Together, Apple and Walmart represent the intense separation of American life into blue and red, rich and poor, overpriced and undersold, hyperconnected and left behind.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Walmart is an amazing story of entrepreneurship and, as one of the world's most powerful brands, touches millions of lives every day.
Despite the obvious damage now visible in the entropic desolation of every American home town, Wal-Mart managed to install itself in the pantheon of American Dream icons, along with apple pie, motherhood, and Coca Cola.
Now I know that Wal-Mart's policies do not reflect the best way of doing business and the values that I think are important in America.
We see great growth in the United States. But also in China, Brazil, the U.K., and other markets around the world. So ecommerce is going to continue to be a great story for Walmart.
More people work at Walmart than anywhere else in the United States, but you wouldn't know that from our literature. I'm trying to get at the reality of this country by portraying the lives of many of my friends who I left behind in Pittsburgh.
A sane person would think that Wal-Mart would never carry 'Capitalism: A Love Story' because it's simply not in their best interests to inform their customers of their shady past.
Walmart's period of explosive growth coincided with decades of wage stagnation and deindustrialization. By applying relentless downward pressure on prices and wages, the company came to dominate both consumer spending and employment in small towns and rural areas across the middle of the country.
But they are also better, our competitors are better because Wal-Mart exists.
Wal-Mart uses technology to increase sales volume, but the more it does so, the more it drives down profit margins - its own and everybody else's. The same logic does not appear to hold for Goldman Sachs.
When the economy is difficult, people care a great deal about the things they spend their money on. Customers have come to understand that Apple's products aren't priced high - they're priced on the value of what we build into them.