you are completely missing the point. Let me put it this way. If every single person in america "invested in themselves" and were able to magically have a university/college degree, do you believe that high paying jobs would magically appear?
If most everyone actually had the determination to go out and get a real college degree, there would definitely be an increase in valuable job opportunities on the horizon.
Do you think McDonalds or walmart would pay these people more? Hell no. They need people to do jobs for very little money so they can funnel more cash to their CEO and investors. These companies don't care if you invest in yourself or not. Even if every single person worked as hard as they possibly can, a large percentage of them would still be unable to earn enough to live. That is how the system is designed.
I think what would happen is that most of them would choose not to perform menial tasks at Walmart. Since Walmart is already cognizant enough to pay above the Federal minimum wage, and over the minimum wage in most states, I think it's a pretty safe bet that they'd respond to a smaller labor pool by further raising compensation for starting positions.
I don't think Walmart specifically contributes to society in the sense that a factory worker does. If there was no "Walmart", people would simply shop at 2 or more businesses on a more regular basis while we run errands, thus distributing our wealth more equitably in exchange for the same goods and services. At least some of their outlets have ridiculously good deals though. Like, you could have one of the nicer loafs of bread for a dollar or less. That's an exception to the rule, because Walmart makes it inhouse.
