Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 28

Thread: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

  1. #1
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    521
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    I just heard my favorite conservative radio talk-show host go on a major rant about personal responsibility. Asking the question of why personal responsibility as presented by conservatives in the U.S. applies only to individuals but not to corporations.

    What set him off was an internal memo one or more news organizations managed to obtain from Wal-Mart, wherein it is being discussed how they can further reduce the health-care expenses of their employees. This, while minimizing the public relations problems arising from this action. And Wal-Mart has been running a bunch of radio/television ads in SoCal about what a great place it is for employees!

    The reasons not to shop at WalMart keep growing!

  2. #2
    God/dess Mr Hyde's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Tampa
    Posts
    4,035
    Thanks
    278
    Thanked 586 Times in 346 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Let me guess...they will hold meetings on how their employees can get government benefits like food stamps and health care, etc.

  3. #3
    God/dess VenusGoddess's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Home
    Posts
    13,598
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 28 Times in 23 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    They're all so damn greedy. I'm glad I don't shop there anymore.

  4. #4
    Sitri
    Guest

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Basically, make sure all of the employees have jobs that make them walk around. Don't hire employees with families, hire more part-time workers.

    I truly appreciate there approach, continue paying less wages, put more Americans out of work. Eventually, there will be no consumers left to go to Walmart because they put everyone out of a job.

    They should be taxed based on the negative impact they have on the economy and have to make up for the secondary unemployement they are creating by forcing American manufacturers to outsource to foreign countries.

    RAT BASTARDS

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Joined
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    198
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    The logic that the people we are at home (conservatives, liberal, fiscally/morally responsible, ethical, etc) doesn't need to follow us to work (screw 'em we're here to make money....lying and cheating is OK as long as it's not illegal/we don't get caught) is the problem. That sort of unsustainable attitude makes things like this possible

  6. #6
    God/dess VenusGoddess's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Home
    Posts
    13,598
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 28 Times in 23 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    ^ And yet they tout themselves as FAMILY people.

  7. #7
    God/dess kryssy's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Dayton, Ohio
    Posts
    2,563
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    What Venus said^^

  8. #8
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    this little video montage was posted in Dollar Den a while back ... and pretty much sums up the situation ... go to and then click on Big Box Mart link !

  9. #9
    madmaxine
    Guest

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    I got the e-mail forward of the memo. They are trying to leverage health benefit cuts on public welfare Medicare...which means your Wal-Mart savings are coming out of your tax payments, and Medicare stinks anyway...
    I did my shopping at Longs Drugstore today......no more Wal-Mart.....

  10. #10
    Veteran Member TarynJolie's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    572
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    which means your Wal-Mart savings are coming out of your tax payments
    isn't that just lovely

  11. #11
    God/dess Bridgette's Avatar
    Joined
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Gettin the fuck outta Dodge!
    Posts
    14,241
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Wow. I've shopped at Wal-Mart my whole life and find the low prices hard to resist. But this is a bit much. I may have just changed my mind about shopping there, and that's really saying something.

    I have been shopping at CVS alot lately, since they have 24hr locations very near my home and work - and with the membership card and coupons, their prices aren't bad. I often get $4-10 coupons for anything in the store, which do add up. Maybe I'll just put WM on perm boycott. hmm

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    When you lead a nontraditional life don't try to measure it with traditional milestones.

  12. #12
    madmaxine
    Guest

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Well, my chief gripe is that Wal-Mart exploits the same "salt of the earth" folksy people they claim to care about/cater to......Playboy did a great expose article on Wal-Mart in last year's August issue. FOR EXAMPLE- my friend applied to work part-time and was told she was "overqualified." Meaning- smart enough to figure out thay they wouldn't be paying her fairly. She has an Associate's degree. They prefer a workforce not educated enough to demand a union....
    If their profit margin is so high, can't they afford to provide at least HMO-grade benefits? My dad's company has some squeaking-by years but they still have an HMO for employees.
    IMHO the US-China market trade relationship is a payoff to keep them from invading us, but hell, I want to own some American-made items, which are hard to find at Wal-Mart BTW. I have very tacky Western values and want my tacky home to reflect that. LOL

  13. #13
    God/dess Bridgette's Avatar
    Joined
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Gettin the fuck outta Dodge!
    Posts
    14,241
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Wal-Mart USED to have really great benefits for employees. My dad was a longtime employee with their warehouses and retired very nicely with a fat profit-sharing check - and had great family health insurance and other benefits while employed. Of course all this was several years ago so obviously they've changed their 'values' where employee benefits and treatment are concerned. I'm thinking this coincides with Sam Walton's death

    Quote Originally Posted by pheno View Post
    When you lead a nontraditional life don't try to measure it with traditional milestones.

  14. #14
    God/dess FBR's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2003
    Posts
    8,351
    Thanks
    85
    Thanked 342 Times in 244 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Mellow

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    The shrinking middle class is devouring its own flesh to survive. In order to eke out all they can from their declining real incomes, they shop at places like Walmart to benefit from the low, low everyday prices. Too bad that they dont see that those bargains are possible only because of quasi-slave labor in China and other foreign countries (displacing American manufacturing workers) along with sub-standard wages and benefits paid to rank and file retail employees delivering those goods to us. Im sure Walmart isnt the only large retail company doing this but they certainly are the most visible.

    Its probably too late to do much about it. What feelings of prosperity we have left are rapidly disolving. Those of us whos incomes are tied to the manufacturing sector received a gut wound in 2001 and have been in pain ever since. Workers in protected segments of the economy (health care for example) are still feeling OK but at some point there wont be enough productive, wage earning workers to sustain our health care industry. Hell, at some point it may even affect strippers! I have this horrible vision of my fav dancer up on the stage, doing her great moves for just two guys, one of them being me . As I tip her a $20 stageside, shes complaining about the lack of customers . I dont want to shoot myself in the foot by reminding her that just a few months ago she purchased a $40,000 100% made in Japan automobile and didnt think twice about it.

    Ugh...my post is very pooish. Hope Rhia lets it stand

    FBR
    Once again I have embraced my addiction and have put off the moral dilemma to another day.

  15. #15
    God/dess Casual Observer's Avatar
    Joined
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Boston MA
    Posts
    5,670
    Thanks
    35
    Thanked 144 Times in 74 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Lots of noise, not much analysis happening here. From the NYT article:

    One proposal would reduce the amount of time, from two years to one, that part-time employees would have to wait before qualifying for health insurance. Another would put health clinics in stores, in part to reduce expensive employee visits to emergency rooms. Wal-Mart's benefit costs jumped to $4.2 billion last year, from $2.8 billion three years earlier, causing concern within the company because benefits represented an increasing share of sales. Last year, Wal-Mart earned $10.5 billion on sales of $285 billion.
    Wal-Mart's 'huge' profit margins aren't particularly huge--that's a 3.5% margin, which is standard for retail in their market.

    Her memo stated that 5 percent of Wal-Mart's workers were on Medicaid, compared with 4 percent for other national employers. She said that Wal-Mart spent $1.5 billion a year on health insurance, which amounts to $2,660 per insured worker.
    Again, WalMart isn't far from the mark next to other employers of its size with regard to the shadowy and oft-touted millions on Medicaid.

    Ms. Chambers's memo voiced concern that workers were staying with the company longer, pushing up wage costs, although she stopped short of calling for efforts to push out more senior workers.

    She wrote that "the cost of an associate with seven years of tenure is almost 55 percent more than the cost of an associate with one year of tenure, yet there is no difference in his or her productivity. Moreover, because we pay an associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases, we are pricing that associate out of the labor market, increasing the likelihood that he or she will stay with Wal-Mart."

    The memo noted that Wal-Mart workers "are getting sicker than the national population, particularly in obesity-related diseases," including diabetes and coronary artery disease. The memo said Wal-Mart workers tended to overuse emergency rooms and underuse prescriptions and doctor visits, perhaps from previous experience with Medicaid.

    The memo noted, "The least healthy, least productive associates are more satisfied with their benefits than other segments and are interested in longer careers with Wal-Mart."
    Newsflash for all the WalMart haters; these are problems that every American company is facing, only for WalMart--the largest employer in the nation--issues of employee health and wages are much bigger and more urgently in need of attention, lest WalMart aspires to the brilliant management that has brought bloated union outfits like GM to the brink of bankruptcy.

    They should be taxed based on the negative impact they have on the economy and have to make up for the secondary unemployement they are creating by forcing American manufacturers to outsource to foreign countries.
    WalMart doesn't force manufacturers to use foreign factories, American consumers do. The changes in the manufacturing sector of the US are largely structural, macroeconomic changes that needed to take place irrespective of what WalMart does or doesn't do. WalMart just makes for an easy, large and faceless scapegoat.
    Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

    William F. Buckley, Jr.

  16. #16
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    521
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Quote Originally Posted by Casual Observer

    ...WalMart doesn't force manufacturers to use foreign factories, American consumers do. The changes in the manufacturing sector of the US are largely structural, macroeconomic changes that needed to take place irrespective of what WalMart does or doesn't do. WalMart just makes for an easy, large and faceless scapegoat.
    Actually, from what I've heard, they do...by telling the manugaturers that they will pay this price for a product and no more...to the point the manufaturer will go bankrupt unless they use foreign labor to manufature widgets or whatever. Since WalMart is usually going to be the biggest customer of the much smaller manufacturer, economically speaking, they have no other viable option. However, WalMart can't apply that same negotiation model to healthcare for their employees.

  17. #17
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    actually, in border states, there is a new angle for US employers to save money on the costs of providing employee health coverage ... send them across the Mexican border for medical care !

  18. #18
    God/dess VenusGoddess's Avatar
    Joined
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Home
    Posts
    13,598
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 28 Times in 23 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Quote Originally Posted by PhaedrusZ
    Actually, from what I've heard, they do...by telling the manugaturers that they will pay this price for a product and no more...to the point the manufaturer will go bankrupt unless they use foreign labor to manufature widgets or whatever. Since WalMart is usually going to be the biggest customer of the much smaller manufacturer, economically speaking, they have no other viable option. However, WalMart can't apply that same negotiation model to healthcare for their employees.
    And the only reason they say this is because the US citizens continually choose to buy there. If given the choice, would you pay $15 for a shirt that was made by some toddler in a 3rd world somewhere or would you pay $35 for a shirt that was made in the good 'ol USA?

    For as popular as Walmart is, you can bet your balls that the MAJORITY of american citizens don't give a shit about the "blood" behind the prices...they just care about saving a few bucks. They go into a farce "uproar" over sweat shops and the immorality of it all...and then go and buy more shit from Walmart. They don't care because they do not see it as affecting them. If they opened their eyes, they would see that it DOES affect them.

    And, supporting a company who barely pays their employees enough money to make a living, but enough to not get government assistance is ludicris. Of course, for these employees to STAY working there is a whole other issue. But, when you feel "desperate" you'll do anything...including buying the biggest fucking dildo you can find and plenty of KY so when you go to work, you know exactly how you're going to get fucked.

    It's bad all around...but Walmart should be made to take full accountability for their choices and decisions.

  19. #19
    Veteran Member girlnew156's Avatar
    Joined
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    262
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    I am not jumping on the kill Wal-Mart bandwagon here, but I like to point one feature.

    OK, up until I was 10 years old, my folks lived in east Europe.
    I rememer them going to a central shopping depot, where they bought
    most of their day to day needs and requirements.
    Sort of similar to Wal-Mart.

    The other day, I stopped at WM to buy some shoes, their selection is
    severly limited, like the situation with my folks.
    I remeber mama mentioning the lack of variety back then.
    Well, it has come full circle. Yeah, baby, back in the U.S.S.R, like the song says.

  20. #20
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    full circle indeed ...

    And the only reason they say this is because the US citizens continually choose to buy there. If given the choice, would you pay $15 for a shirt that was made by some toddler in a 3rd world somewhere or would you pay $35 for a shirt that was made in the good 'ol USA?
    ... especially when that extra $20 for a US made shirt comes at the 'expense' of NOT paying for gasoline, overdue credit card, a trip to the movies, or an extra lap dance.

    For as popular as Walmart is, you can bet your balls that the MAJORITY of american citizens don't give a shit about the "blood" behind the prices...they just care about saving a few bucks. They go into a farce "uproar" over sweat shops and the immorality of it all...and then go and buy more shit from Walmart. They don't care because they do not see it as affecting them. If they opened their eyes, they would see that it DOES affect them.
    Here's a different angle to consider ! In those areas where zoning, unions or whatever have managed to preclude the building of WalMart SuperCenters, the average dollars spent per recipient by state/local gov'ts on welfare payments, medicaid drug coverage, WIC food allowances, etc. is significantly higher than in other areas where WalMart's are available to provide food, clothing, drugs etc. at lower prices. This also translates into higher state/local taxes having to be leveed on taxpaying residents of areas which don't have WalMarts to pay for the more expensive welfare/medicaid/WIC benefits when benefit recipients must pay higher prices for food, clothing, drugs etc. in local stores. Thus the choice by a community to NOT allow a WalMart to open ALSO has its price.

    Still others make the argument that by NOT allowing a WalMart to open in their local area, it discourages the migration of would-be welfare/medicaid/WIC recipients into that local area by maintaining a higher de-facto local cost of living - which eventually results in lower local taxes to cover the cost of welfare/medicaid/WIC benefits by driving recipients to other communities that DO have lower costs i.e. a WalMart culture. This in turn gives rise to an entirely different line of discussion i.e. 'gentrification' ... which is arguably the true objective of the organized opponents of WalMart --->



    (snip)"The social, economic, and physical impacts of gentrification often result in serious political conflict, exacerbated by differences in race, class, and culture. Earlier residents may feel embattled, ignored, and excluded from their own communities. New arrivals are often mystified by accusations that their efforts to improve local conditions are perceived as hostile or even racist.

    Change — in fortunes, in populations, in the physical fabric of communities — is an abiding feature of urban life. But change nearly always involves winners and losers, and low-income people are rarely the winners.(snip)"
    Last edited by Melonie; 10-30-2005 at 05:20 PM.

  21. #21
    God/dess FBR's Avatar
    Joined
    May 2003
    Posts
    8,351
    Thanks
    85
    Thanked 342 Times in 244 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Mellow

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Maybe the $35 shirt makes more sense in the long term as compared to the $15 overseas one. I guess it depends on where your income is derived from.

    Im scratching my head wondering how posters here are cool with the the US turning into a third world piss ass country. Maybe they have investments outside the US of the magnitude where they dont give a shit. I didnt have that forethought so I care.

    FBR
    Once again I have embraced my addiction and have put off the moral dilemma to another day.

  22. #22
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Im scratching my head wondering how posters here are cool with the the US turning into a third world piss ass country. Maybe they have investments outside the US of the magnitude where they dont give a shit. I didnt have that forethought so I care.
    Well, to be honest, a pretty good chunk of my investments are now denominated in currencies besides the US dollar, for just this reason. However, I agree with your consternation ... particularly when it is occurring among a group whose incomes are totally dependent on the continued spending of 'discretionary income' by American club customers.

    Granted that for a fortunate few, both in terms of club customers and dancers, those who are able to live and work in 'upper class' circles and clubs and thus have access to lots of easy money, the WalMart trickle-down effect doesn't matter much (and probably never will). These 'upper class' circles shop at Lord & Taylor, Abercrombie etc. However, for the other 80% of customers and dancers, it will be an entirely different financial picture in the future as 'disposable incomes' quickly dry up.

  23. #23
    Veteran Member
    Joined
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    521
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    Quote Originally Posted by VenusGoddess
    ...For as popular as Walmart is, you can bet your balls that the MAJORITY of american citizens don't give a shit about the "blood" behind the prices...they just care about saving a few bucks. They go into a farce "uproar" over sweat shops and the immorality of it all...and then go and buy more shit from Walmart. They don't care because they do not see it as affecting them. If they opened their eyes, they would see that it DOES affect them...
    I dunno, maybe there is such a thing as financial "karma payback" to entire countries, not only individuals. Although you wouldn't know it from a country like China, where the economy is firing on all cylinders, even though they use some of the people in their prisons as slave labor. But other countries do the same with their prison populations, such as described at this website

    websitelink

    More on-topic is an interview with a woman I once saw on television. She and her husband were both laid off when their employer, a textile manufacturer, relocated the plant to China. She knew they were contributing to their own financial problems by shopping at a local "dollar store." But with both of them being laid off, she felt they couldn't afford to shop anywhere else.

  24. #24
    God/dess Deogol's Avatar
    Joined
    Dec 2003
    Posts
    5,493
    Thanks
    120
    Thanked 50 Times in 35 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    ^^^ It's called the spiral down....

    There was a time when you could make a decent dollar in the computer industry but people always went for the cheaper. An example of what is going to happen to other industries can be seen in the automotive industry and the computer industry.

    Stock up on bullets and gas - the next twenty years are going to be a ride (especially when the bottom falls out on pensions!)

  25. #25
    God/dess Casual Observer's Avatar
    Joined
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Boston MA
    Posts
    5,670
    Thanks
    35
    Thanked 144 Times in 74 Posts

    Default Re: Wal-Mart is apparently in the news again: comments re: Personal Responsibility.

    She and her husband were both laid off when their employer, a textile manufacturer, relocated the plant to China.
    The fact of the matter is, the US has no comparative advantage in the production of textiles compared to our advantage in things like avionics, software, biotech, financial services, et al.

    We aren't just a domestic economy anymore like the 1950s. Some people can accept that and adjust, and the rest bitch and suffer. This has been going on in this country since well before the American Revolution.
    Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.

    William F. Buckley, Jr.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. WAL-MART vs AMERICA
    By threlayer in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 111
    Last Post: 01-02-2013, 04:20 AM
  2. Wal mart does the right thing
    By cameron_keys in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 04-02-2008, 02:44 PM
  3. Shooting at Wal-Mart
    By Bridgette in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 08-25-2005, 11:56 PM
  4. And this is why I shop at Wal-Mart...
    By kitana in forum Political Poo
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 08-08-2005, 11:12 AM
  5. Wal-Mart, the bank?
    By Farrah_Holiday in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 02-02-2005, 01:24 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •