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

[David Masten]

On Wed, 2005-11-16 at 17:01 -0500, Rik van Riel wrote:
> Like the folks at Berkeley, who quantified some of the
> disadvantages of Wal-Mart economy:
> 
> http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/lowwage/walmart.pdf

This "paper" is pure propaganda hidden behind the facade of an academic
paper. 

The first and most egregious mistake is the apparent assumption that if
Wal*Mart did not exist, then the employees would be working for better
wages and benefits. If we make the opposite (and nearly as bad)
assumption that instead all Wal*Mart employees would not be employed at
all, then Wal*Mart has been to the benefit of California public
assistance programs to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dave