Posted on 01/06/2014 6:54:56 AM PST by steelhead_trout
Edited on 01/06/2014 6:58:56 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
According to The Huffington Post, Congressional Democrats released a study Thursday that demonstrated how Wal-Mart’s wages are so low that many of its workers must rely on food stamps and other government aid programs, costing taxpayers as much as $900,0000 at just one Wal-Mart Supercenter in Wisconsin.
The report, “The Low-Wage Drag on Our Economy,” was produced by Democrats with the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Particularly if you're a white male. I have a friend who was bad off, and he found it a challenge.
Seriously, though, it’s a classic chicken and egg question. Government gives “food stamps” and Medicaid to WalMart employees because WM pays most of its workers bupkis. If there were no food stamps would WM pay more because it couldn’t rely on Uncle Whiskers to subsidize them? Good question.
If there were no food stamps, it would not change WalMart salaries. If anything, there would be MORE people competing for whatever jobs they could get, and salaries would go down. People would work longer hours to make enough money to survive.
Of course, WalMart could bypass the "food stamp" criticism by hiring only students and retirees. Probably get a better class of employees as well. This is what will happen if they raise minimum wage -- places will increase their quality-requirement on new hires, to only hire those who are worth it.
Walmart does no pay low wages, that claim is crap
I have a cousin like that. He works for a firm that does the groundskeeping for a bunch of apartment buildings. There are really a lot of jobs these guys can do, and from what I’ve seen, they are reliable as all get out. I always like to see them do as much as they can to support themselves :-)
quite possibly the worst thing that ever happened to this country was tv. Before that if you were poor, you didn’t really know you were poor. It took TV to tell us all we “should” have and then the push was on.....biggest house, best furniture, phone, cell phone, ipad, $100 sneakers, and on and on and on.
You know what make me the most angry about Walmart wages and practices?
It's the Walmart paid rooftop snipers, ready to pick off any employee who dares to leave for a better paying job.
If they were only free to leave, I might be more sympathetic, but no, they have to chose between continuing to work at Walmart, or dying.
Listen, anyone who thinks Elizabeth Warren is “right” and “correct” on economic issues is so far to the left that it’s not even debatable. She’s basically a communist.
More than a few employees of WalMart and McDonald’s aren’t worth minimum wage!
“People can start at WalMart, learn valuable job skills (you would be amazed at how many people need to learn that showing up for work, on time and sober, is a requirement for advancement), and then use that work experience to qualify for a higher-paying job elsewhere. “
You mean as opposed to being paid to remain jobless and unskilled during their ‘learning times’? Oh the horror!
Good grief! Many of the same people have been employed at our local Walmart for years. I don’t see any of them complaining. I do see a lot of college-aged kids who work there. They are, I’m sure, glad to have the job.
I don’t deny the Waltons the profits from the company they started. Go and make your own fortune. Work hard, take risks, work long hours and, like the Waltons, it will pay off. Those people working for Walmart have jobs they otherwise would not have if Mr Walton had not taken risks.
You have no idea how retail works. Wages must be competitive, Walmart has the lowest turnover rate in retail, because of the wage, benefits, and potential for advancement
I like people with lefty viewpoints being on FR. It provides an opportunity to sharpen debate skills.
Oh goody, another pro life liberal econ idiot……..sheesh…….
There needs to be a Milton Friedman test to join FR…..we’d save so many absurd comments…….(yeah, I’ve seen your posts on other threads too…)
“Everything they say applies to illegal immigrants working in the construction industry and almost everywhere. So, when are they going to close the border?”
According to leftists, communists, and the Huffington Post, Congressional Democrats released more propaganda Thursday that attempts to demonstrated how Wal-Mart’s wages are so low that many of its workers must rely on food stamps and other government aid programs.
The work of the evil Democrats continues to falsely criticize elements of free enterprise, while the far leftists have absolutely nothing better to offer, except misery and higher taxes.
People can start at WalMart, learn valuable job skills (you would be amazed at how many people need to learn that showing up for work, on time and sober, is a requirement for advancement), and then use that work experience to qualify for a higher-paying job elsewhere.
I'll say, being close to the situation, it does indeed take very little extra effort to advance in Walmart and get additional experience.
Your tagline is ironic, given your proffered opinion.
I believe you are thinking about this from the wrong direction.
The salary paid by WalMart is enough to pay for the necessities of life if those necessities were not inflated by government policy.
You’ve said yourself on other threads that income inequality started to go crazy in the 1974 to 1980 era. It is not by chance that this is also the timeframe where “deficits don’t matter” became the mantra, and literal and de facto immigration amnesty became public policy.
In a normal economy, new wealth is created by private sector innovation and production of raw materials. Starting in the 70’s, government growth has risen hyperbolically. This absorbed all the newly created wealth and essentially replaced it with debt. This behemoth government then started creating economic bubbles first with the massive overspending, then with quantitative easing to hide the massive overspending.
At the same time, the Government decided that cheap labor was desirable, and so immigration of skilled labor was tightly restricted while unlawful entry by unskilled laborers was allowed en masse. And with their clients the teachers unions they corrupted the public school system and turned the stream of high school graduates into a glut of uneducated illiterate sheep.
It’s easy to single out an individual or corporation for blame, but they did not create the circumstance they are aligning themselves to.
Next time you post thoughts like these, perhaps you should ask yourself why there are so many people who are willing to work for such a low wage and why has the cost of basics like food and gasoline exploded?
WalMart did not create either of those factors. You and I and all other registered voters, we are supposed to be the ones to rein in government to prevent these tragic conditions. We failed, Big Time. The fault, dear Steelhead, is not in the stars, but in ourselves.
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