Posted on 01/18/2006 10:18:18 AM PST by Graybeard58
If politicians owned companies and ran them the way they run their governments, they'd be out of business in short order. Reckless and impulsive, they are famous for spending wastefully, charging too much for what they deliver and maxing out their credit lines, and then having the gall to dictate repeatedly how private businesses should be run.
Overriding a gubernatorial veto, Maryland lawmakers last week passed the Fair Share Health Care law, which orders companies with 10,000 or more workers to spend 8 percent of their payrolls on employee health benefits or put equivalent sums in the state Med-icaid fund.
This law is an unsubtle shot at Wal-Mart, the bane of unions and others who believe profits are evil health-care insurance is an entitlement. Among their allies is WakeUpWalMart.com, which is dedicated to "changing the way Wal-Mart" does business by substituting failed socialism for spectacularly successful capitalism.
Wal-Mart won't abandon Maryland over this, but it certainly will be less eager to expand there, and it will have to restructure its work force and rework its employment practices. Layoffs, hiring and wage freezes, and job losses for lower-income workers will be among the consequences. Price increases also are possible.
The law also will hamper economic development by sending a message to large employers that labor-loving legislators are gunning for them. This law is bad for business, but worse for low-wage workers.
All this is relevant to Connecticut because it will be one of the 30 states where Fair Share will be introduced this year.
Recall last year how our socialist legislature failed to approve an anti-jobs bill that would have taxed employers of 20 or more if their health benefits were not as generous as those of state employees. A bill more specifically targeting Wal-Mart would have a better of passage chance in a state renowned for its anti-business attitude.
Fair Share is the first step toward forcing businesses to bestow costly public-employee-style benefits on all their workers. Once enacted, the law can be amended to capture smaller companies, dictate coverage throughout the private sector and increase the amounts companies must spend on insurance.
Politicians may be horrendous fiscal administrators, but they are skilled incrementalists.
America is overdue for a sane, comprehensive discussion of health-care reform. Fair Share only makes a bad situation worse and hurts the very people it is supposed to help.
Again, I'll ask you, will you pay less or more if Wal-Mart didn't provide the jobs at all? Will you reply again, as you did before that:
Wal Mart is selling products that other American retailers used to sell to Americans, made by Americans
Thereby implying that if only Mom and Pop still employed these folks they would somehow get generous benefits that you as a tax payer wouldn't have to pay for.
Nope...Without Wal Mart paid benefits, you and I pay for state sponsored health care for these people whether we shop at Wal Mart or not..
Why just Wal-Mart? Why not all the employers in the country?
A lot of the junk Wal Mart sells comes from factories in China 'owned' by Wal Mart...I'm not talking just the store clerks...Thousands of Americans use to build the products that the chinese Wal Mart employees now build...
That problem goes way beyond Wal-Mart. Look around in Lowes, Penny's, Sears etc.
China's low wage structure is putting a crimp on Mexico, whose wages used to be the lowest and Japan whose wages used to be the lowest and the list goes on.
China has what other countries do not and that is billions of people and that makes them cheap.
At a part time job at 8-10 bucks an hour, people can't pay...It's that simple...Either we as taxpayers pay, or Wal Mart pays...So what makes more sense to you???
UHM.......are you really even paying atention to what you are writing? How many part-time jobs have you had in your life that offered you benefits?
Either we as taxpayers pay, or Wal Mart pays...So what makes more sense to you???
I don't agree with socialized medicine, which you appear to support, but you are forgetting that these people ARE working and therefore are ALSO taxpayers............sheesh.
Truer words could not be said.
We pay a good amount of money every month for our share of the insurance we have through my husband's employer, we rarely use it, but it's there when we need it. That is why it is called insurance. Just like the homeowners insurance premium I have to go pay tomorrow, haven't made any claims, but who knows what havoc could happen during the next wind, rain, or snow storm we get. And I won't even mention the problem there seems to be in this county with arson fires of late.
Or lay off enough in-state workers and bring in employees from out of state to work stores in towns near the various state lines (Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) those employees are not covered by the law.
Maybe we should all be required to drop a DNA sample to the insurance co. so they can test for genetic defects to calculate risk.
Is it any wonder why people are dropping insurance coverage? Some employers even give incentive to drop. Meanwhile as less pay in to the system coverage gets more and more expensive. We need to break this cycle leading us to national health care now.
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