Michael Medved Ping. Anyone want on or off this ping list, please send me an Fr-mail.
Not to be catty, but what the intelligentsia actually wants is a pretty set of pets they can trot out to demonstrate their own piety and wisdom with.
I shop there because it's convienient- where else can I get groceries, medicine, an oil change, and maybe a gift, all in one stop?
Here's an example- a few years ago, my wife needed a keyring LED flashlight... I had to drive all over town, and ended up paying $20 for one at an out-of-the-way sporting goods store. This was before WallyWorld expanded into the current super store size.
Last week, I passed a display there, and Lo! In a blister pack with a carabiner and penknife, was a similar keyring light- all for $5.
My nephew had this DVD and we watched it over the Thanksgiving holiday. He and I both were amused and sickened over this blatant left-wing propaganda.
What I find puzzling is that the same arguments the Left uses against Wal-Mart are the exact same as those on the Right who oppose this company. You'd think that this intellectual matchup would be akin to trying to place a square peg into a round hole.
At a certain point, however, the economic power of any company can become such that no viable competition exists any longer..
That is called a monopoly..
Some companies in the past have used unfair business practices to enhance that economic power, destroy competition, and seek such a monopoly..
Standard Oil was once such a company..
The Taft Hartley Act was passed specifically to deal with monopolies and Big Oil was the first...
Recently, Microsoft has felt the legal ramifications of public perceptions that it was trying to unfairly compete and create a monopoly in the Computer Software market...
That perception was not just an American phenomenon, but an International one..
Microsoft is still dealing with the repercussions in Europe..
Walmart has to walk a very fine line in the business world..
Too much market share can bring unwanted attention, even though it may be unwarranted attention..
Then again, it may be warranted..
It may be that Walmart thinks they can do some sort of refinement of the Microsoft strategy..
I am not saying that Walmart is necessarilly a "villian" here..
It does however, have the potential of becoming one..
**Attention, Wal-Mart critics***
IF you're among the 100 million Americans who shop at Wal-Mart weekly,***
As it has been pointed out in the past, there are always some Elitists who will say, "I'm better than you because I don't shop at Wal-Mart!"
I shopped at Walton's 5 & 10 on the square in Bentonville years ago and have no reason to change stores now because some Elitist says they are BAD-BAD-bad.
Not bad for a store that got it's start as a "Mom and Pop" business and did well.
The "great" Soviet Union had only one kind of soap in its stores, and it couldn't supply enough even of that one kind to keep people clean. Wal-Mart has whole aisles full of hand soaps, bath soaps, liquid soaps, sink detergents, laundry detergents, dishwasher detergents, shop cleaners and degreasers, and a profusion of other cleaning products. Of course the same is true with food, clothing, tools and other products. Wal-Mart delivers, socialism steals.
Socialism promises handouts to the needy, then never gives them more than a pittance. Wal-Mart hires the needy and the handicapped and trains them for a life of self-sufficiency and achievement. Welfare recipients can't feel good about themselves living on handouts. But Wal-Mart employees take pride in their work, so they feel great about themselves.
So many good points in this article. What Mr. Medved fails to realize (or more likely is to polite to point out), is that liberals are incapable of doing the most rudimentary economic analysis. Or, when their noses are rubbed in it, they just become outraged and sputter that the issue is too important to be subject to the rules of economics.
Down goes the unions! Down goes the unions! (Parody of "Down goes Frazier"!)
The amazing thing is that the libs goddess, Hitlery, has sat on(may still do so)Walmart's board and Booba has gained benefits from Walmart.
Crazy, isn't it? I don't think the libs realize; but if Hitlery wins, she will be so left out. That's the way people like her operate.
Kmart has improved lately, and I find that I prefer going there because the lines are way, way shorter than WalMart.
Walmart's problem is not low wages, or any of those other left loonie "criticisms", it's that the company seems too cheap to hire enough employees to handle the looooong lines.
I can't count the number of times I've simply left my full shopping cart at the WalMart cashier line because I refuse to stand there 45 minutes just to buy cheap toilet paper.
The cheapness of Wal-Mart comes with a hefty price tag for all of the U.S. Here are a few facts (check out http://factchecker.purpleocean.org/ for more):
"Wal-Mart Wages" is not an expression for nothing. despite anecdotal evidence of one employee telling another how great Wal-Mart is within earshot of customers, Wal-Mart is an irresponsible employer. Wal-Mart boasts that 74% of its sales employees work full-time but this doesn't mean they are making good money. In 2001, Wal-Mart sales clerks made an average of $8.23 an hour ($13,861 a year). While $8.23 an hour doesn't sound like a bad wage for part-time work while you are getting through school, people who use that job as their full-time employment are in trouble: they make $800 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. Costco's workers make an average of $15.97 per hour; Sam's Club pays $11.52 per hour.
Wal-Mart does not give good benefits. Part-time Wal-Mart workers are not eligible for family medical coverage. They become eligible for individual coverage only after two years with the company (Dan Fogleman, Wal-Mart spokesperson, is the source). Overall, Wal-Mart covers 48 percent of its workers with company health insurance. Costco covers 82 percent of its workers. Also, Costco's workers are able to get health insurance in six months, they receive thousands more dollars in health and retirement plans from their employer and far more of Costco's employees are included in its 401(k) and profit-sharing plans. Wal-Mart pays 66 percent of the healthcare premiums for those happy few covered employees Costco pays 92 percent. Employee turnover is 6 percent for Costco. For Sam's Club, it's 21 percent. Wal-Mart's turnover is a whopping 50 percent.
Wal-Mart does not help cities and counties grow their economy. U.S. counties where Wal-Mart stores were built from 1987 to 1998 had higher poverty levels than anywhere else. Here in Huntington, Wal-Mart intentionally placed its new mega store just outside of Huntington so that it would not have to contribute to the tax-base of the city. What kind of neighbor is it being? Why doesn't it want to contribute to our economy? Because that would cost more money.
Querstions for my fellow Catholics here. How does Rerum Novarum - http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15051891_rerum-novarum_en.html - the great encyclical on economics by HH Pope Leo XIII apply? How does Walmart differ from Kmart, Target, Shopko, Walgreens, Costco and the others in that regards? Is it a sin for a Catholic to shop at one particular store rather than another? Does the refusal by Walmart to carry the so-called "morning after" pill affect your opinions?
The leftest cannibals on these boards that pose as "real conservatives" will be in an uproar.
Robert Greenwald does NOT pay my bills. He does not provide this household with:
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Ziplock bags
Coca Cola
Bread
cookies
Paperback books (for cold days I cannot go outside long)
Anti Freeze for my vehicles
Oil/filters for same
Soaps of all kinds:Dish, laundry,face,body,& Downey
Coffee Groc store: $9.99 W/M: $4.98 that's 1/2 price!!
Scotch tape
I get all of the above and lots more from Wal-Mart for a serious amount less than many other stores.
Since I am far from the only one on a fixed income, I have to spend my money wisely.
I do not know Mr Greenwald's income, but I'll bet a McDonald's cheeseburger combo that it is more than the $892/month I get after working since I was 16 years old.
He can pound sand.
When he and his ilk get over a million workers out on the unemployment lines, what will be his litany then????
The sales taxes will dry up. The property will decline and property taxes will do so also. The economy will take a serious hit, as I cannot double my income to spend in the expensive stores. I can only spend what I take in. Therefore, I will live at a lower level of comfort, as will others.
What right does Robert Greenwald to hold power over my level of comfort????
The unions have their undies in a bunch over the fact that they cannot "organize" Wal-Mart workers.
I cannot for a minute believe that NO UNION WORKERS EVER SHOP at Wal Mart. I'm sure that they do.
I cannot control the cost of power or propane to run my house. I cannot control the cost of gasoline. I dropped my driving to less than a third with the cost of gas. and made big lists to do all my shopping on one trip at a time. Wal-Mart gives me a level of purchasing I need to have a decent level of retirement.
He can pound sand. Leave Wal-Mart alone.
BS!!! Any "Progressive" or Conservative with a brain realizes if there is a need for goods and services, some enterprising person will provide. I guess we all lived in caves before Walmart showed up.