[extropy-chat] Seven cents an hour? (was: Riots in France)

[The Avantguardian]

--- Jack Parkinson <isthatyoujack at icqmail.com> wrote:

> It's all a matter of perception. If it is true (as
> is widely reported) that 
> half of Wal-Marts workers live below the US poverty
> line and cannot afford 
> basic health care - then this surely places a huge
> burden on society (and is 
> breeding dissent for future trouble) - and the only
> balancing beneficiaries 
> are the Walton family.

It is absolutely true. Wal-Mart is to free market
capitalism what Jimmy Hoffa was to labor unions. That
is to say that they are the festering exception that
invalidates the rule, turning what is good and
beautiful into something ugly and attrocious. The
Walton family are corrupt robber barons in every sense
of the word with absolutely no sense of noblesse
oblige or altruistic philanthropy. Bill Gates and MSFT
are saints and angels compared to these low lifes. 

Almost all their philanthropy is self-serving,
consisting of donations to right-wing partisan causes
such as the destruction of the public education system
here in the U.S. to be replaced with a string of
private schools called Tesseract Group Inc which they
essentially own. The rest seems to go to the GOP and
candidates such as Bush that will cut their taxes. 

Yet here is where the hypocrisy of their greed comes
to light. Despite their never ending crusade against
public education, taxes, and government assisitance,
they are the "welfare queens" of corporate America
sucking down some $1.008 billion USD in government
subsidies ranging from land development subsidies to
general grant monies. All this is paid for by you and
me and other "honest" tax-payers.

http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf

 On top of this, while they beggar their own
employees, they simultaneously encourage them to seek
government assistance to make up the difference in a
livable wage.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/78/78_cover_unions.html

Relevant quote
--------------------------------
 "Wal-Mart can also teach its acolytes how to profit
from poverty. Although the Walton family spends
millions on rightwing causes to undermine what’s left
of the social safety net, their corporation urges
employees to apply for every available government
assistance. 

According to a report prepared by the House Committee
on Education and the Workforce, federal taxpayers
subsidize the typical, 200-employee Wal-Mart store at
the rate of $420,750 a year. Rep. George Miller
charges Wal-Mart is the source of "downward spirals in
communities." 
-------------------

It is almost as if they are waging socioeconomic
genocide on the poor by-

1. Not paying them enough to live on.
2. Encouraging them to go on welfare.
3. Funding political candidates to cut welfare
programs.
4. Competing with the poor for government money
through their inexcusable use of corporate welfare
programs such as land development subsidies.
5. Actively trying to eliminate public education in
this country to curtail any opportunity for the poor
to get a better job than Walmart greeter in this
country.

So next time YOU are fooled into thinking you are
saving a few bucks by shopping at Wal-mart, remember
that they are more than cancelling out your savings
with all that tax money of yours that they are
greedily stuffing into their pockets, behind your
back. 

> 
> If, hypothetically, Wal-Mart was replaced by several
> thousand smaller 
> independent stores, all paying their employees a
> decent living wage, and all 
> competing to keep prices low, wouldn't the US be
> better off in overall 
> terms?

Of course it would be. That's like asking if an
ecosystem would be healthier if it had more than a
single species. Or whether your children would be
better off if you had a larger pool than one person
from which to select your mate.



The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"If you fear death, you are not living right; if you don't want to live forever, you are not living well." - a sparrow outside my window.


	
		
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