Anti-Wal-Mart warriors fueling class warfare

Concord Monitor ^ | 9/16/06 | George Will

[bitt]

Liberal campaign hurts people who need bargains

Evergreen Park, Ill., a suburb contiguous with Chicago's western edge, is 88 percent white. A large majority of the customers of the Wal-Mart that sits here, less than a block outside Chicago, are from the city, and more than 90 percent of the store's customers are African-American. One of whom, a woman pushing a shopping cart with a stoical 3-year-old along for the ride, has a chip on her shoulder about the size of this 141,000 square-foot Wal-Mart. She applied for a job when the store opened in January and was turned down because, she said, the person doing the hiring "had an attitude."

So why is the woman shopping here anyway? She looks at the questioner as though he is dimwitted and directs his attention to the low prices of the DVDs on the rack next to her.

Sensibly, she compartmentalizes her moods and her money. Besides, she should not brood. She had lots of company in not being hired: More than 25,000 people applied for the 325 openings.

Which vexes liberals like John Kerry. (He and his helpmeet last shopped at Wal-Mart when?) In 2004 he tested what has become one of the Democrats' 2006 themes: Wal-Mart is, he said, "disgraceful"and symbolic of "what's wrong with America."

By now, Democrats have succeeded, to their embarrassment (if they are susceptible to that), in making the basic numbers familiar: The median household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is under $40,000. Wal-Mart, the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this galaxy, has almost as many employees (1.3 million) as the U.S. military has uniformed personnel.

A McKinsey company study concluded that Wal-Mart accounted for 13 percent of the nation's productivity gains in the second half of the 1990s, ...

[Netizen]

Nobody passed the 'script' to me. In the SouthEast section of the Lower of Peninsula of Michigan, (disregarding the Metropolitan Detroit area) Wally Mart is consistently voted down by the 90% caucasian conservative residents.

That would be the heavily Democrat side of the state.

[Netizen]

The other 16 are in the upper section of the lower peninsula of MI. These 4 boarded up stores I drive past. Your page does not indicate your state, so you possibly know nothing of Meijer's.

I know about Meijer's. The last time we specifically looked for something 'made in America', it was a clothing rack. Bought it at Meijer's. Unfortunately, we couldn't get three of the four wheels to rest on the ground at the same time.

[Netizen]

Doesn't change anything.

[Niuhuru]

WEll good point. Or they could have kicked us all out and hired Mexicans. :)

[Seadog Bytes]

Which vexes liberals like   John Kerry   . (He and his helpmeet last shopped at Wal-Mart when?) In 2004 he tested what has become one of the Democrats' 2006 themes: Wal-Mart   is   , he said,   "disgraceful"and symbolic of "what's wrong with America.""

[spinestein]

[Remember if you buy a Ruger rifle from Walmart it will melt if you leave it in the car during the summer. It isn't like the Ruger you buy at other stores.]


How true. I had the same problem with the "Glad" trash bags I bought at WalMart as well as the "Sony" car stereo and the "Kodak" film. They were less expensive than at any other store so I shouldn't have been surprized when all these items fell apart so quickly.

:^)

[spinestein]

Well said.

[spinestein]

[Socialism fails everywhere it's tried, including corporate America. Just ask the GM and Ford workers whose outrageous pay and benefits packages priced them out of their jobs.]




That is the best illustration of the failure of the wealth redistribution schemes of the outdated Keynesian economic policies still advocated by Democrats, socialists and all those other self described "compassionate" people. Mandating that workers be compensated in greater amounts than that determined by the free market ALWAYS comes at a cost that must eventually be paid in the form of higher prices for everyone and higher unemployment throughout the workforce.

TANSTAAFL

[Netizen]

Or they could have kicked us all out and hired Mexicans. :)

Exactly.

I have worked at both union and non union places. One of the union places, like you, reduced our wages at the company's request. The company said they wouldn't close their doors and move south if we took a wage reduction. They lied! lol The union bartered in good faith, it was the company that lied.

Too often people think that just because someone works at a unionized workplace that they are lazy and not worth their wages.

I have worked at non union workplaces too. The biggest problem with them is that they tend to take advantage whenever possible. Mandatory overtime with no warning. They can fire you on a whim at their discretion. One place I worked at, I worked 12 hour days for 100 days with no days off. Finally, I took the 101 day off. What did I do with my day off? I slept!

Contrast that with a similar situation at a unionized workplace, where the company had to give us a day off at least every three weeks.

In areas where decent paying jobs are hard to come by, a union can help insure that a company treats their employees in a humane manner.

If employers treated their employees well, there wouldn't be a need for unions. jmo

[CSM]

"About 70% of WM employees (and their children) are dependent upon upon government for Medicare or Medicaid."

Yet the people aren't angry at the government for even delving into such an individual choice? How stupid are these people that are angry? They want the government to take care of them, therefore they want to limit the choice of the other 30%.

[CSM]

I can't believe any FReeper would use "Political Affairs - A Marxist Monthly" as their source. Talk about kool-aid.....

[CSM]

"© 2005 United Food and Commercial Workers International Union."

First you source a Marxist publication, now you source this bunch of socialists. Feel free to continue to align yourself with the loony left of Oregon as well. Your agenda is showing and your credibility is gone.

Name one socialism success story?

[CSM]

From your link:

---

"Specifically, the Committee estimates that the low wages result in the following additional public costs being passed along to taxpayers for an average 200-employee store:"

$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
$42,000 a year for low income housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
$100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of 2 children.
$108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children’s health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
$9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance."

---

Of course, if you didn't have the socialist policies in government above, the operating costs of Wal Mart could be lowered and the wage of workers could be raised. This is a government caused problem, the answer is not more government.

Why are you on FR?

[Kieri]

I've found your statement on WM and other stores to be true. When our first Wally World opened a couple of years ago I shopped there, teased by the word-of-mouth and my SIL's loyalty to the chain (she lives in Arkansas). I found it crowded, the asiles cluttered and disorganized, the checkouts packed and the prices were NOT competitive. Groceries I buy on a regular basis were priced higher than Meijer: that said, Meijer had been lowering prices for months in anticipating of losing customers to Wal-Mart. They didn't lose me.

One thing they have in common -- lousy checkouts.

[CSM]

"He takes the position that employers have no duty to provide any benefits to workers. That may have been true in the early 1900's. That is not true today. Most employers offer decent wages and health care benefits. WM elects to provide the minimum."

This alone shows that you hate the economic natural state of capitalism. Capitalism is not an economic policy, it is a natural state. That is the root cause of your socialist policies failing.

If other employers offer more, for the same value added labor, why does the employee CHOSE to stay employed at Wal-Mart?

"I take the simple position that WM is allowing the government to provide health care benefits."

Then why not support legislation eliminating the programs that allow for any citizen to get government provided health insurance?

[CSM]

"You sound just like an activist for Wal-Mart. Or, perhaps, a lobbyist spending a few hours on FR to help your client. I do not buy your arguments either."

You post crap from Marxist monthly and union activist sites and when it gets pointed out to you that these websites are run by socialist activists, you call that poster an activist? Is your closet full of brown shirts?

All you are doing is web thuggery!

[CSM]

"I ask anyone..."

Hey, looks like I pre-emptively took you up on your challange.

[CSM]

"I only purchase U.S. products, made in the U.S., with U.S. parts, by U.S. workers, from U.S. owned companies."

You must go thru a lot of shoes as it would be impossible to make a purchase that meets that criteria for any high cost item. (i.e. automobile)

[pamlet]

Have you actually SHOPPED at Wal-mart ... then Target ... then HEB? While like anything yes you can find "bargains" .. but overall Wal-mart offers greater selection and lower prices on groceries.

For meat - I hit Costco or Sam's ... but for basic groceries Wal-mart is consistently lower .. at least here in South Texas.

[CSM]

Where is that store?