I have to go with Countrywide. The evil they wrought on the economy will be felt for years to come. Walmart is just another behemoth retail chain that sells cheap merchandise. $10 toasters that fall apart in a few weeks pale in comparison to the sort of economic upheaval Countrywide is inflicting on even the responsible people among us.

A company that has played a part in almost shattering the economy versus a mortgage company.

I really don't know what to do.

Countrywide is winning! Yea!

As of yesterday, Countrywide is BofA. So those of you who hate both get a bonus!

I don't know about you, but I sure had a real hard time choosing between these two well-oiled, democratic machines.

As much as I dislike Wal-Mart, Countrywide has contributed to a collapse of the national economy by way of reducing consumer confidence. Heckuva job.

Wal-Mart has hardly helped the economy either

Hard choice, but walmart get's my vote just for the way they treat their employees. Country wide/BOA is just as shitty though. Crap. Can't they both win?

It's a tough choice...all of the Final Four deserve a win.

@HurtsSoGood: Wal-Mart has also created a lot of economic upheaval in this country, to be fair. But I just think this is Countrywide's year, given recent events.

@lua21:
True, but for people adversely affected by the economy, Wal-Mart is one of the few places they can now afford to shop for the basics. My (adult) son was out of work for several months and relied heavily on the nearest Wally-world for groceries, toiletries, and stuff like underwear/socks. I certainly couldn't blame him for choosing to stretch his dwindling dollars.

If this poll were being run by Diebold, I could have voted for both.

Two of the worst. I go for Countrywide, they bribed no less than six Democrats, including Sen. Dodd, that mean six public officials that have sold their votes to Countrywide.

[blogs.courant.com]

Wal Mart sucks, yes, and while they lobby, they don't outright bribe Senators and destroy our Democracy.

@geekfather: And tomorrow Diebold wouldn't be an option. ;)

Wal Mart is the worst company in America. Watch "The High Cost of Low Prices". Wal Mart is destroying this country.

This is a hard one...

On one side you have a company that has forced and bullied its suppliers shut down operations in the US and move overseas. They also shut down stores if the word union or employee rights is uttered. They have ruined downtown mom and pop stores and destroyed communities.
[www.pbs.org]

On the other side you have one of many bad lenders that offered loans to people who couldn't repay them (a chunck of the issue is the ignorance of the people that signed the loan paperwork)

I vote Walmart. At least people who took out sub primes had the option of saying no (although it might not have been spelled out to them).

Most difficult decision thus far.

Both are evil, both have caused more issues/pain with consumers than we can even fathom on this website.

Countrywide by a hair.

I vote Walmart. At least people who took out sub primes had the option of saying no (although it might not have been spelled out to them).

This is also why I voted for Wal-Mart. Countrywide did bad things but people also have to take responsibility for their own finances.

Countrywide forces people out of their homes after tricking them out of their homes for a profit.
Wal Mart ruins the American economy by forcing chinese products down our gullet AND demoralizes our citizens.

When it comes down to it, Comcast is the real winner here, because everything comes second to internet and cable tv.

Tough choice, but I had to go with Countrywide, because their malice is more intentional. Walmart's evil comes purely from a complete lack of concern for it's customers and employees. Countrywide agressively sought to cause evil, and may have singlehandedly brought about the collapse of the housing market.

@Angryrider: Well, when you get down to it, you can go somewhere different than Wal-Mart, you can get a home loan from someone else, but many people have no choice but to use Comcast.

Yeah, Wal-mart is pretty horrible... but they didn't cause an entire market of the economy to go spiraling downward.

I voted Countrywide. As much as I dislike Walmart* and their hideous new orange logo (Gig 'em Aggies!), Countrywide seriously messed with people's lives and dreams. I agree that many of them should have known better. However, recent behavior by countrywide and how they have dealt with the subsequent crisis is what earned them my vote. IMO, the measure of a man or company is how they deal with the bad times, not the good.

Also, Angelo's orange is far more vivid and textured than walmart*'s orange.

@EE: Yeah, it's a toughie for sure.

At this point, I'm going with Countrywide. They've done more to frak up the economy than Wal-Mart, hands-down.

Walmart sucks, but I can go somewhere else for my groceries and clothes. Countrywide has singlehandedly destroyed the home market for everyone, cripping the US economy and putting all of us in financial peril, not just the unfortunate souls they gave all those subprime loans to.

I can see why the vengeance against Countrywide...I'm not convinced that they're worse than Wal-Mart; Countrywide was only one gear in a whole machinery of wrongness that cause the housing problem, whereas Wal-Mart is economic devastation and sprawl all in one store.

It's a close call for sure, though.

No contest - Countrywide wins.
You can buy groceries etc at other stores if you don't like Wal-mart. Countrywide customers did not have the same options.

Hmm...Walmart tries to deliver products to people who can't afford them otherwise and generally succeeds. Occaisionally mows down the economy of small communities.

Countrywide tries(tried?) to deliver products to people who REALLY couldn't afford them otherwise and failed miserably. Mowed down the economy of our entire country. I think my vote goes to Countrywide.

@oyvader: Arguable, in my opinion. They've both harmed the economy in different ways.

@SybilDisobedience: Not singlehandedly, but they were certainly one of the big players.

@Mary Marsala with Fries: I'm mainly voting for Countrywide because I think they are more emblematic of this year's failure coming out of Corporate America. Wal-Mart has been a blight on our country for quite awhile, so they're more old news.

Not only did countrywide wreck the mortgage industry, they wrecked securities and investments market, thereby forcing investers to the commodities market and driving gas up to $4+ a gallon, thereby driving the costs of food and other products through the roof.
So they caused people to loose their homes, loose their jobs, loose their 401Ks and other investments, loose their cars because they can't make payments or afford gas, and also causing millions of people around the world to starve. How could they not win worst company in america??????

Because of Countrywide, YOUR HOUSE, yes YOUR HOUSE is worth less today than a year ago.

@johnva: Yes, I'm simplifying it somewhat, but they shoulder the lion's share of the blame.

@lowercase: The biggest problem with Wal-Mart is the METHODS they use to deliver such cheap products. They strong-arm their suppliers, forcing them to cut quality and move production overseas (some manufacturers actually have a "Wal-Mart line" at their factories that gets less QA testing, etc in order to cut costs). They rip off their customers by selling them low-quality crap that breaks in a month (since all they care about is low prices to the exclusion of all else). They mistreat their own workers in order to keep labor costs down. And they force anyone who competes with them or supplies them to do similar things in order to stay in business.

Wal-Mart is emblematic of a whole mode of short-term-thinking capitalism that is rampant in this country. Focusing only on the costs of products costs us all more in the end.

Both have done plenty to damage the economy but the sudden and severe impact on housing and other markets really screwed the economy and home ownership.

Come on, Countrywide! I am so happy my hubby and I will no longer be enslaved by your company!

Yeah, this is tough. But I voted for Countrywide because this is 2008. Wal-Mart could win any year, but Countrywide deserves this prize this year. Wal-Mart, Exxon, Microsoft and the like should just get lifetime achievement awards and be bard from future participation unless they do some new inventive evil worth being included the the bracket that year.

For example, Comcast is experimenting with download limits. I think that yields a nomination this year. Maybe next year Wal-Mart

Walmart destroys local economies. Countrywide has destroyed the housing market...well...country-wide.

Countrywide FTW.

@Angryrider: You've been on this 'boo Comcast' kick for a while now. Sounds like you're taking it personally.

Don't oversimplify things. Comcast has a horrible reputation for customer service. A significant part of the market (including myself) have no alternatives available because of the way they divide the map with other communications companies.

And foremost, never underestimate the public outcry that results from restricting the free flow of information in this country. What sounds to you like "Waa, my bandwidth sucks!" can very much sound like skirting 1st Amendment rights to another. Americans have their hangups to be sure, but you do not screw with anything that could ever come close to infringing on the 1st Amendment with us.

@dallasmay: "Yeah, this is tough. But I voted for Countrywide because this is 2008. Wal-Mart could win any year, but Countrywide deserves this prize this year."

I think you summed up my thinking process better than I could.

@JustaConsumer: Bullpucky. No one is "destroying" this country. We're not on the right path at the moment, but we always come back stronger.

@attheotherbeach: They probably said the same thing in Egypt, Greece, or Rome.

We can recover from what Countrywide has done. But unless there is a revolution in this country, we will not recover from what Wal-Mart has done. Wal-Mart is one of the main forces in moving factories to China. Try and do business with Wal-Mart. They give you a book called "how to do business with Wal-Mart". One of the first suggestions, to meet their low buying price demands is to move to China.

On top of that, they put mom and pop stores out of business, and destroy small towns, and homogenize the country. We will no longer have towns with individuality and personality.
We will just have Wal-marts and Applebee's and TGIF Fridays and McDonald's and Starbucks.

We will all be mindless drones drinking our 5 dollar coffees and eating Big macs in our gas guzzling suvs heading back to Wal-mart to re-buy the cheap lead tainted made in China product that has broken the last 4 times we bought it.

China doesn't have to conquer us with military might. They already own us. Wal-Mart is helping them.
If you consider yourself to be a patriotic American and you shop at Wal-mart, you are either a hypocrite or are completey ignorant of what you are doing.

To me Wal-mart wins this hands down. The only company more evil than them was not included in the contest. Monsanto. Monsanto and evil are synonymous.

I have not purchased anything from Wal-mart in so many years. I will not even follow a friend into the store, I would rather sit in the car and sweat than step foot into this place. Its evil and goes against every principle this country was founded on.

I know they will not win, but in my book they are the worst company in America.

@Myrddraal: Germany.

My vote is for Walmart as a consumer. Countrywide as an investor.

@JeffDrummer: Don't be so sure that WalMart isn't destroying our Democracy... there's a lot of evidence to the contrary.

@SuburbanCowboy: "But unless there is a revolution in this country, we will not recover from what Wal-Mart has done."

Actually we will recover. As fuel prices increase, the Wal-Mart style of business will make less and less sense. We cannot build electric cargo ships. We just can't build batteries that big, and it is unlikely that we will go Nuclear for commercial shipping. Soon, I would say in 7-10 years, manufacturing will move back to the states. It will make no financial sense to ship raw materials around the world 4 to 5 times to make an iPod. Wal-Martization is a lame duck. That and soon people will not be able afford to drive 20 minutes for milk. Rather their will be more dense areas with smaller stores in your own neighborhood.

That is, unless you live in a Suburb that was designed from the ground up to discourage foot traffic and force the use of a car to get into or out of your sub-development. In that case, I would suggest you sell your home in the next 5 years before the suburbs collapse under their own shortsightedness.

god that was a tough choice.

walmart wins points for helping the poor clothe themselves with prices on par with goodwill sometimes.

why can't we have a tie?