Walmart

[Gail]

Do you shop at Wal-mart?

[Woody]

Oh YES. The more money I can save the more I can give to God.

[Taylor]

:)

[Woody]

Thanks Taylor. It seems to me that if I can save say $5.00 by going to Walmart ... then I can donate that $5.00 to the church rather than going to some Christian organization and having it eaten up in their expenses. Walmart can get them cheaper than another Christian organization ... so God and I can save more money in the long run.

[Halfstep Denise]

I think if I shopped at WalMart, my mother-in-law would consider it grounds for divorce! ;-)

Halfstep Denise

[Gail]

Personally I am with Amelia on this one. I also refuse to shop at Wal-mart because of the fact that I would be helping a U.S based company (I support local) run by one horrendously rich family.

That is besides their employment standards which I view as unfair

And this is besides the impact it has on the local economy

Just MHO

[Woody]

Hey ... Where is Amelia. I am looking for her but can't find her.

[Gail]

Look at the Shout box... that might give you a hint :)

[Woody]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[bevin]

Yes, all the time - WalMart, Home Depot, various supermarkets, Amazon, and my car repair garage account for almost all my shopping.

Why should I pay more for the same item to some less efficient organisation?

If the USA is stupid enough to fund its health care etc. through voluntary work-related schemes, and then to have the tax payers pick up the bill for those companies that don't have such schemes, then it deserves to have smart companies like Walmart follow the rules and let the tax payers do what the tax payers have voted to do.

Sensible countries, trying to maintain competitive industries, fund a low-level social safety-net for everyone from taxes and let those people who want any extra coverage buy it for themselves.

/Bevin

[Robert]

Do you shop at Wal-mart?

Very little....

Thanks to unfair trade policies Wal-Mart is putting Americans out of work. When they started outsourcing jobs to Red China their profits went from about 20% to 60%.

The average Chinese can't afford the goods they produce. So you have this terrible trade deficit. More Bush economics gone wrong....Corporate American has Bush in its pocket!

[Gerr]

Do you shop at Wal-mart?

Only out of necessity. I am disgusted with Walmart. We have a friend who works for them. She's not only underpaid, they are given a certain amount of work which they are expected to accomplish within their allotted shift but which is unrealistic; so they wind up working overtime, overtime that they are not paid for. They don't provide health coverage for most of their employees, so taxpayers wind up subsidizing Walmart when their uninsured employee goes to the ER or hospital and can't pay.

Gerry

[puddles]

Unfortunately, out where I live, Wal-Mart is about the only place TO shop. Therefore, I must shop at Wal-Mart, just not for everything. I try to get some things online.

[Dr. Shane]

Not only do I shop at Wal-Mart, I am a stock holder too. Sadly it hasn't been doing much the last few years although I do get a little in dividends.

I will have to say that I pretty much agree with Bevin. I favor some kind of universal health care and Wal-Mart cannot be blamed for the health insurance crisis we have in the US.

While we can focus on the negative - how Wal-Mart's employees are low paid - let us not forget that because of Wal-Mart many of those in poverty can afford nice clothing, electronics, housewares and toys. When I was a child growing up in poverty, we didn't have a Wal-Mart where we lived. We had a Second-Hand store. I never had any new clothing until I was an adult and bought it for myself. Our television was a black-and-white set we bought used. If we would have had a Wal-Mart in our community we would have had a higher standard of living.

[bevin]

Quote:

let us not forget that because of Wal-Mart many of those in poverty can afford nice clothing, electronics, housewares and toys

Exactly.

And it applies in China too. I was watching a documentary on the rise of China's industrial economy and they were interviewing a factor-worker - 20 yr old female, earning about $0.60 a day - and she was sending half of it home to her parents, living in a domitory, had enough to do some shopping for herself and was saving to go to Med School to be a doctor!

If American workers want to get paid >$20,000 a year, they need to do a job that is worth it.

I know - I am in one of the most out-sourcable jobs there is - computer programming. The only reason we get paid what we do is because we can demonstrate that the company (Intel) makes more profit when they pay us to do it than when we don't. We have actually been helping train programmers in Russia and China, and the American engineers are definitely still more cost-effective for many purposes - we get paid a lot more than they do, but we do a lot more than they do.

/Bevin

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

I am in one of the most out-sourcable jobs there is - computer programming.

I thought you were a paramedic...

[Amelia]

Quote:

let us not forget that because of Wal-Mart many of those in poverty can afford nice clothing, electronics, housewares and toys.

Most of the 3rd world factory workers making those clothing items being sold at Wal-Mart cannot afford to shop there. One young mother in India making Wal-Mart clothing couldn't even afford meat to feed her family of 4 who all live in one room with a dirt floor.

[Robert]

If we would have had a Wal-Mart in our community we would have had a higher standard of living.

Yes, YOU might have, but what about others? Tell your "higher standard of living" to

1] the father who is unemployed because of unfair trade policies prompted primarily by Wally World.

2] And while you are at it tell that to the Chinese Father who is making about 50 cents on the hour and can't afford the goods he is producing! He has no labor rights - no environmental laws to protect him. He is practically a slave!

Whose getting rich - the poor? No, Wally World. Why? Bush! This man is all about corporate greed. He is selling America out!!!

That's right, keep it up Bush...screw over hard working Americans and screw over the Chinese workers...hold them down were they can't unionize. What a Christian....NOT!

BTW, vote John Edwards!

Robert

[Robert]

I know - I am in one of the most out-sourcable jobs there is - computer programming.

Get this...as you know "big business" sends lobbyist to bride our lawmakers in Washington. It's big bucks! Anyway, these Corporations have laws made [purchased] were they can rotate well Educated Indians (from India) on a 3 to 6 month visa for about 1/10 the cost of some IT person here. So if you are making $50,000 every six months here, they'll do it for $5,000.

Who wins?

A] The Indians?

B] Americans?

or

C] Big business

Right, C!

Can you say, "corruption"?

[Dr. Shane]

One only need to visit our local Wal-Marts to see all the cars with Mexican plates on them to know how much the third world loves Wal-Mart. INS issues "border passes" so that Mexicans can shop along the border. (Check points on our highways prevent them from going further than 60 miles inland)

Wal-Mart is efficient. They put things on the market as cheap as any other retailer. This is true in Mexico and any other countries where they do business. No matter how one looks at it, Wal-Mart makes products available to the lower classes that they would not otherwise be able to buy.

Would we all feel better if Wal-Mart paid their employees more, provided more benefits, raised their prices, became less competitive and poor people went back to buying things from the Second-Hand store? Somehow I don't see the social justice in that scenario.

[bevin]

Quote:

I thought you were a paramedic...

I work two jobs - programmer Mon-Fri 7am-6pm, medic on nights and weekends.

Between now and Monday 7am I'll have done 34 hours as a medic - 10 on a transfer truck, and 24 on a 911 truck

/Bevin

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

That's right, keep it up Bush...

So now Wal-Mart is Bush's fault?!?! I think (correct me if I am wrong) Wal-Mart was successful before Bush became President. Wasn't it President Clinton that passed NAFTA?

The Chinese father wouldn't be making more than his "50¢/hour" even if Wal-Mart went bankrupt. I know the American and Japanese factories in Mexico are the best paying and best working conditions of any of the factories in Mexico. They earn about $10/day and there are a line of others waiting to get a job with them. I don't know about China, but in Mexico the government actually tells the American companies how much they are to pay the workers. The companies don't decide the wages, the government does.

[bevin]

Re: Robert's IT Indians on H1 visas.

The Indian's win - because they get paid well, and they learn a skill

The Company wins - because they get the job done cheaper

The Company's customers win - because the Company now sells the goods/services at a lower price. They have to, because competition is very fierce.

The losers are the American IT workers who are pricing themselves out of the market. If they would do the job for less, the job would be theirs.

I know what the costs and prices are in the computer industry. There is a reason that most big computer companies have gone bankrupt over the last 10 years - and it is not because they are making big profits. You don't go bankrupt making profits.

/Bevin

[Robert]

Quote:

That's right, keep it up Bush...

So now Wal-Mart is Bush's fault?!?! I think (correct me if I am wrong) Wal-Mart was successful before Bush became President. Wasn't it President Clinton that passed NAFTA?

[Robert]

Re: Robert's IT Indians on H1 visas.

The Indian's win - because they get paid well, and they learn a skill