What would you do if you owned the biggest corporation in America? Would you make sure your workers made enough in wages to cover their basic necessities, that their families could afford health care, and that they were rewarded for their loyalty?

Well, that's the difference between you and Wal-Mart. The corporate executives who run Wal-Mart have been running ragged over American values.

It is bad enough that they take advantage of every tax loophole, public subsidy, and welfare program to make millions off the government every year. Even worse, the company has a history of getting in trouble with the law. Suits against the corporation have been won in New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas for wage and hour violations. As of 2001, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed 16 suits against Wal-Mart for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The company has had to pay over $1 million dollars in sanctions for those violations. Wal-Mart's own annual report for 2005 cited 44 wage and hour legal cases pending against the corporation.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart agreed to pay a fine of over $100,000 for numerous violations of child labor laws. Despite the fine, the company made out like bandits, with a promise from the Department of Labor that it gets two weeks advance notice of any investigations into further abuses.

Wal-Mart is also facing the largest gender discrimination lawsuit in the history of the country.

A study of only 244 of its stores (out of thousands) by the organization Good Jobs First found Wal-Mart raked in $1 billion in effective taxpayer subsidies. A congressional report found that Wal-Mart's low wages mean that the average retail employee at Wal-Mart relies on roughly $2,103 per year in public subsidies, money needed for housing, children's health insurance, school lunch programs, and Title I education.

Indeed, in all but one state that have made internal studies public, Wal-Mart topped the list of employees that depend on public programs to provide employee benefits.

This is not an accident. Wal-Mart managers across the country actually spend time helping their employees file for welfare programs rather than take care of the people working for them.

With thousands of stores and roughly 1.5 million employees, the extent of the public subsidization of Wal-Mart is unclear. What we do know is that the price tag for American taxpayers is simply huge.

Wal-Mart is emblematic of the most troubling features of corporate America. Where it should build a shared prosperity, it instead starts a race to the bottom.

The fact of the matter is that America can't afford Wal-Mart's low prices any more. Wal-Mart has a choice. The corporation can become a positive force in our communities or it can continue its path of profit-no-matter-what-the-cost. We also have a choice - we can accept a company that treats us like Wal-Mart does, or we can demand something better.

Luckily, the spotlight is being turned on Wal-Mart now. Robert Greenwald, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker, has turned his attention to the corporation in his film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." The movie has spawned international attention and media coverage.

The Policy Institute and the Progressive Legislative Action Network are co-hosting a special screening in Helena today, Nov. 29, at the Myrna Loy Center. We've "rolled back" the price to $1.99. Please come out and join us to see this very important film.

Joel Barkin is the executive director of the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN), a state-based organization, the mission of which is to pass progressive legislation in all 50 of America's state legislatures. State Rep. Christine Kaufmann is vice president of the Policy Institute, a progressive think tank based in Helena, which promotes progressive economic policy.