The corporation and the food industry —consisting of factory farms— are directly responsible for the exploitation of workers and the public health and dietary crisis in America. Jim Hightower and Michael Pollan do an outstanding job exposing the lies behind the industries and revealing the truth to the consumers. The way our food industry has shifted has negatively impacted our society. Big corporations are running thousands of people out of jobs and treating their own employees unfairly and poorly and our society has yet to act on this. However, corporations are not the only thing harming the people, it is also the food industry. The American diet has become a national security, and the way we grow food relates to chronic health diseases including heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. The people must open up their eyes and realize that we are headed downhill with these two nationwide issues. Jim Hightower is the author of the essay, “Wal-Mart” and he informs the people about how Wal-Mart is damaging our society.
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Jim Hightower makes a hyperbolic statement comparing the Walmart Corporation to criminals saying, “Wal-Mart, the recidivist criminal, is back in trouble with the law. Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, and Al Capone had nothing on this notorious violator of our nation’s laws and moral code of behavior” (Hightower, 2003). He compares Wal-Mart to reoffending criminals because of how the treat employees, customers, and what they have done to they are worse to America than Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, and Al Capone, who are nationally known for being criminals. Wal-Mart robs its workers from a fair wage and treatment. They have run many thousands of local stores out of business, only to take advantage of the millions of employees they have, including those in China. The reason they are able to run so many out of business is because they are able to obtain products for an unbelievably low price. Wal-Mart buys from the Chinese whose average wage is about fifty cents an hour. How can any local farmers market, or store, compete with the wages and prices of Wal-Mart? In a documentary about Walmart, it is said that Wal-Mart makes an unbelievable profit from other countries. “The margins were incredible starting from sixty to seventy to eighty percent, compared to twenty percent. Walmart makes money from products coming from other countries”. Although Wal-Mart makes an unbelievable amount of sales and is one of the biggest corporations in America, it has deprived many of fair wages, fair treatment, and most of all a fair chance for local business. Michael Pollan wrote a letter to the president and he addresses the issues with food in our nation. He has three main ideas that he believes will help reform the food industry. The first idea he mentions is about farming becoming natural again and the use of pesticides must decrease. The second idea is regionalizing the food system through farmers markets. The last idea he mentioned was changing the way America views food, starting at the elementary schools so children grow up with healthier ideas of food. The way we grow food is related to the national health security problem and chronic health diseases including heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The rate of people having these diseases is increasing by the year. It is obvious that the industry is immoral when most people do not know what CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) is. CAFOs refers to a farming system that involves raising numerous animals in a relatively small space. A large number of animals are subjected to limited space. This farming style is said to be more efficient and cheaper for the farm owners. However, it is more harmful and inefficient for the people and the environment. Our food systems have become more dangerous due to the fact that the same few corporations control everything. The Corporations goals are to make the most amount of food in the cheapest way, which has shifted society to a dangerous health crisis. Corporations want companies and local farmers to stay quiet about what really goes on in the industry, "if we put glass walls on the food industry in North America we would have a different system altogether,"(Pollan) but the people must know so that this nationwide
Jim Hightower makes a hyperbolic statement comparing the Walmart Corporation to criminals saying, “Wal-Mart, the recidivist criminal, is back in trouble with the law. Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, and Al Capone had nothing on this notorious violator of our nation’s laws and moral code of behavior” (Hightower, 2003). He compares Wal-Mart to reoffending criminals because of how the treat employees, customers, and what they have done to they are worse to America than Jesse James, Bonnie & Clyde, and Al Capone, who are nationally known for being criminals. Wal-Mart robs its workers from a fair wage and treatment. They have run many thousands of local stores out of business, only to take advantage of the millions of employees they have, including those in China. The reason they are able to run so many out of business is because they are able to obtain products for an unbelievably low price. Wal-Mart buys from the Chinese whose average wage is about fifty cents an hour. How can any local farmers market, or store, compete with the wages and prices of Wal-Mart? In a documentary about Walmart, it is said that Wal-Mart makes an unbelievable profit from other countries. “The margins were incredible starting from sixty to seventy to eighty percent, compared to twenty percent. Walmart makes money from products coming from other countries”. Although Wal-Mart makes an unbelievable amount of sales and is one of the biggest corporations in America, it has deprived many of fair wages, fair treatment, and most of all a fair chance for local business. Michael Pollan wrote a letter to the president and he addresses the issues with food in our nation. He has three main ideas that he believes will help reform the food industry. The first idea he mentions is about farming becoming natural again and the use of pesticides must decrease. The second idea is regionalizing the food system through farmers markets. The last idea he mentioned was changing the way America views food, starting at the elementary schools so children grow up with healthier ideas of food. The way we grow food is related to the national health security problem and chronic health diseases including heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. The rate of people having these diseases is increasing by the year. It is obvious that the industry is immoral when most people do not know what CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) is. CAFOs refers to a farming system that involves raising numerous animals in a relatively small space. A large number of animals are subjected to limited space. This farming style is said to be more efficient and cheaper for the farm owners. However, it is more harmful and inefficient for the people and the environment. Our food systems have become more dangerous due to the fact that the same few corporations control everything. The Corporations goals are to make the most amount of food in the cheapest way, which has shifted society to a dangerous health crisis. Corporations want companies and local farmers to stay quiet about what really goes on in the industry, "if we put glass walls on the food industry in North America we would have a different system altogether,"(Pollan) but the people must know so that this nationwide