Whew.... there’s a lot in there to respond to, nyconse....
Let me start with a coupld of qucik statements:
1) Wal-Mart indeed does now offer limited health care coverage to its employees. And, I would say, Wal-Mart’s #1 dedication is to maintain LOW PRICES, not “huge profits”. They do make money... yes... but, their profit margins are pretty tame compared to many companies.
2) The people I know who work for Toyota LOVE working there. It’s absolutely the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. If only American auto managers could steal a few ideas.
I am an engineer (Chemical type) who’s been blessed to be in the management feild for the past 15 years or so. In my experience thus far, companies aren’t LOOKING to move jobs overseas.... we’re looking to survive.. to compete. There are many, many factors that go into factory location decisions. I’ll tell you one major one that is helping right now.... The weak dollar. A weak dollar lowers US manufacturing costs relative to the rest of the world and encourages factory siting here.
Health care has become one the largest cost for many US companies. It is a HUGE problem. It is the COSTs that are causing some companies to decide that it’s just not the companies responsibility anymore. It hasn’t always been true that a job came with health care. This is a fairly new custom that developed.
Who says it’s the best way? Maybe, if no one received health care at work, we’d have a better system, with more incentive to keep cost down. I don’t know the answer to the health care mess. My plan is: STAY HEALTHY! (so far, so good). But, I KNOW turning it all over to government would be a disaster. The freebies and discounts demanded by government for the people on their dole are a HUGE part of what’s driving up the cost for the rest of us.
In my area, Walmart allows only a very few to be ‘full time’ workers. Thus, I would say over 90% of employees do not have coverage. The taxpayer picks up the tab.
I have no doubt people like working for Toyota now. They may not like it so much in the future as wages are driven down. Also, Toyota is subsidized by their government and allowed access to our markets. Japan continues to prevent American cars from entering their markets. Japan actually sells cars at a loss in the USA. They are able to charge more for their cars at home because the market is closed. The Toyota plants employ far less Americans then any of the big three, and the money goes home in the end. Also, Toyota has a history of corporate theft. I can tell you in a Tarrytown New York GM plant which is now closed, one of the former workers is just getting out of jail for selling information to Toyota. Toyota of course faced no penalty.
Staying healthy is a good plan, but it does not always work. As for US business deciding that it is not their job. It probably should never have been their job. However, this is the reality. The health care market will never have a chance to bottom out because long before that America will have some sort of national health care in place. I don’t favor this approach, but this is the reality. I don’t want to hear businesses complain when they are forced to subsidize some sort of badly run health care system. They brought it on themselves with their short sighted policies.
When companies do well, they want to maximize their profits with no thought to the social turmoil some of these policies are likely to create-such as the end of the pension and health care system. Also, they do not feel the need to reward hard work with pay raises in these circumstances, but let there be one downturn and people are laid off immediately. When they do badly, the CEO’s still reap huge profits. This is not free market. This is excessive greed, and it’s bad for the country and will surely lead to more regulations-not something I favor. Mike Huckabee said something not long ago about how we need more laws now because people do not behave morally. I think this true of individuals and lately corporations. Sorry for the long post and thanks for your reasonable reply.