The new Wal-Mart opened in Janesville with the Janesville city manager gloating,” The entire community wanted you here except for a few people on the other side of the wall,” referring to a $1.2 million berm built to hide the ugly big-box from the view of nearby homes. One thing about the leaders in Janesville, they have the charisma and eloquence to make everybody feel welcome.
Perhaps the most interesting Wal-Mart bootlicking comment I’ve heard of came from John Beckord of the citizens activist group known as Forward Janesville when he called Wal-Mart a “powerful engine for the community” and said the low prices leave people with money to spend elsewhere in the city. Only time will tell on this one, with the city approving of both a Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Supercenter built side-by-side, the glee from consumers benefiting from low prices of carefully selected loss-leaders may be fleeting. Possibly, shoppers will soon ill afford to shop anywhere else but Wal-Mart or at least the double store overkill may ensure that there will be nowhere else left to shop.
Certainly, Wal-Mart invested tons of money to get their double-headed retail monster built in Janesville and they make even more money from the vertical corporate economics inherent in the retail business. But make no mistake, in the long-run, Wal-Mart will take more money from the community and send it to its headquarters in Arkansas than it puts back into Janesville and the surrounding communities. For sure, other retailers do the same, but no one does it better than Wal-Mart. After all, they are here to earn profits, not give them away.
Ahhhh, competition is good they say.
32 comments:
I'm really quite confused about the whole haterd toward's Wal-mart. This is a American company a American man who saw a niche in the retail world. He made it to what it is today. And yet the company he built and what is what America is all about gets critized by the liberals in America. Why? This company has done more for the low income earners in American than any government we have had. They are now taking on the health care problem of perscription drugs and ofering generic perscriptions for four bucks. And this is a bad thing? Hell the government can't do any better than that in a socailized program. But, yet this company always gets bashed over and over again.
The Wal-Mart of Sam Walton is very different than the Wal-Mart of today. They used to pride themselves selling American made goods. They are taking on employee healthcare issues because they are forced to.
They practice good economics by selling for the lowest price the market will bear, but its comes at a huge cost. Many consumer goods categories are priced higher at Wal-Mart than at others. I don't hate Wal-Mart, I just think allowing two mega centers side by side is not in the best interests of the retail community at large. Time will tell.
I'll gladly go elsewhere to buy my merch. I will never set one foot in either Wal-Mart or Sams. They kill the mom and pop shops that were the basis for small business in this country.
Where's the proof to that claim that the employees's are enrolled in badgercare. I would like some sort of proof to your claims.
Wal-mart's starting wage is $8.00 an hour much more above the minimum wage. So, I guess your therories are pretty much a lie.
You lefties should be happy that the employees are enrolled in the state healthcare plan. Heck it's a start for your universal healthcare isn't it?
I really like the new wal-mart store. It's so much nicer than the other one. I don't know why people hate wal-mart so much.
I keep seeing comments about the wages and benefits Wal-Mart pays its employees and how they are so low. My question is, does anyone have data on what the other local big box retailers offer their employees? Or even the "mom and pop" stores?
As for the "mom and pop" stores, if they offered better customer service, I would shop them. I absolutely hate when I walk into a small store and they do not have what I want, store employees are unhelpful and rude, and the store looks dirty. Why should I pay a higher price AND get a terrible shopping experience?
Wal-mart starts at a higher wage then the minimum wage. The fact is the liberals don't like wal-mart because they think that wal-mart doesn't offer benefits. Which in fact they do offer health, dental,and a profit sharing program along with a 401K program. The liberals don't like the fact that wal-mart is succesful they think that they should be able to dictate what a company offers an employee. The fact is there are a bunch of businesses that pay lower wages than wal-mart. But, that doesn't matter. If the liberals were true to their thoughts and convictions they wouldn't have very many places to shop.
Well I'm not a "liberal" or a "leftie" and I loath Wal-Mart. I find them to be what is fundementally wrong with corporations. Do you honestly think they would offer what they do if they weren't forced to?
Yes. To get good people to work for you you have to offer benefits and higher wages. That's just the way the market dictates it.
As a small business owner I rely on Sam's club to get my supplies and be able to run my business and be able to make a profit. So screw you people who whine and bitch about Wal-mart and Sam's club. They happen to help thousands of people just like me.
Where's the proof to that claim that the employees's are enrolled in badgercare?
Just google it.
"Wal-Mart is one of the most profitable companies in the world, yet it has more than 1,200 employees and dependents on BadgerCare far more than any other company in the state," Doyle said. "And Wisconsin's taxpayers are picking up the tab."
Badgercare story
Who pays the tab for Wal-Marts low benefits?
Then maybe diamond Jim should look into the badgercare program and close the loopholes with it. Just an idea.
You can't recieve badgercare if your company offers health insurance. Wal-mart offers health insurance to it's employees. The people recieving badgercare are probably part-time employee's that can't recieve health benefits.
You should write to Wal-Mart and tell them to reimburse the state about $8 million over the past three years for the health care their part-timers received. At $10 billion a year in profits, that's the least they can do. I'll sign your petition.
HELLO!!!! How many companies offer Part-time employees health benefits?
How many companies post annual $10 billion profits.
I have been personally involved(not Wal-Mart) in management meetings with a board of directors who issued directives to store managers to hire quality part-time workers when available to replace full-timers because the company did not have to pay health benefits - even if we had to pay several dollars an hour more.
The issue is not part-time help or the Badgercare system as much as it is extremely wealthy businesses who take advantage of a system when they can easily afford not to.
anonymous 10:17 has a good point, the loopholes have to be closed. But I can't understand why people defend a company like Wal-Mart even the company is a tax burden.
So, if a company makes billions of dollars in profits you want to force them to offer health benifits for the part-time employees? How many companies operated 6,600 stores globally? They should be able to run their business the way they want to.
In a manner of speaking......YES! Badgercare should be available to employees of start-ups and other small companies who meet the requirements and don't have the resources to afford otherwise. I also think that once a company goes public(stocks), their responsibilities to their employees should increase accordingly. If they are doing well enough to pay dividends, they are doing well enough to take care of their most valuable asset – their employees. The smaller guys need this program in order to compete against the Wal-Marts, and that is what good government is all about, to act as an equalizer. Our legislators can do this, if they could put a man on the moon, they can do this. Plus, with a smaller pool of recipients, we will have smaller government and lower taxes.
Why is it the government job to provide healthcare for me? It's my body I don't want the government involved in my choice of doctors and treatments. They already are involved in our lives to much. I like making my own decissions.
It isn't the governments job to provide healthcare. If you pay for it directly out of your pocket, you can live at the Mayo Clinic year around if you like. Nobody is stopping you from doing that. But everybody cannot afford that, so where do you go then - to church and pray?
That's why employers offer healthcare benefits to workers that work for them. There are all kinds of programs to help people get back on their feet. I don't have a problem "helping" people who are caught in hardtimes. But, I do have a problem supporting people that are able to work and be productive in society. I really don't have a problem with badgercare helping with medical expenses for working people that may qulify for the program. Maybe the program needs to be tweaked. You can't get badgercare if you work for a company that offers health insurance. Wal-mart does offer health insurance for their fulltime employees. So, the people getting badgercare must be working part-time.
Walmart has done more for the working class people then the democrats have ever done for them.
Yeah right. Boo hooo for Walmart.
An American company that the fucking liberals love to bash. Why are liberals so desperate to screw success?
Support communist slave labor - Shop Wal-Mart. A company oppressive nazi's love to emulate. Why do so many people hate good wages and benefits? People are screwing themselves when they think they are saving money by shopping at Wal-mart.
Are you serious? communist SLAVE labor? WOW. Yeah saving money really does srew people. I'm not sure who hates good wages and benefits. People aren't forced to shop or work at Wal-mart so I guess it being a nazi slave labor shop pretty mch throws your stupid theory out the window. It is scary that people like this actually are out and about in society.
Wal-Mart pioneered "Made in China" Look in the mirror, troll.
The last comment comes from a mentality challenged person. That made absolutly no sense at all.
Silly liberals just hate wal-mart because wal-mart has done for low income people that the lefties have promised them for 40 years. They have given them lower prices on items they need to live on. They have given them afordable perscription drugs. The liberals give people excuses and empty promises. Wal-mart delivers.
Wal-Mart used to pride themselves on selling only American goods. What happened? Buying Wal-Mart today is proof that American made goods are nothing to be proud of. Excluding their advertised lost leaders and prescription promotions, shoppers are being ripped off across most other categories. You can buy for less elsewhere.
Post a Comment