple theory that Wal- Mart would try to convince us.

DOBBS: Let me read to you the Wal-Mart statement. We asked them for a statement in celebration of your appearance here this evening.

They said, "Mr. Greenwald's video is a one-sided, propaganda piece designed to advance a narrow special interest agenda. It already has been discredited. In the trailer alone, Mr. Greenwald makes three major errors in only three minutes."

"The fact is Wal-Mart saves working families hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year. We believe the positive experiences of the 100 million Americans who shop our stores every week speak volumes more than this video."

How do you react?

GREENWALD: Well, it's pretty great that they can call a film that they haven't seen propaganda.

Number one, they've not seen it.

Number two, I asked Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart to be in the film. I asked him twice. He refused twice. Then I said I would publish all of his...

DOBBS: You and I are in good company.

We have asked Lee Scott to join us on this broadcast. I have had, as a matter of fact, I've had dinner with the man. But, he has never agreed to be on this broadcast.

GREENWALD: Well, maybe he'll have dinner with me if he won't be in the movie.

DOBBS: I much prefer candidly that he be on the broadcast.

GREENWALD: But what we did, after he refused to be on the film, and he doesn't know this yet, and maybe tonight will be the time he'll find out. We used clips of Lee Scott, so he's become our narrator for the movie.

DOBBS: Well, as you look at this, I mean, what is your reaction to Wal-Mart? Because Wal-Mart, of course, talks about the fact that they have the lowest prices, they are baffo (ph). How do you respond to that?

GREENWALD: I spent a year, sevens day a week, literally, working on this film. And the stories I've heard, the personal stories, are really quite devastating it.

It goes against everything that I believe, and I believe most Americans believe and care about. They're destroying families. They're destroying communities. They're destroying jobs.

They have a very serious problem because they have two huge groups that they're alienating. Workers and then families all around the country.

DOBBS: Now, the alienation, what bothers me, in point of fact here, is that Wal-Mart will not come on this broadcast and discuss these issues that we raise, which our particular focus and point of fact is on the well-being of the community, the well-being of the middle class of this country.

And there are serious issues in terms of the Chinese products that they--they're the third largest export market for China. What is the cultural -- what makes this culturally possible for Wal-Mart to succeed with the strategy that it employs?

GREENWALD: Well, I think it's a culture that's based-- I mean, there's two issues.

One is they do have a very good and efficient distribution system, but there's a culture sadly that says it's okay to get every nickel out of everybody. And at a certain point when you care about your country, you ask a question, when is it greed?

DOBBS: That's a question we're asking too.

GREENWALD: $100 billion the family has, the Walton family. $100 billion.

DOBBS: When is it greed is the question that is being asked all too often in this country daily.

Robert Greenwald, thank you very much for being here. We look forward to the film.

GREENWALD: Thank you.

DOBBS: Thanks.

Congress should have been all over this as soon as employees had to apply for state aid just for them to get health care benefits. The state shouldn't be dishing out any aid..this would force Wallymart to up its wages that they pay. Who ever is running that state should have their head handed to them. Walmart is a disease. The Waltons should be stoned in public.

I've heard recently what percentage of Wal-Mart employee's children were getting Medicaid and it was STAGGERING. I want to say it was close to 50 % of them. THat is shameful.