Walmart Heirs Worth Comes at Cost of Americans? Valued at $89.5 Billion
The Waltons just aren't what they used to be. The 1971 television series displayed a fictional Walton family going through the Great Depression, but as it turns out the real life Walton family has little to be depressed about.
It may just be a coincidence, but it seems as though Sam Walton picked up a few tips from the fictional Walton television series as he continued to build up his Wal-Mart empire. The TV series covers a time during the Great Depression when families were looking to save money on the essentials, and that is exactly what Sam Walton focused on when he opened his first store originally called Wal-Mart Discount City.
The first opened in 1962, then from 1977-1985 Walton went from owning 190 stores to owning over 800. Although he passed in 1992, Walton left behind him a legacy that would keep his family far from ever resembling the fictional Walton series. In fact, the real Walton family has been all but immune from what economists have described as the Great Depression of our age.
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Valued at $89.5 billion in 2010, the Walton family has the same worth of 41.5 percent of families at the lower end of the income ladder, according to an analysis by Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute. Those figures mean that the Walton family would be capable of buying out over 48 million homes.
It's no surprise of course that the discount store has even banked on a failing economy as people search for better deals to save money.
As net worth fell 38.8 percent in the U.S. between 2007 and 2010 to $77,300, the Waltons' fortune grew an inflation-adjusted $16.2 billion.
What's worse is that Wal-Mart's success often comes at a cost to many who occupy those 48.8 million homes.
"The company has driven down American wages by outsourcing much of its distribution work to warehouses across the country," according to the Huffington Post, who referenced a recent report from the National Employment Law Project.
