Walmart’s Discounted Ethics

Last Monday, Dollar General, the nation’s largest dollar-store chain, posted better-than-expected profit, helping boost the company’s stock, which is up 15% year to date. And earlier this year, the discount retailer announced plans to open its 11,000th store by the end of the 2013 — an impressive figure for a discount retailer. The only other companies to boast store counts that high are fast food chains like McDonald’s and Subway. And Dollar General isn’t the only dollar chain to have had success in recent years.

Last Monday, Dollar General, the nation’s largest dollar-store chain, posted better-than-expected profit, helping boost the company’s stock, which is up 15% year to date. And earlier this year, the discount retailer announced plans to open its 11,000th store by the end of the 2013 — an impressive figure for a discount retailer. The only other companies to boast store counts that high are fast food chains like McDonald’s and Subway. And Dollar General isn’t the only dollar chain to have had success in recent years.

Does this sound familiar? 1. At its peak, the retail chain had nearly 16,000 stores nationwide, with a retail presence in almost every state. Critics charged it with competing unfairly by offering too-low prices. 

(Reuters) - A son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi allegedly received 120 milli

The son of dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi was paid $160-million in kickbacks for steering major contracts in Libya to SNC-Lavalin, Canada’s biggest engineering and construction company, police are alleging, adding some of it paid for luxury yachts. An RCMP search warrant document unsealed Friday said the bribes were paid to Saadi Gaddafi by Riadh Ben Aissa, who was then vice-president of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin. Mr. Ben Aissa has since left the company and is now jailed in Switzerland.

After initially declining to discuss gun policy with the White House, representatives from Walmart met with Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday as part of the Obama administration’s ongoing talks on guns and gun control. Walmart’s apparent reluctance may reflect the extent to which gun sales have become an important part of the retailer’s bottom line. But just how important are they? The U.S.’s largest retailer has what you might call an on-again, off-again relationship with guns.

After initially declining to discuss gun policy with the White House, representatives from Walmart met with Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday as part of the Obama administration’s ongoing talks on guns and gun control. Walmart’s apparent reluctance may reflect the extent to which gun sales have become an important part of the retailer’s bottom line. But just how important are they? The U.S.’s largest retailer has what you might call an on-again, off-again relationship with guns.