What Does the War on Wal-Mart Mean?

City Journal ^ | Spring 2004 | Steven Malanga

[DugwayDuke]

"The responsibility is not to the shareholder but to the American people. Those companies are American companies. If they want to operate here they have to operate within the rules of our market. You're telling us now that they don't have to operate under our rules."

America is not a collectivist society as much as you would like to think so. The American people do not own Wal-mart, the share holders do. Wal-mart operates within the rules of our market.

"You're waging economic warfare on the American people and you want to use rhetoric as a buffer to try and get by with it."

You're the one who wishes to wage economic and class warfare on the American people by limiting their choices and forcing them to pay higher prices when cheaper alternatives are available.

"I mean some here have no compunction about saying that workers have no rights.. that you can treat them and do with them however you want."

Workers have rights, share holders have rights. There is nothing in the Constitution that guarantees anyone a job, a specific wage, or a standard of living. There are, however, guarantees of property rights.

"The sovs knew that and it's exactly whey the contemplated using what you're doing now as a tactic to incite revolution here. Someone else noted it on another thread here weeks ago - and their estimation was that it was too risky because they'd ultimately be unable to control the outcome. I'm sure they were right about being unable to control a hive of po'd Americans. But you guys are sure giving it a try."

Classical marxist theory held that there would be a race to the bottom where the workers would revolt when their standards of living fell to poverty levels. That theory has been completely discredit by the increases in the standard of living in the capitalist countries and falling standards of living in the communist countries. Corporations like Wal-mart fueled the rising standards of living in the capitalist world that discredit that theory and led to the demise of the Soviet Union.

[freethistle]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been reporting on the disproportionate number of Wal-Mart employees who have children enrolled in Medicaid.

Their personnel department provides referral information.

http://www.milescity.com/walmart/ajc/20040227.htm

A state survey found 10,261 of the 166,000 children covered by Georgia's PeachCare for Kids health insurance in September 2002 had a parent working for Wal-Mart Stores.

That's about 14 times the number for next highest employer: Publix, with 734.