Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
The picture above really says it all. Walmart, our country’s largest retail operation is run by people who are so clueless that they’ve created a culture that doesn’t even understand the massive irony in running a Thanksgiving Food Pantry for its own employees. The photo comes from a Walmart in Canton, Ohio. The concept of food collections for the poor at retail establishments is widespread in America, even as many Americans deny that anyone in this country goes hungry. The irony of this food drive though is that it is asking Walmart employees, who are already low paid, to donate food to fellow employees who are even worse off than they are. It is also ironic that the food drive is for Thanksgiving Dinner, since almost all Walmart Stores have been open all day for Thanksgiving for many years, so one wonders what type of Thanksgiving Dinner Walmart associates will have at all? What is new this year is that “Black Friday” for Walmart customers will begin at 6:00pm on Thanksgiving Day and run through the night.
The average Walmart Associate makes $8.81 per hour which translates into a yearly income of $15,576 if the Associate works a full time schedule. Most Associates don’t work full time because working full time would entitle them to benefits that Walmart doesn’t want to pay. Interestingly, the current U.S. poverty level for a three person family in our country is $19,530. So we see that the rare Walmart full time employee, with two dependents, earns about $4,000 per year below the nation’s poverty level. Indeed, Walmart has made it a practice to inform its employees about benefits like Snap and Public Assistance. At the risk of being portrayed as a “bleeding heart” by some of our readers, let me state that I think this company is disgusting in its personnel policies and is an example of what is worst about our country. Let me explain further.Here is an insider’s view on the specific Walmart situation in Ohio, from an Ohio State Representative:
“A recent study concluded of all the companies in Ohio, Wal-Mart has the highest number of employees on public assistance. Of the 50,000 Wal-Mart employees and dependents, almost 13,000 are on food stamps, and 15,000 on Medicaid. What part of the American dream can the employees of this giant “welfare queen” expect? The Waltons, America’s wealthiest family, knows they are exploiting their workers, and all at the cost of American taxpayers. Wal-Mart wants its employees to take care of one another while everyone else foots the bill for health care, food and housing assistance.
Last year during the Thanksgiving season, Wal-Mart associates bravely spoke out and rallied on Black Friday to protest the company’s low wages and poor labor practices. And on cue, the retail giant’s management illegally harassed and even fired employees who participated in the protests. Thankfully, the National Labor Relations Boards found that Wal-Mart’s actions broke the law, but it is yet another example of the company’s ill treatment of their workers.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-hagan/walmart-ohio-food-drive_b_4321122.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business
From the Huffington Post article that supplied the picture and gave background to it.
“When their paychecks don’t cut it, many associates turn to public assistance to make up the difference. Walmart’s low wages and insufficient scheduling are behind the enormous costs to the taxpayer incurred by each store. One Walmart Supercenter costs taxpayers $900,000 in Medicaid, SNAP, housing assistance, and other forms of public assistance.” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/18/1256468/-If-You-Aren-t-Sure-Walmart-Needs-to-Pay-Higher-Wages-This-Photo-Will-Erase-All-Doubt?detail=email
This is in essence the dirty little secret of Walmart. This company, whose ownership has been among the largest funders of those who would gut all federal regulation, makes a good deal of money from government “entitlements.” One could almost say that they are the real “welfare cheats”. This doesn’t account for all of the local governments who give tax breaks to Walmart for the honor of having a store located in the community, or that fact that in many of these small communities Walmart “buys off” local officials. Stories detailing this have become so common that there is a website devoted to watching the government subsidies being given to Walmart:
“A secret behind Wal-Mart’s rapid expansion in the United States has been its extensive use of public money. This includes more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country. In addition, taxpayers indirectly subsidize the company by paying the healthcare costs of Wal-Mart employees who don’t receive coverage on the job and instead turn to public programs such as Medicaid. This website brings together available information on both kinds of subsidies involved in Wal-Mart’s “double-dipping.” In the future we will add data on other ways Wal-Mart relies on taxpayers to finance its growth.” http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org/
This website is very helpful because it allows you to search its archives by putting in a location of your choice and supplying the information. At random I typed in Florida as the State and when given a menu of locales to choose from I chose Crescent City, a place I know nothing about. Here’s what I found:
“This distribution center project, announced in 2005, was approved by Putnam County over the objections of neighboring Volusia County, where there was concern over the traffic impact. In 2006 Wal-Mart warned a group of residents that their land would be seized through eminent domain if they did not sell to the company, which apologized after the story came out in the media. The state, through Enterprise Florida, has agreed to pay for infrastructure improvements in the area, including $2 million for upgrading roads and $675,000 for water and sewer plant upgrades. The project is also expected to be eligible for benefits under the enterprise zone and Qualified Target Industry programs, which could be worth thousands of dollars in tax credits for each worker hired.”
At the close of this guest blog I will supply links to much of the information I am synthesizing to write this piece. Everything that I am writing is backed up by copious evidence. I think that my contempt for this company is well-founded and well-grounded in facts. The case against Walmart is proven, but the problem of the Walmart syndrome is one that continues to plague this country. The object of any corporation should first be to make money. I believe that is a valid observation. Since I also believe that a mixed Capitalistic system can assure the most benefit, for the most people, I don’t object to people making money. However, where I draw the line is the difference between making money and using a corporation’s resource to exploit its own workers, as it continues to exploit the rest of us. This is the Walmart business model. From a management perspective I believe it is a horrible one, which may make money, but eventually damages not only the corporation itself, but the entire society in which it operates.
When Henry Ford began his company he purposely paid higher than the prevailing wage at the time. Ford explained that it was just good business since if his employees got higher pay they could afford to buy his cars, which they then did. We know that when working class and middle class people earn more, they spend more. Giving workers a good wage isn’t bad business, it is good business. Better paid workers are better workers and better workers make the company even higher profits. This isn’t rocket science after all. Even business-centric commentators believe this as was stated in this article from Fortune Magazine, which uses the ideas of conservative economists to make the case that Walmart can and should pay its workers more, without sacrificing either the bottom line or their stock prices.
There are a number of ways to answer the question of what Walmart should pay its employees. One possibility is this: The lowest wage that Walmart can get away with paying. That is probably the way many employers do it, but it’s far from the best economic answer. Better-paid employees are likely to work harder and stick around longer. If employees made more, they would have more to spend at Wal-Mart. http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/11/12/wal-mart-pay-raise/
I’m sure most readers will remember the former electronics giant Circuit City, which is now defunct. In 2007 this company made a fatal decision that hastened its downfall. The decision was premised on the same lines as those who use the Walmart theory of employment, which is that employees are merely easily disposable cogs in the corporate wheel and should be treated as such:
In 2007, the starting wage [at Circuit City] for new employees was dropped from $8.75 an hour down to $7.40 an hour ($6.55 being the federal minimum wage at the time). In a press release on March 28, 2007, Circuit City announced that in a “wage management” decision in order to cut costs, it had laid off approximately 3,400 better-paid associates and would re-staff the positions at the lower market-based salaries. Laid-off associates were provided severance and offered a chance to be re-hired after ten weeks at prevailing wages. The Washington Post reported interviews with management concerning the firings.[24]The Post later reported in May 2007 that the layoffs, and consequent loss of experienced sales staff, appeared to be “backfiring” and resulting in slower sales” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_City
Far too many insufferable young adults at the nation’s MBA factories have come away with degrees and with a feeling of superiority and contempt for the average worker. They see workers and treat workers as somehow a sub-human species to be used, abused and thrown out to the streets when they are no longer useful to the company. When I was a business major in Marketing and Management many years ago this was known as “Theory X”. Back in those early days of the 60’s “Theory X” was viewed as counterproductive and outdated. Somehow “Theory X” has reemerged to become the norm for worker treatment in America and perhaps our decline as an industrial nation has been spurred by it. I think when Ronald Reagan signaled corporations that it was okay for them to reopen their battle with Labor Unions via firing the striking air traffic controllers, “Theory X was resurrected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATCO_strike
Right now Walmart is suffering labor problems of its own as a Union is trying to organize its workers. The company has resisted any possibility of its workers organizing into a Union and has fought it in the courts and by firing and/or harassing those workers who are trying to organize.
“The wheels of the National Labor Relations Board grind slow and not especially fine, but they have ground to the point of authorizing complaints against Walmart for several alleged violations of workers’ rights, including threatening retaliation against workers for striking and actually carrying out such retaliation. According to the complaints, which will be brought before an administrative law judge if Walmart and the workers don’t reach a settlement:
- During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Walmart stores in California and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests on November 22, 2012.
- Walmart stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington unlawfully threatened, disciplined, and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.
- Walmart stores in California, Florida, Missouri and Texas unlawfully threatened, surveilled, disciplined, and/or terminated employees in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities.”
The truth about Walmart is that they actually have a negative effect on our nation’s economy and the economy of other nations that they insinuate themselves into:
- Walmart store openings destroy almost three local jobs for every two they create by reducing retail employment by an average of 2.7 percent in every county they enter.
- Walmart cost America an estimated 196,000 jobs – mainly manufacturing jobs – between 2001 and 2006 as a result of the company’s imports from China.
http://walmart1percent.org/issues/top-reasons-the-walton-family-and-walmart-are-not-job-creators/
As shown above Walmart jobs are jobs that ensure, rather than rescue workers from poverty and also:
- “Walmart pays less than other retail firms. A 2005 study found that Walmart workers earn an estimated 12.4% less than retail workers as a whole and 14.5% less than workers in large retail in general. A 2007 study which compared Walmart to other general merchandising employers found a wage gap of 17.4%.
- Last year, Walmart slashed already meager health benefits again, dropping health insurance for new hires working less than 30 hours a week and leaving more workers uninsured.”
As mentioned above Walmart puts a tremendous burden on the taxpayers in this country and in doing so harms the tax base in the localities where they set up shop.
- “Taxpayers subsidize Walmart’s low wages and poor benefits. Just one Walmart store costs taxpayers an estimated $1 million in public assistance usage by employees, according to a new report from the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
- In many of the states across the country that release such information, Walmart is the employer with the largest number of employees and dependents using taxpayer-funded health insurance programs. A few examples:
- In Arizona, according to data released by the state in 2005, the company had more 2,700 employees on the state-funded plan.
- The company also topped the list in their home state of Arkansas, with nearly 4,000 employees forced onto the state’s plan according to data released by the state in 2005.
- In Massachusetts, in 2009, taxpayers paid $8.8 million for Walmart associates to use publicly subsidized healthcare services.
- Despite all the damage they have done to US workers and communities, a 2007 study found that, as of that date, Walmart had received more than $1.2 billion in tax breaks, free land, infrastructure assistance, low-cost financing and outright grants from state and local governments around the country. This number has surely increased as Walmart continues to receive additional subsidies.
- Meanwhile, the Waltons use special tax loopholes to avoid paying billions in taxes. According to a recent Bloomberg story, the Waltons are America’s biggest users of a particular type of charitable trust that actually allows the donor to pass money on to heirs after an extended period of time, without having to pay much-debated estate and inheritance taxes. According to Treasury Department estimates reported in Bloomberg, closing the two types of loopholes the Waltons appear to use would raise more than $20 billion over the next decade.” http://walmart1percent.org/issues/top-reasons-the-walton-family-and-walmart-are-not-job-creators/
This Thanksgiving Season Walmart has been running a syrupy TV commercial that shows veterans returning home from our wars overseas. It guarantees that it will hire any veteran with an honorable discharge. To me this is yet another bitter irony that this company seems oblivious to. Walmart is “showing its support for our troops” how? By offering them some of the lowest paying jobs in America. This honors our troops in what to me is a rather backhanded way. Our veterans deserve to be well-treated after their service in these awful wars. Far too many of them can’t find work when they leave the service, but is working at Walmart honoring them, or is it offering them another low paying career, albeit without the danger?
When all of the truth began to come out about Walmart’s treatment of its workers I stopped shopping there. The truth is I can afford not to shop at Walmart, even though I’m on a fixed income that leaves me hanging onto the middle-class. There were times, when my family was young, that our income kept our heads barely above water. Therefore I can understand what it is like to clip coupons and go to multiple stores looking for sales. So I won’t say that anyone who shops at Walmart is bad because I’m not in a position to judge an individual family’s financial needs. I would ask people though, to raise their voices about the way that Walmart treats people. My request is that we find ways to oppose the “Walmartization” of our country, because if we don’t we will soon become one of those “third world” nation’s that we used to talk about disparagingly. My view in this is neither a liberal, nor conservative view. It is a question of fairness and it is an ethical question of how a capitalist enterprise should treat its workers. One can be a conservative, in the true meaning of the word and still decry such backward employment policies. From the perspective of those who don the mantle of fiscal conservatives alone, a fair analysis is that this company is costing us all billion$.
Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
http://www.ilsr.org/new-study-finds-walmarts-miserly-wages-cost-taxpayers/
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/01/03/wal-mart-declares-war-on-us-history/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/walmart-black-friday-death_n_4312210.html
david,
I guess it doesn’t concern you that the full time workers average is at or near the poverty level? The so-called low prices are driving out small businesses and the net result in jobs in many areas when Wal Mart comes to town is a net loss.
rafflaw wrote: “I guess it doesn’t concern you that the full time workers average is at or near the poverty level? The so-called low prices are driving out small businesses and the net result in jobs in many areas when Wal Mart comes to town is a net loss.”
I am concerned about wages not being sufficient for the needs of a worker, but I see more complexity to this issue than this simple storyline. I also recognize many other large and successful retailers do the same thing.
Walmart can do better. I just checked their website and see that the average salary of a full time worker has actually gone up. That means improvement. They now pay an average of $12.83 per hour to full time employees. That’s good news.
I think Walmart can still do better than this, but the approach of flinging fallacious statistics painting an inaccurate picture is not going to persuade Walmart to do better. Boycotting their business is not going to accomplish anything constructive. Highlighting their profit per employee is a much better approach, and also highlighting the profits paid out to the Walmart family members who basically inherited their positions.
In regards to the statistics of net job loss when a Walmart comes to town… this is misleading. What the study is actually showing is that the Walmart model is MORE EFFICIENT than the small town business model that cannot compete. Walmart can sell more product and better product as judged by consumers and at better prices with less employees. That is a good thing. Those other employees representing the so-called net loss in employment aren’t sleeping in the streets without a job. They move on working other jobs, sometimes in other industries. Again, you have to look at what the statistics are actually saying, not the storyline that the pundit reporting the study is spinning it to say.
Competition in the marketplace can be a bit ugly. There are winners and losers. Nobody likes to see losers, but the winners are not always winners because they are evil profit marauders.
“That tactic accomplishes nothing but polarization.”
Much can be said of every single one of David’s post, and it seems to be both internally and externally consistent.
Wall mart is no “success story.” It’s a business that does not care about its workers.
James Knauer wrote: “Wall mart is no “success story.” It’s a business that does not care about its workers.”
McDonald’s pays its workers less than Walmart does. They also earn bigger profits per employee than Walmart does. Why is not the same level of animus being expressed toward McDonald’s?
Do you know who earns even more profit per employee than either Walmart or McDonald’s? Apple.
Walmart’s profits are about $13,000 pre-tax dollars per employee.
McDonald’s profits are about $18,200 per employee.
Apple’s profits are $697,000 per employee!
http://www.alternet.org/labor/apple-walmart-mcdonalds-whos-biggest-wage-stiffer
Actually David, how you choose to spend your money is between you and whatever conscience.
That you’d choose to support a bad employer simply because they have a profitable business model that just happens to operate at the expense of both employees directly and the public via expecting the social safety nets to cover the gaps created by paying substandard wages and questionable employment practices says a lot about how you value people.
[sigh] Another fallacious hit piece against the world’s largest private job provider. Mike is using wage figures from more than a decade ago. The average full time employee at Walmart earns $12.40 an hour, which is well above minimum wage and about the same as the national average for a retailer. A family with two full time employees working at Walmart would be earning over $50,000 a year and be considered middle class. See how presenting statistics in a different way leads to a different perspective?
Now some Walmart stores allow employees to share food with one another for Thanksgiving, a mechanism whereby those who have enough can share with those who do not have enough, and you criticize this? I find the tenor of this article completely nauseating.
I just gave all my employees $50 gift cards to Walmart for Thanksgiving. I guess Mike will be mad at me for doing that too. He expects me to boycott Walmart. Won’t that cause them to lose business, eventually causing them to have less money, causing them to have to lay people off, eventually causing everyone working there to lose their jobs. Really? This is a good idea? For who?
Instead of tearing down one of the greatest entrepreneur success stories in American history, we should find ways to celebrate it. Can there be improvements? Of course. I just wish we would take a more positive approach toward problems. Walmart is not Satan destroying the lives of every American in its path. If not for their low prices, the standard of living for many poor and middle class people would be much worse. In America they employ about 1% of our workers. That is incredible. Do you really want to destroy all those jobs in the name of the right for higher wages? Encourage higher wages, sure, encourage more sharing of profits, but do it in a positive way, not with fallacious statistics that make those in charge of Walmart know that you are their enemy who uses subterfuge to turn the public against them. That tactic accomplishes nothing but polarization.
Sigh, another piece of horse crap from David.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/23/walmart-salary_n_4151131.html
I guess if you don’t include your part time workers, you can manipulate your statistics to say whatever works for your narrative, right?
Juliet N wrote: “I guess if you don’t include your part time workers, you can manipulate your statistics to say whatever works for your narrative, right?”
Yes, that is pretty much my point. In many cases, statistics can be manipulated to tell the story you want it to tell, so pay attention to what they actually mean.
“He expects me to boycott Walmart. Won’t that cause them to lose business”
DavidM,
Re-read my piece and tell me where I asked people to boycott Walmart. As a matter of fact I wrote:
“Therefore I can understand what it is like to clip coupons and go to multiple stores looking for sales. So I won’t say that anyone who shops at Walmart is bad because I’m not in a position to judge an individual family’s financial needs. I would ask people though, to raise their voices about the way that Walmart treats people.”
However, in your rush to defend any wealth, no matter how ill-gotten, you seemed to have missed that. The reason for that is that you are not a true conservative, but merely a worshiper of wealth.
Now as I said:
“One can be a conservative, in the true meaning of the word and still decry such backward employment policies. From the perspective of those who don the mantle of fiscal conservatives alone, a fair analysis is that this company is costing us all billion$.”
And I proved my case.
Mike Spindell wrote: “Re-read my piece and tell me where I asked people to boycott Walmart.”
It seemed like the only exception in your mind would be those who were too poor to stop shopping Walmart. So you are okay with me still shopping at Walmart and facilitating my employees to be shopping there as well?
Mike Spindell wrote: “…in your rush to defend any wealth, no matter how ill-gotten, you seemed to have missed that. The reason for that is that you are not a true conservative, but merely a worshiper of wealth.”
That does not describe me at all. I certainly do not worship wealth, and there are a lot of ways of earning wealth that I disagree with. For example, insurance companies earn great wealth by preying on the fear of people. This is one of the reasons I object to Obamacare, which I view as a cleverly deceptive insurance bailout, not much different than the way he bailed out the banks and GM.
Mike Spindell wrote: “…a fair analysis is that this company is costing us all billion$. And I proved my case.”
I don’t think you did prove your case. My sense of reality is that if we magically removed all the Walmart stores from this country immediately, the poor and middle class people in this country would be in worse shape, not better shape. Over a million people out of work having to find new jobs. Walmart is the largest grocery store (half of its sales is groceries), so all the people shopping good deals on groceries would have to find another store with higher prices. Christmas time would be a little more sparse for many of the poor in this country.
The primary people who would not be hurt by closing down Walmart are the very wealthy people who don’t shop there anyway. Then the others hurt would be the Walmart family who owns about 48% of the stock in the company, and the other holders of stock would be hurt who perceived Walmart to be a good company and good investment.
If a vote were taken to close down Walmart or keep it open, I would vote to keep it open. I vote this way not because I love wealth. Walmart doesn’t make me wealthy, but it does make my poor neighbors more wealthy. Walmart helps the poor by providing jobs, products and services that they can afford. I know you provided a lot of statistics claiming the opposite, but these statistics do not say what the people presenting them claim that they say.
Well done, Mike.
One thing though that you didn’t address directly but did touch tangentially is that Walmart’s business model has left a great many consumers (especially in rural or small town venues) with no other option but to shop at Walmart. Their corrosive effects on small local business has in many places eliminated or severely curtailed competition and in effect created a captive audience.
I once asked a person I know who has outsourced all his manufacturing to China, what would happen if people here were so poor even they could no longer afford Walmart goods. He said then we’d all be screwed. He didn’t seem to mind that the poor are already screwed. Walmart sells his products. He’s made a great living off the Chinese workers and again off of poor Americans, of which Walmart employs many. It’s not shameful to be poor, it’s shameful to be so rich yet force your employees to take government assistance, because it enriches Walmart even further. Walmart pays them rock bottom wages so that they take up a collection from their already poor employees instead of paying a living wage and donating a turkey dinner to its employees? That is damn shameful. I will not step foot in another Walmart.
Walmart is another example of how the US is now an oligarchy and not a democracy. The present health insurance debacle is another example. These immense entities contribute so much money to political campaigns that they own most of the politicians. The 1,965 health insurance companies that are reinsured in turn all the way up to Lloyds and AIG contribute over $250,000,000 yearly to political campaigns. Walmart, the coal industry, the oil industry, the gas industry, etc all contribute enormous sums to insure that their SPECIAL interests come before the American Dream.
Watch the cheap Chinese big screen and see the commercials. Almost 20% of the pharmaceutical industries’ budget is spent on advertising. Lawyers plead for you to call them because they are honest and have your best interests at heart, when they end up taking half of the settlement.
We are addressed as ignorant people for one reason. Most Americans are ignorant. If most Americans were indeed aware of the fact that you don’t listen to a commercial to inform yourself about medicine then the US wouldn’t be the only country in the world that allows this. We are in this mess because we are complacent, fat, and ignorant.
Before the French Revolution the leaders made sure that table wine and tobacco was cheap so the rabble would have something that could take their mind off of what was going on.
We have cheap TVs, ding dongs, tons of garbage called food, cheap booze, nothing but pure distraction in the way of culture, and next to no substance coming from our elected representatives.
The talk to us like we are idiots because we are idiots. They treat us like they can do anything they want because we let them do anything they want. Some even call this America.
“WordPress ate my comments 🙁 ”
RWL
And their meal was so thorough that when I went in they were not to be found anywhere. I’m sorry but WordPress works in mysterious ways its’ “wonders” to perform.
Peter Figen,
Good catch. Thank you.
I also encourage anyone interested in the Walmart story to watch Robert Greenwald’s excellent documentary about the subject: Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price. I didn’t see it referenced above, but maybe I missed it.
http://www.amazon.com/Wal-Mart-The-High-Cost-Price/dp/B001IUUU24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385213325&sr=8-1&keywords=the+walmart+movie
Well said Mike S.
Nice work, Mike.
Wal-Mart is the poster child of predatory capitalism. It is among the very few sources of jobs for unskilled workers, and for many skilled workers. If better paying jobs were available Wal-Mart would have no employees. Wal-Mart is the 21st century application of “free trade” where poverty-stricken workers (the makers) around the world are provided with “a job”, while those who inherit fortunes (the takers) receive massive tax-payer-funded handouts. It is a perfect example of an upside-down economic system where those who work hard live in poverty and those who contribute nothing are multi-billionaires.
WordPress ate my comments 🙁
What I hate the most is if you even mention unions you will be fired. When hired they make you watch a video about how bad unions are and why you dont need them. They tell you that all unions want to do is take money from you. The video was a joke and very misleading. It made me sick all I wanted to do was stand up and leave b/c my grandfather was in a union that helped him when he needed help. It is a very creepy video
Why blame Wal-Mart? This is what they do.
BLAME the local politicians who cleared the way for Wal-Mart!
Clear our “Representatives” who’re (!) against restoring the minimum wage to its realistic values of some 20 and 40 years ago!
Wal-Mart is just the parasite entering into areas with reduced immune resistivity, rendered so by our said representative.
I have a liberal relative who shops regularly at Wal-Mart. She is on Social Security and Medicare and is able to get needed supplies much less expensively there. I asked her if she would be willing to pay slightly more so that the Wal-Mart employees could earn slightly more and the Wal-Mart owners could get slightly less.
She said no. So, there you have it. Unfortunately, she’s not the exception.
Well done, Mike. I had vowed to stop shopping at Walmart for their unethical production methods in Bangladesh, but am now doubly boycotting them in light of this piece.
Great story Mike. Wal Mart is a cancer on our economy and our culture. They not only abuse their own employees, they force out competition from small local businesses.
Since when is it being a “bleeding heart” to expect a successful American company to earn its enormous profits fairly, without requiring a hefty subsidy from the American taxpayer in order to keep its employees fed just enough so they’ll be able to come to work just one more day?