What is Wal-Mart Trying To Hide?

Kansas Workbeat ^

[lewislynn]

Where would you have working class people go for their housewares, socks and the like?

Working class people?...c'mon, if it wasn't for government handouts Walmart wouldn't exist as we know it.

But when unions demand over $20 per hour for menial labor,

Who contributes more to OUR overall economy, a union carpenter earning $30.00 an hr. or a (possibly illegal)non-union carpenter working for $8.00 spending what money he doesn't send back to Mexico at Walmart?

My business has done more work for union members than for non-union members...Why?..They have more money to spend.

[lewislynn]

How does putting foreign workers out of a job improve their lives?

If it's supposed to work for us, why wouldn't it work for them as well?

[lelio]

Who contributes more to OUR overall economy, a union carpenter earning $30.00 an hr. or a (possibly illegal)non-union carpenter working for $8.00 spending what money he doesn't send back to Mexico at Walmart?

According to some, now that I'm getting cheaper goods from WalMart I can then take that much I "save" and spend it elsewhere in the economy. Like, er, more goods from WalMart. Or lawn care service, wait that's done by illegals.

[sinkspur]

Yep. This "story" is AFL-CIO demagoguery. It happens every year: the "workin' man" is gettin' screwed.

And it's all Wal-Mart's fault.

Populist puffery.

[Dog Gone]

According to some, now that I'm getting cheaper goods from WalMart I can then take that much I "save" and spend it elsewhere in the economy.

Why isn't that a true statement?

[Freedom4US]

The "expert" economists so far have remained mute on this aspect, a $50 VCR seems cheap, until the social costs of divorce, meth-fueled burglary and a bunch of other nasty by-products of a "post industrial" society are factored in.

[PuNcH]

Slave labor = free trade

US Constitution = populist puffery

[xp38]

The President gets a salary of $400K a year. The campaign costs to win the Presidency alone are well above $100 million per election. I somehow doubt most who try to become the President do it for the salary. It's about the power to head the largest economic entity in the world....The US government. Le Bron James cannot order where multi billion dollar aircraft carriers go no matter how much Nike or the NBA give him.

[Paulus Invictus]

It's that Wal-Mart is the biggest user of slave labor in the world, the largest corporation in the world, therefore they are the biggest target for criticism and derserve all they get! All the rest of the "American" companies that are manufacturing and buying their stuff from the Chicoms, they are equally guilty of using slaves just for lowering their costs. We visited a new outlet mall in Las Vegas yesterday and were hard pressed to find American-made goods. Hot dogs, however, were local.

[mountaineer]

you have your head up your ***

Thank you for that enlightened, intelligent and courteous comment.

[Dane]

WAL-MART can be pretty funny, though- one Christmas I was in one in Anchorage with my wife, and they had a giant U.S. Flag hanging in the store- but EVERY SINGLE ITEM she bought (mostly Christmas decorations and toys) was "MADE IN CHINA"

When I was growing up, my mother was real big on outdoor Christmas decorations. She would take care of them like gold, while they were reletively cheap when she first bought them in the mid 60's, by the late 70's, they were expensive as hell, and I would have to go through every damn light in a 100 light roll to find out which one was burned out.

Now if a light goes out or a hundred light roll goes bad she goes and buys another one at K-Mart or Wal-Mart for $2(in the late 70's they were close to $10).

It is much easier than trying to find the bad light.

[mountaineer]

They have more money to spend.

Ask your local union members where they're spending their money, and whether they're buying only American-made goods.

[kittymyrib]

Ah! At last, someone else who gets it! Nothing in Walmart should cost more than $5 if their prices reflected the cost of manufacturing it and transporting it from China. That's why I will not buy a $60 Tonka truck (now made in China) for my grandsons at Christmas from the Great Wall-Mart. That truck should certainly sell for less than $5....but they are still charging as if that Tonka truck was still made in the USA. The same for all the Barbie doll stuff that used to be made in the USA by Mattel. Give your grandkids a zoo pass to their favorite zoo, or concert tickets, or build them a playscape in their backyard for some much-needed exercise, or if they're older, give them stock in some good now-undervalued US company. Start planning NOW to avoid contributing to the Chinese army that owns the shipping company that transports Walmart's inventory this Christmas. Do you want to be responsible for your grandsons having to fight for their survival when the Chinese decide the time is right to make their move to restore China's former supremacy, just because you wanted to save $10 on a pair of shoes? I think that's what we mean when we patriots say "shopping with conscience."

[Paulus Invictus]

Employees at W-M are not a whole lot better off in terms of spendable income either. My relative works there, and barely makes it with his "poverty level" salary and he has worked there for five years.

[mountaineer]

You can justify your support of Communist China any way you want but every time you purchase something from Wal-Mart that is made in China you are providing the Reds with more ammunition to be fired at our kids.

Thank you for exposing your ignorance in presuming I would support the Chinese killing our children, without bothering to seek the truth. The truth, not that you seem to be interested, is that I diligently seek alternatives to Chinese-made goods, whether I'm shopping at a Wal-Mart, a local mom & pop retailer, a major department store or home improvement store or online.

[mountaineer]

Have you ever lookeed into a Knapp Shoe catalog? If so you will notice a wide a varity of American made shoes.

I very rarely buy shoes and haven't seen a Knapp catalog. I will look into it, and if Knapp makes a shoe I need and can wear, I'll buy from them.

[lewislynn]

So what? "Little man" populism is over, and good riddance. I can't say as I really care whether some disaffected class warrior can afford that tricked up pickup truck, a couple of trips to the Winston Cup series or some new gear for his bass boat annually.

You're a bitter elitist SOB aren't you.

A patriotic American worker happens to do menial labor so in your twisted mind he's a "little man" and a populist too.

[mrfixit514]

I emailed Wal-Mart about their domestic partner policy and about the fact that they are selling Hilary's book and not Ann Coulter's. I never got a response but they did send me an email advertisement for a sale. I quickly followed the links to unsubscribe to their mailings. Also, there was a post this week about Wal-Mart.com selling a book that encourages pedophilia. I think Wal-Mart has some explaining to do.

[Porterville]

What can I say? All my home products and clothing is made by slave labor, everything but my Fruit of the Loom underwear made somewhere in Ohio.