Wal-Mart bulldozes Mexican ruins, bribes officials to build market

Cheap toothpaste and flat-screen TVs are fab, but a New York Times investigation of how Wal-Mart greased the palms of officials to build a supermarket in Mexico will make you cringe. The company reportedly issued four bribes worth more than $200,000 to erect a Bodega Aurrera supermarket in the shadows of the Teotihuacán temple complex and pyramids, likely destroying ancient ruins along the way. For the mounds of cash, officials altered zoning maps, issued permits and allowed massive backhoes and bulldozers (delicate archaeological remains require shovels and picks). Intrepid reporters say Wal-Mart has bribed its way into numerous Mexican locations, and the Twitter backlash has begun, including comments like @MariLynch's "Yet another reason I'm glad not to have shopped #WalMart." [Source]

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