re: Walton Family donating $120 million to U. Arkansas for an "art school"

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One last comment, a decent employee (associate) should be able to work themselves up the ladder some, but if your goal in life is to remain stagnant then don't expect fur coats in your future.

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I agree with that in principle...and I'm certainly not one of those people that think burger flippers ought to make $15/hr. The problem, generally, isn't that they don't get paid enough. That only addresses the symptoms without addressing the cause. The cause is that they do not possess a skill that would warrant higher wages. We'd be far better off focusing on providing vocational/technical skills training than just throwing $ at the problem. WM is a different animal to me because: 1. They employ 1.2M people or 1% of the total American workforce 2. The fact that how they treat their employees is exactly how they treat everyone else with whom they do business (horribly) 3. They have found a very creative way of stealing from the tax payer-paying very low wages and lobbying against fed job training programs and FOR welfare type programs that would prevent their employees from gaining skills that would warrant higher wages, while enabling them to work for WM for pennies, and supplement the rest of what they need out of your pocket and out of mine. So again, f*** WM

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Maybe in Louisiana, but not up here. A Walton could walk in any second and they keep them pretty flawless. Clean, most lanes open at all times, and you can understand the employees. It is beautiful.

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Come on.. the Wal-Mart right across the street from headquarters is complete shite.

The neighborhood markets are nice, and all the self checkout lanes speed things up a ton.

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No doubt. Unless I hike the goat trail on Saturday, I'll be downtown.

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Woot woot!
That's one of the best hiking trails in the continental united states if you ask me.

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extremely low crime

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There is not a place up here, from Fayetteville to Bella vista that I would worry for my wife's safety if she broke down.

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In that trash dump of a stadium in Little Rock that we still play in there was a 'W' logo in the middle of the field, that's not the Walmart logo but rather 'Waste Management'.... which is a fitting logo since there are a large number of High School stadiums that are of better quality.

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It seemed to me like it was a "WM" on the field. Cuz when I saw it my mind immediately jumped to Wal-Mart and I was like "WTF", but then I figured it probably stood for War Memorial.

I think we agree but are failing to communicate. I disagree with the idea that poor people are poor because they are poor money managers. I agree that most of them probably are poor money managers...and as I've said before, throwing $ at the problem is not going to fix anything. You have to address the causes. At the same time, it irks me that WM actively engages in politics in such a way that would continue to guarantee them cheap labor, and subsidize what they lack with tax payer $'s.

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Certain parts of Springdale are kinda sketchy. But overall, yeah. Not much to worry about in the entire area.

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Eastern Springdale is heavy hispanic and pacific islander. It's poorer, but I don't believe I'd actually fear for my safety in downtown Springdale after dark.

Little ole Fayetteville (proper, not metro) had two of the top 100 fastest-growing private companies last year, and a total of five in the top 5,000 list according to Inc magazine. The Northwest Arkansas metro had a total of 8 on the list:

LINK /

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Maybe Target survives, but it's doubtful as they don't have anywhere near the supply chain and distribution advantages of Walmart.

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This here is exactly why companies like Wal-Mart and JB Hunt have been so successful. Distribution advantages. Northwest Arkansas is somewhat centrally located in the continental US. The trucking industry alone is ridiculously successful here. And as far as the rest of the local economy goes, I am of the firm belief that nearly anyone could come to Fayetteville and operate a successful service-based company. If you have any sort of business savvy and a good work ethic, you can be self employed here and do quite well for yourself.

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Eastern Springdale is heavy hispanic and pacific islander. It's poorer, but I don't believe I'd actually fear for my safety in downtown Springdale after dark.

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I live in eastern Springdale, closer to Sanora, you get closer to the river the schools and neighborhoods get better. But there is a lot of Marshallese and Hispanics in the area.

The city, and Tyson, are sinking a buttload of money into downtown right now.

The only sketchy place is over by the airport. My biggest complaint with the town is they pussed out in their fight with sams club, and pulled out of negotiations with Costco and let sams back in.