Walmart Is Angry With Maryland....

[RPM]

There is a bill being considered in maryland that would require all employers with at least 10,000 employees to pay at least 8% of payroll towards employee medical benefits.

in comparison, giant food stores inc. currently pays around 30%.


somebody has to stop walmart before they turn our entire country into a low budget retail whorehouse where the stores are all surounded by 6 buck an hour employees who need state aid to pay the bills and have medical insurance.


i hope maryland passes the law, and other states follow.

 

[919]

very interesting...do you have a link for this story?

 

[RPM]

ill see if i can find it...

 

[TheGeneral+]

Walmart is ruining small town America. Low pay, no insurance I think, and moving money out of small towns, causing mom & pop shops to go out of business.

 

[BoratSagdiyev]

it's going to get to the point where every single sector of our economy is going to be ruled by one corporation. The illusion of choice will be presented by having a supposed competitor around Home Depot/Lowes but in reality they will be owned by the same people. Then they will be free to charge whatever they want. The only reason ATT and standard oil etc were broken up is to make us think the Gov is watching out for our best interests while in reality there were profits to be made by them shorting the stocks of these companies or taking stakes in the most viable or their succesors.


http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050417/NEWS/504170302/1001/BUSINESS

 

[919]

Wal-Mart is the nation's staunchest opponent of providing health benefits to its workers.

As states across the country struggle to balance budgets and keep their Medicaid programs in check, data from Florida and 12 other states show Wal-Mart to be a top corporate beneficiary of state-run, taxpayer-funded programs like Medicaid.

That is, the retail behemoth deliberately cuts corners on employee health care, forcing a disproportionate number of its employees into state programs in order to receive health care for themselves and their families. Of Wal-Mart's 1.2 million employees, only about 500,000 of them receive Wal-Mart health care. That's because the employee share of premiums is so high - in some cases, up to $250 per month, about 25 percent of the average monthly salary of a Wal-Mart hourly employee - that many full-time workers simply can't afford it.


Now Wal-Mart is facing legislation in Maryland, and possibly New Jersey, that would force it to provide health care benefits to its workers.

A state legislator wants to add New Jersey to the list of states battling Wal-Mart over employee health benefits. But Wal-Mart says it will fight any efforts to "pin our nation's health care crisis on the back of one employer."

 

[Phaedrus]

Oops ...

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed a bill yesterday that would have forced Wal-Mart to pay a mandatory amount of employee health insurance or potentially cancel plans for a distribution center with 1,000 jobs. ... "This is a tax bill disguised as a health bill, and everyone understands that."

Story here.


Phaedrus

 

[RobFunk]

State aided healthcare to support Wal-Mart...

Seems the negatives of capitalism have reared their ugly head

Should we keep going until we have people in apartments with dirt floors that are 8 square ft.?

 

[Phaedrus]

There are no negatives to capitalism. Unlike other ideologies, capitalism makes no promises it can't keep.

"State aided healthcare to support Wal-Mart" runs from the fallacious assumption that healthcare is something which WM is naturally supposed to provide to its employees but for some weird reason does not. No one has a right to healtchcare, Wal-Mart employees or otherwise.


Phaedrus

 

[RobFunk]

"There are no negatives to capitalism." Are you sure you are ok, are you having one of those moments like Michael Douglas in 'Falling down' ?!


Why don't we get rid of minimum wage while we are at it? Ultimately, capitalism leads to a system where wealth, power and most importantly "opportunity" are only afforded to those born into it. Did'nt England try this a long time ago?


I believe in eqaulity, I believe in humanity. Capitalism in it's ultimacy of thought is quite barbaric.

 

[eek.]

There are no negatives to capitalism. Unlike other ideologies, capitalism makes no promises it can't keep.

great stuff

I love meaningless gibberish masquerading as intelligent thought.

My turn:

There are no negatives to Islam. Unlike other ideologies, Allah makes no promises he can't keep.

 

[RobFunk]

LMAO eek


I'm so embarased of my sons political ideals I disowned him- Phaedrus's mom 20:52:19 5/19/05 (<!--responses: 2278236-->1)
<!--insert: 2278236--><!--top: 2278241-->

• known welcher, thinks capitalism is ideal down -600 units in MLB - ONE WHO KNOWS 20:55:32 5/19/05 (<!--responses: 2278241-->0)

 

[Phaedrus]

Let me be more precise: life has negative externalities. Unlike 99.99% of all other ideologies, capitalism does not have the delusional quality of pretending to somehow make mankind immune to these externalities.

Rob, your additional comments are simply beyond the pale, and demonstrate the typical total lack of understanding of the definition of capitalism. You appear to be isninuating that capitalism is an hierarchial system of wealth distribution based on lineage. I think India is the closest thing to that we have in the world, although it's on the decline lately. Nothing whatsoever to do with capitalism.


Phaedrus

 

[RobFunk]

Phaedrus, those comments were made up. They were for laughs, not from an actual forum.


Capitalism? Power can not ignore government. If I have all the money, only thing left for me is to set up a selfish invariant of democracy. We're not Ghandi. Now is my opportunity to screw the people. And this is due to human behavior.

True capitalism can't exist without government, which just makes it oximoronic. which makes it not possible. And this is due to human behavior.

If everyone could find the peace in themselves the same way some of us do, then what you have described is perfect. But that is not even close to the case.

And this is due to human behavior.

 

[sherman]

There are no negatives to capitalism. Unlike other ideologies, capitalism makes no promises it can't keep.

"State aided healthcare to support Wal-Mart" runs from the fallacious assumption that healthcare is something which WM is naturally supposed to provide to its employees but for some weird reason does not. No one has a right to healtchcare, Wal-Mart employees or otherwise.


Phaedrus

perfectly stated....

 

[RobFunk]

As if I needed reconfirmation

 

[Phaedrus]

Phaedrus, those comments were made up. They were for laughs, not from an actual forum.

I meant the comment:

Ultimately, capitalism leads to a system where wealth, power and most importantly "opportunity" are only afforded to those born into it. Did'nt England try this a long time ago?

I believe in eqaulity, I believe in humanity. Capitalism in it's ultimacy of thought is quite barbaric.

This is silly.

Capitalism? Power can not ignore government.

Capitalism is not neccessarily powerful in the sense you are using the term. Goverment, in all human history, has done nothing but drain society of its value at best, and overtly destroy it (and parts or even entire societies with it) at worst.

If I have all the money, only thing left for me is to set up a selfish invariant of democracy. We're not Ghandi. Now is my opportunity to screw the people. And this is due to human behavior.

Humans are about 10,000% better by nature than you're asserting.

True capitalism can't exist without government, which just makes it oximoronic.

No, that's just regular moronic. That capitalism exists at all in the day of the super-state is a testament to the idea that capitalism is in fact the natural philosophy of man.


Phaedrus

 

[RobFunk]

I'm just shocked you think this way.

Humans are 10,000% better than I assert? Then why are things like the way they are? Where's my over assertions then? If the whole world was comprised of Phaedrus's then maybe capitalism could work.

You're very into yourself, you think you're being outside the box when in reality you're just more inside it.


You don't take into account human behavior to any respectable degree, and this is why your thinking comes across as flawed to me.

Capitalism has to share a belief. Which is government. Which is why everything I said is true.

 

[edub69]

How did people get together to form governments that "drain society of their value"? They wanted to be in charge and rule other people, just like our governments today. Whoever gains power are the ones that dictate how societies operate. Capitalism is something that has to operate inside of this framework. The only way Phaedrus will get his wet dream of pure, unadulterated capitalism is if anarchy becomes the order of the day.

 

[gwienges]

:digit: