Liberals hate Wal-Mart because it represents capitalism. Socialists and Communists
can't stand it when capitalism succeeds.
Liberals especially hate Wal-Mart because it is the country's largest employer and
the employees of Wal-Mart are
not unionized.
One anti-Wal-Mart organization is called the WalMart Alliance for Reform Now, and is a
subsidiary of ACORN. If
you're not familiar with ACORN, you can read some eye-opening information about the group
here and
here and
here.
D.C.'s minimum wage folly.
The nation's post-election leftward lurch is gaining momentum. Six states, including New York and California, are agitating
for a boost in the minimum wage. Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, wants the federal government to set a nationwide wage floor
that will automatically rise each year. Not to be left out, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on Tuesday circulated his
proposal for a 55 percent increase in the minimum wage over the federal level, which he would only apply to employees of the
"big box" retailers that liberals love to hate.
Wal-Mart and Hostess: Two Union Stories.
Yes critics can argue that Wal-Mart gets its products cheaply made in China, wrecking jobs here. That's a legitimate point. However, does anyone
seriously think shutting down Wal-Mart will stop that trend?
Paid Enough to Buy the Product. In the past several years, a virtual industry has
been created in bashing Wal-Mart. From leftist church groups to the AFL-CIO to the Chronicles, Wal-Mart has been the favorite
whipping boy of people on all sides of the political spectrum. Thus, it was no surprise when I recently received an emailed article from
the quasi-Marxist Sojourners magazine not only attacking Wal-Mart for the usual set of "sins" that the critics claim, but also a new
transgression: Wal-Mart's business practices, on net, make our economy worse off and leave us poorer.
Wal-Mart: Only 50 employees protested; UFCW
disputes. Wal-Mart claimed today [11/23/2012] that the much-hyped Black Friday protests at the non-union retail giant fizzled out, with only
50 associates — their term for employees — taking part. The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which organized the
protests, disputed that figure though. It said "hundreds and hundreds" joined in at events across the country.
Failure Of Walmart Walkout Underscores Union Decline.
Despite gaining a stranglehold over the public sector, unions are losing ground in the private sector. This was seen again in the failed union walkouts against retail
giant Wal-Mart.
Fail: Lone Union Worker Walks Out of Walmart.
The walkout was led by — and entirely constituted by — Vanessa Ferreira, 59. She told her manager that she was going on strike.
The other workers watched her leave, shrugged, and went back about their business.
So, How Did Those Wal-Mart Protests Go?
Well, in Chicago, protestors were bussed in to stand with the lone store employee who decided to protest. Our Walmart claims there were protestors in over
100 cities today, which would be an astronomical number of people protesting. Walmart had a slightly different estimate. "We estimate that less
than 50 associates participated in the protest nationwide. In fact, this year, roughly the same number of associates missed their scheduled shift as
last year," Walmart chief executive Bill Simon said.
Would-be killer decides against
rampage at 'Twilight' screening for Walmart instead. A homicidal Missouri man who planned to slaughter viewers watching the "Twilight" movie series
finale instead targeted a nearby Walmart to rachet up the death toll. Blaec Lammers, 20, remained held on $500,000 bond Saturday [11/17/2012] after his mass
murder plot was undermined by a phone call from his terrified mother to police.
Wal-Mart files U.S. labor charge against union. Wal-Mart
Stores Inc is taking its first legal step to stop months of protests and rallies outside Walmart stores, targeting the union that it says is behind such actions.
The
wealthiest person in each of the 50 states. Bill Gates, who is America's wealthiest person worth $64.5 billion, still
lives in Seattle, Washington near to the headquarters of Microsoft which he founded, while Wal-Mart heir, Jim Walton,
worth $33.6 billion lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, where the retail giant is headquartered.
The Wal-Mart Effect Comes To
Health Care. Giant discounter Wal-Mart says it will soon offer vaccinations for a wide variety of ailments. Can
the "Wal-Mart Effect," which has helped slash U.S. inflation, do the same thing for soaring health care costs?
Thousands rally against Wal-Mart in Chinatown.
Several thousand people, led by a banner that read "Wal-Mart= Poverty," marched through Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles Saturday [6/30/2012] to decry
the giant retailer's plans for a neighborhood grocery store and the chain's low-end wage scale and non-unionized workforce.
Walmart Caves to Van Jones, Drops
ALEC Support. The coordinated leftist attempt to destroy the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) over
ALEC's support for voter ID and "stand your ground" laws reached a new low today when Walmart, the biggest retailer in
America, suspended its membership in the group.
Understanding the Progressive Mind.
[Scroll down] In a recent editorial, the editors of the Chattanooga Times called for the imprisonment of Wal-Mart
executives and the destruction of Wal-Mart stores because the company did what every other company
has done when it wants to do business in Mexico: pay some bribes.
House Democrats launch probe of alleged
bribery at Wal-Mart. A pair of top House Democrats disclosed Monday [4/23/2012] they are investigating allegations that Wal-Mart's Mexican
subsidiary paid bribes to speed permits for new-store openings.
Walmart hit by bribery probe, shares plunge.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc lost $10 billion of its market value on Monday [4/23/2012] on concerns that a bribery investigation in Mexico could
be very costly and hinder its plans to grow. In a sign that the problem was widening for the world's largest retailer, two U.S. lawmakers
said they were launching their own investigation into allegations in a New York Times article that Wal-Mart de Mexico had engaged in a multi-year
campaign of bribery to build its business.
Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed
Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle. In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former
executive at the company's largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail and follow-up conversations, the former executive
described how Wal-Mart de Mexico had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance. In its rush to build stores, he said, the
company had paid bribes to obtain permits in virtually every corner of the country.
The Editor says...
So what? Nothing gets done in Mexico without bribery. It's part of their way of life. The way business is conducted in other
countries — even by U.S.-based companies — should be of no concern to American politicians.
The Permit Plague. [T]he untold scandal
here is that businessmen, at home and abroad, are compelled to secure government permits. When corrupt officials use this
(illegitimate) power to shake down companies, one should blame not the businesses that are attempting to be productive, but the
statist idea that such permissions are a proper function of government. The way to eradicate such corruption is to fight
for the complete separation of state and economics.
Why the
civil service is no way to run a business. Think back over the years about your experiences
in your local department of motor vehicles. Only the most strenuous efforts by local officials, like
former Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, get a DMV operating with anything close to Walmart efficiency.
The folks who concocted this lawsuit against Walmart want, in effect, to model the private sector of the
economy on the civil service. That's why they took on the largest private-sector company of them all.
How
Wal-Mart drives progressives crazy. One reason Wal-Mart is such a fun company to observe is it drives
progressives nuts. They have a split personality before the Bentonville behemoth. One day they hate
the retailing giant for undercutting mom-and-pop shops, for contributing to sprawl and all manner of other alleged
social ills. The next minute they love Wal-Mart, even saying it's on the "side of the angels" for fighting
banks over the issue of "interchange fees."
Wal-Mart
In Unions' Cross Hairs. The union idea of civil discourse is to protest outside opponents'
private homes. Now union supporters are targeting a developer, with fliers showing a bull's-eye
and his home address.
Liberals abhor capitalism, profit, and free-market success. Liberals
Don't Hate Money, They Hate Walmart. The hypocrisy, inconsistency
and general idiocy of our age — a "liberal" age — knows no limits. Consider
liberal/socialist outrage over Walmart. Walmart, liberals argue, is greedy and exploits its workers
by not paying them what they consider enough. How much is enough? This is never specified.
However, the definition is clear: "Enough" consists of more than workers are currently making at
any given time. It will never be enough. The issue is profit. Liberals hate profit
and success, especially when it occurs in the free market.
Thuggery Prevails
among Leftist Unions. In Washington, D.C., a group calling itself "Wal-Mart Free DC" targeted
the developer of a proposed Wal-Mart in that city for a protest. The location of that protest?
The front lawn of the man's private residence, where 25 people showed up last Thursday night.
How did they know where to go? The group distributed a flyer with the developer's home address —
one which also contained drawings of cross-hairs and a smiley face. The group claimed it is not
affiliated with any particular union, but on the right side of its website home page it displays a link
to "Wal-Mart Watch" which is funded by two union groups, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
and United Commercial and Food Workers International Union.
Activists
wage campaign against Wal-Mart in D.C.. Neighborhood activists, affordable housing advocates
and labor unions are mounting campaigns aimed at thwarting Wal-Mart's plan to open its first stores in
D.C. ... Thursday night [12/16/2010], about 20 activists staged a protest at the home of a development
executive planning the store, walking in circles on the snow-covered sidewalk chanting "Keep D.C. Wal-Mart
free."
Union
makes State Senate Democrats return Walmart money. State Senate Democrats have bowed to pressure
from furious labor leaders and returned a controversial $15,000 campaign contribution they received from
Walmart, The [New York] Post has learned. The action came just days after last week's disclosure in
The Post that the Democrats had accepted the cash from the union-resisting Arkansas-based retail chain,
which is believed to be interested in putting its first city store in Senate Democratic Leader John
Sampson's Brooklyn district.
Wal-Mart
Strikes Back. It's quite a role reversal: The feds are complaining about getting
dragged into court, having to file time-consuming paperwork, and generally being treated like any
taxpayer who get crosswise with the IRS. It seems Wal-Mart, the 800-pound gorilla of retailers,
is challenging a fine in connection with the death of a clerk at one of its stores on Long Island, who
was trampled to death the day after Thanksgiving of 2008. The poor guy was overrun by a
crowd — or rather mob — rushing into the store for the biggest shopping
day of the year. As a result, Wal-Mart was fined $7,000 by OSHA, the federal job-safety
agency.
'Wal-Mart Moms' Turn on the
Democrats. The bad news for Democrats keeps pouring in. Now it comes from Wal-Mart
moms — women with children under 18 who shop at Wal-Mart. They tend to be Democrats and
more of them than not voted for President Obama in 2008. But they're leaning Republican this year.
Economic Myths, Fallacies and
Stupidity. [Scroll down] Wal-Mart owns 8,300 stores, of which 4,000 are in 44 different
countries. Its 2010 revenues are expected to top $500 billion. Putting Wal-Mart's revenues
in perspective, they exceed the 2009 GDP of all but 18 of the world's 181 countries. Why is
Wal-Mart so successful? Millions of people voluntarily enter their stores and part with their
money in exchange for Wal-Mart's products and services. In order for that to happen, Wal-Mart
and millions of other profit-motivated businesses must please people.
Jobs On Aisle Three.
A group of ministers wants a big-box retailer to create jobs in a desolate area of President Obama's hometown.
In a largely jobless recovery, why are the labor unions and political bosses fighting the clergy?
Wal-Mart means
low-priced goods and good jobs. [Scroll down slowly] With such a reputation for ruthlessness, Wal-Mart must
be struggling to find workers, right? Yet when the company opened a new store in St. Paul's Midway area in
May 2004, about 6,000 applicants vied for 325 job openings, according to Joyce Niska, the store's acting manager in
2005. That, too, was nothing new. For years, people have beaten down the doors to work at Wal-Mart.
Union Intensifies Efforts to Organize Workers at
Wal-Mart. The United Food and Commercial Workers union is ramping up organizing at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. after
a five-year lull, dovetailing with its efforts to win support in Congress for a bill to make union organizing easier.
Fly
on the Wall. Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart. Others, like the
family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain. I, meanwhile, am in awe of it.
Who did the
most to help victims of Hurricane Katrina? The results are recounted in a new paper on the
disaster written by Steven Horwitz, an Austrian-school economist at St. Lawrence University in New York.
While [FEMA] fumbled about, doing almost as much to prevent essential supplies from reaching Louisiana and
Mississippi as it could to facilitate it, Wal-Mart managers performed feats of heroism.
Wal-Mart
ordered to allow union contract in Canada. A Quebec arbitrator imposed a labor contract
Friday [8/15/2008] at a unionized Wal-Mart outlet there, marking the first such deal involving the
retail giant in North America.
Wal-Mart Back on Top of Fortune 500. Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. dethroned Exxon Mobil Corp. to win back first place on the 2007 Fortune 500 list after a confluence of
economic forces led American companies to their most profitable year in the compilation's 53-year history.
Wal-Mart to Pay
$530 Million in Bonuses to U.S. Staff. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., under pressure from unions and
politicians to boost wages and benefits, increased its annual bonus payments for U.S. hourly workers to
$530 million and announced new rewards programs for employees.
Theft rising at U.S. Wal-Mart
stores. Shoppers at Wal-Mart stores across America are loading carts with merchandise — maybe
a flat-screen TV, a few DVDs and a six-pack of beer — and strolling out without paying. Employees
also are helping themselves to goods they haven't paid for.
Wal-Mart Drives Democrats Batty. The
New York Times reported recently that the Democrats have, en masse, declared their party to be the enemy of the mega-box
store. Sen. Joe Biden Jr. (D-Del.) recently delivered a "blistering attack" on the company at an anti-Wal-Mart rally in
Iowa, and other Democrats have appeared at similar events.
Hatin'
that Store. Not long ago, the idea that attacking Wal-Mart was smart politics was a somewhat
quixotic notion, found mostly in union offices and a few left-wing websites. Today, it's mainstream
Democratic party doctrine. … The bottom line is that liberal Democrats — and virtually
nobody else — believe Wal-Mart is bad for America.
Hollywood
economics: Apparently Wal-Mart does not pay its employees as much as third-party observers would
like to see them paid. But obviously it is not paying them less than their work is worth to other
employers or they probably would not be working at Wal-Mart. Moreover, third parties who wax indignant
are paying them nothing.
Waging War On Wal-Mart: Some
progressives, as liberals now prefer to be known, would rather rid the world of Wal-Mart than of Baathists.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is not preserving its reputation for seriousness, has
listed Vermont — all of it — among America's most endangered historic places. Why? Because of a
threatened "onslaught" of seven more — Vermont has four — Wal-Marts. The other 49 states have
3,044. Texas has the greatest number (317), Hawaii the fewest (six) aside from Vermont.
The 'Wal-Mart
effect' strikes again. By slashing prices on flat-panel TVs, the retail giant has clobbered
another sector — this time, consumer-electronics stores.
The Editor says...
Please notice that the article above reeks with bias, castigating Wal-Mart for undercutting
the competition, as if there is something criminal about drastic price reductions.
Obama called
hypocrite for wife's Wal-Mart link. [Michelle Obama] has just been re-elected to the board of an
Illinois food-processing company, a position she took up two years ago to gain experience of the private
sector. And the biggest customer for the pickles and peppers produced by Treehouse Foods is the retail
giant Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation and the bê'te noire of American liberals,
including Sen Obama, for its employment practices, most notably its refusal to recognise trade unions.
Update: Mrs Obama quits
controversial job. Michelle Obama, the wife of the American Democrat presidential candidate
Barack Obama, has resigned from the board of a food company whose biggest customer is Wal-Mart, the retail
giant under fire from her husband. The Sunday Telegraph reported two weeks ago that her position at
Treehouse Foods could raise claims of hypocrisy as Senator Obama attacked Wal-Mart for its anti-union
employment policies.
Edwards and Obama Battle Against Wal-Mart:
Senator Obama and another potential Democratic 2008 presidential contender, a former North Carolina senator,
John Edwards, will speak to activists from one of Wal-Mart's most vociferous union-backed critics today as
debate over the world's largest retailer becomes increasingly political.
Oops! Edwards Acknowledges Wal-Mart
Gaffe. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that a staff member for former Sen. John
Edwards — a vocal critic of the retailer — asked his local Wal-Mart store for help in
getting the potential 2008 presidential candidate a Sony PlayStation 3.
Do as I say, not as I do. Edwards acknowledges staff asked
Wal-Mart for Playstation 3. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards acknowledged Thursday
that amid his criticism of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a volunteer member of his staff asked the world's largest
retailer for help obtaining a hot new Sony Playstation 3 for Edwards' family.
Class Warfare in the Aisles of Wal-Mart.
While ordinary working-class people across America were queuing for the new PlayStation 3, one fellow had a
bright idea — dropping his boss's name at Wal-Mart to get the next-gen console sent over on the QT
for the boss's family. Unfortunately, the boss was former Sen. John Edwards, John Kerry's would-be veep
and famous nemesis of Wal-Mart's evil dominion over the Earth. The hypocrisy was delicious: It was
on the same day Edwards was talking to union activists about Wal-Mart's labor policies.
Little minds don't grasp big-box appeal.
People who buy their groceries from Wal-Mart — it has one-fifth of the nation's grocery
business — save at least 17 percent. But because unions are strong in many grocery
stores trying to compete with Wal-Mart, unions are yanking on the Democratic Party's leash, demanding
laws to force Wal-Mart to pay wages and benefits higher than those that already are high enough to attract
77 times more applicants than there were jobs at Evergreen Park's store.
Putting a lid on the big box.
With San Diego's City Council and mayor preparing for a showdown, America's biggest employer finds itself in a
familiar place — at the center of a controversy over its superstores.
Shining
the Light on Wal-Mart's Corporate Social Responsibility Blind Spot. Wal-Mart's emphasis on
fluorescent lighting illuminates a much deeper problem. First, it illustrates the company doesn't understand
the nature of its battle or the motivation of its adversaries. For the Left and its socialism leanings,
Wal-Mart is a symbol of capitalism and free enterprise. This represents a mortal threat to labor unions and
aspiring liberal politicians who value economic equality through wealth redistribution.
Court Rejects
Maryland's Anti-Wal-Mart Law. A federal appeals court on Wednesday said the State of Maryland
may not require large retailers (Wal-Mart was the target) to spend 8 percent of their payrolls on health care
for employees. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court
ruling that said Maryland's law violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Wal-Mart
faces historic sex bias case. The biggest sexual discrimination case in U.S. history advanced
against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Tuesday [2/6/2007] when a top court ruled that more than a million women
could join a suit charging bias in pay and promotions.
City Council votes to
place restrictions on big-box retailers. San Diego has joined a growing list of cities nationwide
to place restrictions on large retail developments — a move that pits the city squarely against
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer.
The
long, losing war to smear Wal-Mart. Pity the Wal-Mart haters. For them, these are dark
days. Until recently, you didn't have to work too hard to convince people that the world's biggest
retailer was plotting to destroy every little community in which it set up shop. Over the past decade,
we've been repeatedly told that Wal-Mart is a nasty, rapacious, corporate villain that exploits workers,
crushes rivals and is responsible for everything from the U.S. trade deficit to the destruction
of the environment.
Is Anti-Wal-Mart Legislation Good for
Us? Does anti-Wal-Mart legislation further the public interest? Wal-Mart's critics say that
many of its employees earn wages so low that they qualify for benefits under Medicaid, costing the government
money. (The same is true of the U.S. Army, by the way.) While it is true that some of the
lower-wage workers employed at Wal-Mart and elsewhere qualify for Medicaid, it's reasonable to ask whether an
employer should be held responsible for providing its employees with health care just because it provides
them with a job.
Defending a Vilified Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart has recently been named by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the country's top companies for
diversity. The firm was also celebrated this year by Diversity Inc., Asian Enterprise Magazine, the
National Association of Women, Black MBA Magazine, Careers and the Disabled Magazine and by Hispanic
Magazine for similar accomplishments. This is the company that Democrats are campaigning against?
The
liberals have it all wrong. The median household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is under
$40,000. Wal-Mart, the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this
galaxy, has almost as many employees (1.3 million) as the U.S. military has uniformed personnel. A
McKinsey company study concluded that Wal-Mart accounted for 13 percent of the nation's productivity
gains in the second half of the 1990s, which probably made Wal-Mart about as important as the Federal
Reserve in holding down inflation.
What Left and Right Both Miss About the Wal-Mart
Debate: What's missing from the debate is the extent to which the Wal-Mart story really is the
antithesis of laissez-faire capitalism. When you look under the rug, it turns out that Wal-Mart is a
beneficiary of corporate welfare. When Wal-Mart plans a new store, it typically asks local and county
governments for an array of benefits, principally in the form of various economic development subsidies.
Here we have a complete reversal of the truth: Wal-Mart
'Has Declared War' on Dems, Union Foe Charges. Wal-Mart "has officially declared war on the
Democratic Party" just three weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, according to a group that wants
to "change" the nation's biggest retail chain by unionizing its 1.3 million employees.
Union Group
Links President Bush With Wal-Mart. A union-affiliated group says it plans to run campaign ads
linking Wal-Mart's "right-wing" agenda with that of President George W. Bush. In other words, if
you hate President Bush, you should hate Wal-Mart as well.
Daley vetoes 'big-box' ordinance.
Infuriating organized labor and delighting business leaders, Mayor Daley today [9/11/2006] vetoed an ordinance
that would have required Wal-Mart and other "big-box" retailers to pay employees a "living wage" of at least
$13-an-hour in wages and benefits by 2010.
Wal-Mart against the
wall? A democratic presidential candidate on the campaign trail attacking corporations is
nothing new. Oil companies, drug manufacturers, and the tobacco industry have all found themselves
on the receiving end of election-year criticism from Democratic politicians. Democratic presidential
contenders reportedly are at it again. This time, Exxon and Pfizer's public relations departments
can rest easier because there is a fresh corporate punching bag: Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart: Always Low Prices without Union
Vices. On any given day, copious amounts of anti-Wal-Mart sentiment circulate in the media.
Out of the spotlight, though, is past criticism of the Walton families' support of school choice. Union
detractors have settled on a different strategy and are achieving a certain degree of success influencing
public opinion to observe the company in a negative light. Critics would have the populace believe that
Wal-Mart depresses wages and eliminates jobs. … The most egregious accusation is that taxpayers and
businesses indirectly pay the costs of Wal-Mart's underinsured employees. It is alleged it is because of
Wal-Mart, that their employees rely on healthcare subsidies, food stamps, housing vouchers, etc.; costing the
federal taxpayer an average of $2,103 per worker.
'Wal-Mart Law' Overturned in
Maryland. On July 19, a federal district court ruled Maryland's "Fair Share Health Care Fund
Act" — more popularly known as the "Wal-Mart law" — cannot be implemented because it
violates a 32-year-old federal law. The Maryland law would have required companies with 10,000 or more
employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits or pay into a state Medicaid
fund the difference between 8 percent and the percentage actually spent on health benefits.
Wal-Mart to test $4 generic
drugs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., long criticized for providing stingy health insurance, plans to make
nearly 300 generic drugs much more affordable to its employees and customers.
Wal-Mart expands discount drug
sales. Wal-Mart announced today [10/05/2006] that it will sell select generic prescription
drugs at a sharply reduced price in all of Florida, nearly four months earlier than expected.
Wal-Mart
to open 400 in-store clinics. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Tuesday [4/24/2007] that it will
contract with local hospitals and other organizations to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics in the
next two to three years.
The Editor says...
That's a bad idea. Wal-Mart is already awash in bacteria. It's one of the places
that doctors warn patients to stay away from, if the patients have weakened immune systems.
Wal-Mart job pays
millions. Who says you'll never get rich working at Wal-Mart? A federal magistrate judge
has just approved a $2.8 million award for disability-based discrimination on behalf of plaintiff
Patrick Brady, who suffers from cerebral palsy. The company's offense? It "violated federal
and state laws by making a prohibited inquiry [relating to his disabilities] before giving Brady an
employment offer.
Chicago
Council Passes 'Living Wage' Act. [An] ordinance, which passed 35-14 Wednesday [7/26/2006] after
three hours of impassioned debate, requires mega-retailers to pay wages of at least $10 an hour plus $3 in
fringe benefits by mid-2010. … The minimum wage in Illinois is $6.50 an hour and the federal minimum
is $5.15. Mayor Richard M. Daley and others warned the living wage proposal would drive jobs
and desperately needed development from some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and lead giants
like Wal-Mart to abandon the city.
Bullying Wal-Mart:
Texas has become the latest state to jump on the anti-Wal-Mart bandwagon. Lawmakers recently added an
amendment to business tax legislation requiring employers with more than 100,000 employees (only Wal-Mart
qualifies) to report the number of employees who are either themselves or their families receiving benefits
under Medicaid or the Texas Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). It is a predictable first
step: embarrass employers who do not provide health insurance to their employees.
Behind the 'Wal-Mart Bill':
Labor union leaders, desperate to organize new members, view gargantuan retailer Wal-Mart as both an elusive
prize and a scapegoat for worker anger over rising health care costs. But expensive union campaigns to
tarnish Wal-Mart's reputation have largely failed. Now union leaders and their allies in state legislatures
are trying to legally mandate minimum health insurance benefitsÑagain, with limited results.
Who's Really Behind the Anti-Wal-Mart
Campaign? ACORN, a national organization of low- and moderate-income persons, has been around
since the early 1970s. The organization claims about 175,000 member families in 80 cities and advocates
left-wing populist approaches to a variety of issues including public housing, jobs, wages, taxes, and voter
registration. … While advocating living wages, ACORN has opposed paying even minimum wages to its
own workers. This was made apparent back in 1995, when ACORN sued the state of California to be
exempted from paying its own workers the minimum wage.
Wal-Mart: Always Under
Attack. Always. When journalists start referring to "the retailing behemoth," a "giant"
or a business that "destroys other companies," it's time for another Wal-Mart story.
Group:
Clinton 'so proud' of Wal-Mart. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was
an enthusiastic supporter of Wal-Mart while she was first lady of Arkansas, according to new videos unearthed
by the Center for Public Integrity, a journalistic watchdog group.
Hillary Clinton, no
longer buying baking supplies at Wal-Mart. The real issue on her mind is surely, as usual,
more political than principled: the current crusade by the left against Wal-Mart. The controlling
wing of the Democratic Party seems perpetually caught in the mindset of its heyday, from FDR through
LBJ, when politics was seen as the management of three branches of society — Big Government,
Big Labor, and Big Business.
Wal-Mart Imagemaker Quits Amid PR
Flap. In the [Los Angeles] Sentinel interview, Young was asked about whether he was concerned
Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close. "Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and
pop' stores out of my neighborhood," the paper quoted Young as saying. "But you see, those are the people
who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold
out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews,
then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
Young quits Wal-Mart group after
remarks. Andrew Young, the former United Nations ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, said
Thursday [8/17/2006] he has resigned as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart, a Washington-based group
that supports the retail giant. His resignation followed the publication of comments he made to a
reporter about Jewish-, Asian- and Arab-owned businesses.
Unions Protest Wal-Mart's Health
Care. Unions representing six million workers planned to rally Wednesday [4/26/2006] in
35 cities from New York to Los Angeles to protest what they called inadequate health care coverage by
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer.
The Wal-Mart
Model: Wal-Mart does not pay high wages or provide healthcare benefits to
all employees. But not all workers today want full-time jobs (they may want to be
home when kids return from school) or health insurance (many are covered by a spouse's
policy or Medicare). And Wal-Mart promotes from within: You can work your way up
from the store floor to management ranks.
The latest liberal crusade is
against the Wal-Mart stores. According to the New York Times, there is a book "by a group
of scholars" due to be published this fall, arguing that Wal-Mart has an "obligation" to "treat its employees
better." This can hardly be called news. Nothing is easier than to find a group of
academics — "scholars" if you agree with them — to advocate virtually
anything on any subject.
The silly war against
Wal-Mart: In response to Wal-Mart's broader plan to build 40 new supercenters in
California, opponents are mobilizing a coalition that includes the Nation of Islam and the once-grand
civil-rights group the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. How everyday low prices violate
civil rights is a mystery.
Robbing
Wal-Mart: Organized labor, having mightily tried and miserably failed to unionize
even one of Wal-Mart's 3,250 American stores, has turned to organizing state legislators. … Labor's
allies include the "progressives" who have made Wal-Mart the left's devil du jour. Wal-Mart's
supposed sin is this: One way it holds down prices (when it enters a market, retail prices
decline 5 percent to 8 percent; nationally, it saves consumers $16 billion annually) is by
not being a welfare state. That is, by not offering higher wages and benefits than
the labor market requires.
Wal-Mart In Court Fight
Over 'Wal-ocaust' T-Shirts. A Georgia man has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart in federal
district court in Atlanta in a fight over his T-shirts that compare the retailer's business practices to
the Holocaust.
[This is a strategy used by leftists all the time. They'll make an outlandish statement like this,
with no basis in fact, and when they're challenged, they'll just say, "Can't you take a joke?"]
Why
Does the Mainstream Media Blindly Accept Anti-Wal-Mart 'Facts'? It's the Christmas
season, so it's not surprising that more than 100 million Americans shopped at a Wal-Mart last
week. It is surprising how uncritically the mainstream media blindly touted a John Zogby
survey claiming a majority of us think Wal-Mart is "bad for America."
Attention,
Wal-Mart shoppers: Let your conscience be your guide. If you love buying cheap salmon
from Wal-Mart, you might not after reading Charles Fishman's new book, "The Wal-Mart Effect." Few
issues in American life, except perhaps the war in Iraq, are as polarizing these days as how Wal-Mart sits
in our landscape, our economy and our consciousness.
One
sorry mess of a party. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) returned a campaign
contribution from Wal-Mart while gladly pocketing cash from Paul Newman, Reese Witherspoon and
other Hollywood liberals. She even took a wad of dough from Jerry Springer, who made his
fortune proving that nothing is too vile to broadcast.
The freedom to
hate Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart has found enormous success in the marketplace only because many
people have voluntarily chosen to shop and work there. Wal-Mart employs more than
1.6 million people worldwide and, according to the company's published calculations, its
lower prices saved the average American family $2,329 last year.
Liberals can't stand it when capitalism succeeds. Democrats
Introduce Bill Targeting Wal-Mart. Liberal Democrats are taking
aim at "large, profitable companies" accused of shifting their health care costs
onto taxpayers. Their bill is part of a union-inspired anti-Wal-Mart campaign.
The
war on Wal-Mart: We know "the customer" isn't some paragon of wisdom
and good judgment. He's not even one thing — he's everybody. You
let "him" choose what suits him best. Ah! But only (according to the union)
if he shops where the union has a foothold. It might well mean higher prices,
but, if so, tough.
Wal-Mart Under Siege in
the Culture Wars. If a capitalist corporation gets to be a big success,
it inevitably finds itself in the cross-hairs of leftist political activists who don't
much like capitalism, and especially don't like large corporations.
FEMA versus
Wal-Mart: Many people who think that government is the answer to our problems
do not bother to check out the evidence. But it can be eye-opening to compare how private
businesses responded to hurricane Katrina and how local, state and national governments
responded.
Wal-Mart
Launches Employee Voter Drive. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday [9/29/2006] launched a voter
registration drive aimed at its 1.3 million U.S. employees in what it describes as the largest such
effort by a private company. The kickoff was held in Iowa, a key battleground in the upcoming midterm
elections. Workers at Wal-Mart's roughly 3,800 other facilities across the country also received
registration forms yesterday.
Watch Out for
Wal-MartWatch. This past week, an activist group calling itself
Wal-MartWatch claimed to host more than 1,000 events protesting Wal-Mart's hiring
practices. The group apparently got more than 400 unions, environmental advocacy
groups, and other liberal groups to cosponsor the events as part of its "Higher
Expectations Week."
The Wal-Mart
Employment Effect. The U.S. economy entered its fifth year of expansion in
November, with non-farm payroll employment, a broad economic indicator, having expanded
by 4.5 million jobs (3.4 percent) since bottoming in May 2003. Wal-Mart,
meanwhile, the nation's largest private employer, has been creating new jobs at a much
higher rate. Data obtained from Wal-Mart show the retail giant expanding employment
by 15 percent in the same two-and-a-half-year period.
On the other hand...
Liberal activists aren't the only people who don't like Wal-Mart. For many years, Wal-Mart has
been known as the leading killer of small-town radio stations. Wal-Mart doesn't advertise
on small-town stations, and their rock-bottom prices make the Mom and Pop stores stop advertising
in order to cut costs.
And now something new has been added to the mix:
Wal-Mart's
'Gay' Partnership Risks Conservative 'Rollback'. After months of criticism from union-backed
groups over its employee pay and health care practices, Wal-Mart now faces a potential "rollback" of support
from conservatives because of the retail giant's partnership with a homosexual business coalition.
Wal-Mart Called
a 'Blatant Shill for Environmentalists'. Wal-Mart has long been under fire from labor unions for
fighting attempts to unionize its employees, but a conservative ethics group Tuesday [12/5/2006] accused the
retail giant of trying in recent years to appeal to liberal interests and "cowering" under pressure from
activists.
Why did
Wal-Mart go gay? Newer than Sears, less expensive than Target, much more hip than K-Mart there
quite possibly couldn't be a more family-friendly vendor in all of America. Until this week...
AFA Withdraws Wal-Mart Boycott.
The corporate actions that had triggered the protest plans were little different from those taken by scores of major companies in recent years — Wal-Mart paid $25,000 this summer
to become a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and donated $60,000 to Out and Equal,
which promotes gay-rights advances in the workplace. However, some conservative activists depicted
Wal-Mart's engagement as endorsement of same-sex marriage and a pledge to give gay-owned businesses
preferential treatment — assertions Wal-Mart denied in its statement Tuesday [11/21/2006].
Wal-Mart's
Detractors Come In From the Cold. The mellowing of the anti-Wal-Mart movement is an unexpected
development for the retailer, whose public image and share price were bruised by the well-financed union
campaigns. On Friday [6/6/2008], when the chain holds its shareholder meeting in Arkansas, investors
are likely to applaud Wal-Mart for fending off these detractors.
Wal-Mart Goes Left. Wal-Mart, the
family-friendly, patriotic company founded by the late Sam Walton has transformed itself into a reliable ally of the
political left in order to boost revenues by pacifying its growing chorus of critics. The company now funds radical
groups and intimidates its suppliers into adopting its liberal, Big Government agenda. … The biggest recipient of
Wal-Mart money [in 2004] — at $630,000 — was the National Council of La Raza (Spanish for "The
Race"), a mostly left-wing Hispanic advocacy group — an interesting choice for a company accused by the
government of giving work to illegal immigrants.
When the going gets tough, everybody shops at Wal-Mart. Financial turmoil becomes Christmas
gift for Wal-Mart. The United States has two kinds of retailers these days: those bracing
for a grim holiday season, and Wal-Mart Stores. Sales at department stores and specialty retailers are
falling rapidly. They are cutting staff, discounting merchandise and liquidating stores to survive.
But even as the financial turmoil strangled discretionary spending at many stores, it sent struggling
consumers into the arms of Wal-Mart -- and left it, the world's largest retailer, poised for a
blockbuster Christmas.
