Posted on 02/01/2014 9:01:30 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Wal-Mart stores and its Sam's Club chain are apparently hurting from the cuts in the federal food stamp program that went into effect in early November.
The impact from the government's reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits had a much greater effect on the world's largest retailer than originally expected by the company. Combined with consumer fears about the economy and winter storms that also hurt store business nationwide, the cuts made a bad situation for Wal-Mart even worse, according to a statement from Wal-Mart Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley carried by the Associated Press.
The estimated $5 billion cut from the program dragged down store sales over the Christmas period, more than offsetting the usual bump from the holiday season during the fiscal fourth quarter.
Noting that about 20 percent of Wal-Mart shoppers use food stamps, Morningstar financial analyst Ken Perkins told Reuters, "Wal-Mart caters to lower-income consumers which have been hit disproportionately hard relative to higher-income consumer."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
The “The Thank you for your service, but...” started on post 31.
I am in a similar situation to you but I have not applied for disability. I probably won’t since I can work. I just don’t want to go through all the hassle. I get retirement pay and Tricare, and for now that is enough. I can get free meds on base, too. My final physical found a lot of chronic conditions and the Colonel doctor said I should apply but I never got around to it.
You sound like a libtard when you say silly things like that...
The one and only reason Wal-mart sells groceries is because they have the buying power to undercut the other grocery chains prices...and offer their customers, welfare queens and poor taxpayers alike, a one stop shopping concept...
It's all about volume buying and leveraging their size for the best cost...
There are a few benefits to the Heartland here.
Most popcorn (of any kind) is more local and always good. It’s actually hard to find beef and other meat that isn’t really good. And eggs are almost always cheap and fresh. Same with milk and butter.
When Wal-Mart sells the exact same item as their competitors, they are generally priced noticeably lower; the quality issue arises with the generic “Great Value” brand - it is just not very good. We have good quality items here; they just aren’t cheap.
Identical branded items in Iowa WalMarts are almost never cheaper than their main competitors, such as Fareway and Hy Vee.
I don’t believe this at all. It’s not the cut in EBT. I believe it’s all the taxpayers who couldn’t afford to spend on Christmas. None of my family spent a dime.
“Identical branded items in Iowa WalMarts are almost never cheaper than their main competitors, such as Fareway and Hy Vee.”
Good; then those stores (and jobs) can survive!
I call BS.
Food stamps in the past 5 years under Obama have risen over 60% in total handed out.
The ‘cut’ was only about 1%.
Do your own math.
I’d like to know how they’re doing that, since VA disability, unlike SSDI, has to be related to your time in service or manifest itself within one year of getting out. I was a veteran’s representative at the state unemployment office for 15+ years, so I’m more familiar with veteran’s benefits than the average bear and all the cases I’ve ever seen were service-connected in some way. The VA, unlike Social Security, doesn’t throw money at people and is very stringent about ratings, from my experience. Again, unlike SSDI, there is no “means testing” of VA disability. If Warren Buffett, Don Trump or Bill Gates were disabled veterans, they’d be drawing their monthly payments, working or not, no matter their income from other sources.
If you ever decide to do that the best veteran’s service organizations to go through (be represented by) are the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) or Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) IMO. And no, you don’t have to have a spinal cord problem or be paralyzed to use the PVA as your organization for the purposes of preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Depends on the product. For example I find their $2.25 frozen pizza to be superior, to my taste, to the $4 and higher name brand pizzas in every way.
You’re right about my evidence of VA disability ratings being a scam. It’s anecdotal, but when I sit through retiree briefings and the instructor is telling everyone to submit for a disability in hopes to get a rating, see “disabled” vets on a very regular basis who are, in fact, gainfully employed with no apparent impact on their ability to earn, and get letters from the VA all the time asking me to apply for disability, you can’t blame me for being someone skeptical about the VA disability process.
I did serve and faithfully executed my orders while I served. I deployed regularly throughout my entire career, but I wasn’t in direct combat. I totally respect those who were, especially those who were injured, including PTSD. As I wrote, we owe them everything we can do for them.
That said, I stand by my statement regarding VA disability ratings. It’s not like I don’t talk with other retirees all the time, and there seems to be a general consensus to apply for all you can get. Like I wrote, that’s entirely legal, except that I feel it’s personally dishonorable to try and get a rating when one clearly isn’t disabled to the point where it affects their real world ability to get and hold a job.
Isn’t that what disability is supposed to be about in the first place, i.e. taking care of those who can no longer take care of themselves? So a vet may no longer be able to haul a square of shingles up a ladder due to back injuries suffered during service, but that doesn’t mean they can’t easily find other work. Most do.
Again, disability should be focused on those who are really truly incapable of taking care of themselves. We have a slew of laws and regulations to help those with minor disabilities find work, to include federal hiring preferences. Why should the nation pay disability to a vet who is fully capable of holding down a job, especially the many thousands the nation continues to employ and pay as civil servants? Otherwise, why have all the disability laws and carve outs in the first place?
In regards to smoking on duty, that’s a choice. I could act like I’m an irresponsible child and claim I smoked because everyone else did it, or I smoked because I was stressed out. Regardless, that’s my choice, and military members are supposed to believe in individual responsibility and integrity. They may have put cigarettes in our C rations back in the day, but no one forced anyone to smoke them.
The same thing could be said for alcohol which was always readily available. I think it’s even safe to say the military had a drinking culture, but it was still each individual’s choice whether to kill their liver by drinking to excess.
I may have hit a sore spot by mentioning smoking. Maybe you’re one of those two-packs-a-day vets with COPD who is now disabled. If you are, no one is preventing you from applying for disability. It’s legal, and I do agree that the VA ratings are a crap shoot. Some people who do deserve them are getting delayed. Others seem to get amazingly high ratings in a short time. Part of the problem is likely that so many vets apply, and that gums up the system for those who truly are in need.
One last thing. When it comes time to cut government spending, a military vet earns their benefits. There is plenty, PLENTY that should be cut before vets, but every government program, including VA disability, needs to be carefully scrutinized so that as much fraud, waste, and abuse are eliminated as possible.
Thank you for your service.
Or may they're buying food with less of a markup and they're buying less that they waste. Some are probably finding their way to some of the discount chains that have good prices on practical foods.
I'd say that WalMart is less able to exploit those who get government handouts.
When people who’ve never done anything for this country or their community are drawing a living wage from Uncle Sugar I see no problem with ANY veteran getting every benefit available to them. Did you see the John Stoessel episode where the surfer bum draws hundreds a month in food stamps and with it buys lobster, steaks and etc.? How did he “earn” those monies? By being born?
OTOH, I (and others I know) find Wal-Mart’s “Equate” brand of pharma items, particularly their version of Tylenol to be superior than the real thing.
It’s pretty much the only item (along with ammo...when they have it) that I but at Wal-Mart.
When we visit relatives in Europe, they request that we bring them bottles of the “Equate” brand of Tylenol.
I am going later to day to buy Great Value soups. The Great value Clam Chowder is fabulous. The Chicken and Dumplings are very good and the tiny ravioli are better than Chef Boardee. The whole line of the soups are good.
My main mission though is to buy Mill Stone Kona Coffee.
I bought a case of pears and peaches to learn they are not as sweet as I would like but I’m eating them
I’ll get to wear my camo billed hat with the Mossy Oak Logo so I can fit in.
You say that like it's a bad thing!
Yeah. Wells (and George Pal) didn't get all the details right)
The country is bankrupt. Only the fact that we can loan ourselves whatever we want, essentially creating money out of nothing, keeps us going. I agree veterans clearly aren’t on the same level as welfare deadbeats. I certainly wouldn’t put VA disability on the top of my reform/cutback list if I was king for the day.
In regards to means testing, maybe the government should do that. Disability to me means an inability or greatly reduced ability to work. You mentioned Bill Gates. Let’s say he was a vet with a service connected disability rating. If the disability didn’t prevent him from becoming a billionaire, why should the nation take care of him? That’s like asking for charity when one doesn’t actually need it (I’m speaking of the moral aspects, not the legality of the VA disability system).
“Don’t blame Walmart, they just sell groceries to shoppers, they don’t run the government.”
The only Walmarts I’ve ever been in ( total of 2) looked like Mexico City with a few ME’s thrown in for good measure! The language spoken was primarily Spanish, and the “food” that was being purchased was stuff that’s bad for your health (Cheetos, Doritos, and Coke). No wonder those folks are all short and fat.
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