Posted on 05/11/2005 4:42:13 AM PDT by JBW
The latest liberal crusade is against the Wal-Mart stores.
A big headline on a long article in The New York Times asks "Can't A Retail Behemoth Pay More?"
Of course they can pay more. The New York Times could pay its own employees more. We could all pay more for whatever we buy or rent. Don't tell me you couldn't have paid a dime more for this newspaper. But why should any of us pay more than we have to?
According to The New York Times, there is a book "by a group of scholars" due to be published this fall, arguing that Wal-Mart has an "obligation" to "treat its employees better."
This can hardly be called news. Nothing is easier than to find a group of academics -- "scholars" if you agree with them -- to advocate virtually anything on any subject. Nor is this notion of an "obligation" new.
For decades, there has been lofty talk about the "social responsibility" of businesses or about a "social contract" between the generations when it comes to Social Security. Do you remember signing any such contract? I don't.
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It would be devastating to the egos of the intelligentsia to realize, much less admit, that businesses have done more to reduce poverty than all the intellectuals put together. Ultimately it is only wealth that can reduce poverty and most of the intelligentsia have no interest whatever in finding out what actions and policies increase the national wealth.
They certainly don't feel any "obligation" to learn economics, out of a sense of "social responsibility," much less because of any "social contract" requiring them to know what they are talking about before spouting off with self-righteous rhetoric.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
That is not true by any means. In the overwhelming number of situations, American workers produce far more in value than they cost, and further, they produce multiple times as much in a convenient manner as do these "low cost" places - thus the unit cost is lower.
It has certainly become a stable pool - one which is becoming more proficient. The thing is, that the pool has mostly been hired now and is experiencing wage pressure as businesses are beginning to have to actually compete for their services.
Whoa! If these "scholars" can actually read and comprehend this, that would really sting. Better put some ice on that.
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