Hezbocrats Attack Wal-Mart

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Hezbocrats Attack Wal-Mart

By Herman Cain

The Hezbocrats, a roaming band of militant guerrillas seeking their party’s 2008 nomination for president, have most recently lobbed their rhetorical bombs at Wal-Mart, that cruel capitalist occupying corporation. The most recent base of Hezbocrat activity was Iowa, the state whose January 2008 party caucuses are the nation’s first measure of presidential preference. The Hezbocrats, armed with nothing more than Katyusha-grade class warfare rhetoric, descended upon Iowa earlier this month determined to take down Wal-Mart, a company they consider the nation’s largest capitalistic oppressor of the proletariat.

Leading Hezbocrats, including Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM), attended rallies in Des Moines to slam Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer. Wal-Mart’s crime? According to the Hezbocrats, Wal-Mart has abandoned the middle class by not paying what they consider a “living wage” or providing its employees free healthcare coverage.

At one rally, Sen. Biden stated, “My problem with Wal-Mart is that I don’t see any indication that they care about the fate of middle-class people.” Sen. Bayh added, “Wal-Mart has become emblematic of the anxiety around the country, and the middle-class squeeze.”

These are spurious charges, considering the fact that Wal-Mart’s average full-time hourly wage is $10.11. Wal-Mart also announced this month that it is raising wages by an average of six percent for employees in over 1,200 of its 4,000 U.S. stores. Further, the company offers qualifying employees a menu of 18 healthcare plans, some costing as little as $11 per month.

Earlier this year another Hezbocrat, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) returned a $5,000 campaign contribution from Wal-Mart, citing “serious differences” with the company. In a biting twist of irony, Clinton, regarded by many as the Hezbocrat militia’s leading candidate for the 2008 nomination, served on Wal-Mart’s Board of Directors for six years when her husband, impeached former president Bill Clinton, was Governor of Arkansas. In 1986, the late Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton chose Clinton as the company’s first female board member, and she received over $18,000 each year she served on the board. Even though she’s rich now, Clinton has not publicly returned her Wal-Mart salary from those six years.

The Hezbocrat assault on Wal-Mart probably has the casual political observer scratching his head over why a political party would blast away at an employer of 1.3 million Americans, not to mention his family’s favorite place to shop. The candidates claim to be looking out for the nation’s “working families” by advocating higher wages and full healthcare coverage for all employees. In truth, the Hezbocrat candidates have another agenda, one that is purely political and would hurt the very Wal-Mart employees and customers they claim to support.

Two organizations, Wal-Mart Watch and Wake Up Wal-Mart, are responsible for organizing the Iowa rallies and similar rallies across the country. As the old political adage reminds us, follow the money. Wal-Mart Watch is funded by the Teamsters Union and the Service Employees International Union. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union funds Wake Up Wal-Mart. Why would Big Labor Unions organize a fight against Wal-Mart? Because employees at the nation’s largest employer do not belong to labor unions.

Hezbocrat opposition to Wal-Mart is akin to their opposition to legislation that would have increased the minimum wage because it also contained a provision to scale back the estate tax. They pay no mind to the raft of economic benefits Wal-Mart brings to employees, customers and communities. All the critics see is that Wal-Mart has not succumbed to Big Labor Union – and Big Labor Union, pillar of the Hezbocrat Party, is not happy.

The Hezbocrats risk a huge political backlash by drawing horns and a tail on Wal-Mart’s trademark yellow happy face. They say that Wal-Mart treats its employees poorly, but who is complaining? In January, 25,000 people applied for 325 available jobs at a proposed Wal-Mart store outside of Chicago. According to Wal-Mart, over 75 percent of its store managers started with the company as hourly workers. Wal-Mart’s prices save the average American household over $2,300 per year. The company is so unpopular that over 127 million customers shop at its U.S. stores each week.

When you vote this November, remember which party places unionizing the largest private employer’s workers over jobs and low retail prices for the communities and families who need them the most. It is unfortunate, and telling, that with all the threats to our national security abroad, the candidates for president from one of the two major political parties have instead chosen to declare war on a private company right here at home.

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[DKW 86 7,419]

When you think the Hezbocrats are learning from their mistakes, you finally see that ideology trumps logic with the Democrats. Money funds Ideology over the logic. The Teamsters and SEIU are watching their bases evaporate right now. What6 do they do? Change, reform, alter their practices? NO WAY!

Watch the UAW as they form the Third leg to take Ford and GM down in the coming years. Folks, you must adapt and change in the global economy. Any organization that fails to change and adapt will go the way of the dinosaurs....extinction.

Mark my words on this....Watch as Honda or Toyota come in to "rescue" Ford from destruction in a year or so. It is sad folks, but watching this take place is going to be one sick event. ONe of the greatest car companies in the history of the world will likely go under because they could not renegotiate a UAW contract into sane wages.

[otterinbham 0]

I'm not surprised that they're whoring out to the unions.

Excellent book to read on the subject of the American economy: Cowboy Capitalism by Olaf Gersemann, an award-winning German economist. He essentially demolishes the most cherished myths about the American economy, from this nonsense about Wal-Mart (He actually credits Wal-Mart for driving down the American cost of living) to the hoary old "Rich get richer, poor get poorer" warhorse of the Democratic party.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

I hate Wal-Mart. Not for those reasons mentioned, but because their customer service since Sam Walton died has gotten progressively worse.

I still shop there out of convenience and necessity, but I wish that every Wal-Mart in America would close.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

I wonder why CostCo hasn't moved in to give them some competition.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

I wonder why CostCo hasn't moved in to give them some competition.

They have in Birmingham, but not in my fair city.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

I watched the piece 20/20 did on CostCo. Seems to be a really stable and well run outfit....what WalMart was when Sam was running the show.

[AUloggerhead 2,229]

I watched the piece 20/20 did on CostCo. Seems to be a really stable and well run outfit....what WalMart was when Sam was running the show.

We have Costco stores up in the NW and I'm a regular customer. The one in Issaquah, WA does about a $1M/day business. They're real popular.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Here's some intersting figures I received this morning courtesy of the Patriot Post. The complete article can be found somewhere here.

Imagine a private group that pays billions in taxes, creates millions of jobs and sells things at ultra-low prices. Too good to be true? It's called Wal-Mart and Democrats, for some reason, want to kill it off... This is all part of a recent trend among Democratic politicians using Wal-Mart as a foil to ingratiate themselves with middle-class voters. This may be good politics. We don't know. But those who participate in such Wal-Mart-bashing reveal themselves to be economic illiterates of the most dangerous sort... A study by economic consultant Global Insight found that, from 1985 to 2004, Wal-Mart slashed food-at-home prices by 9.1%, goods prices by 4.2% and overall consumer prices by 3.1%. If those cuts don't sound huge, consider that, all told, they saved mostly poor and middle-class consumers $263 billion or $895 per person and $2,329 per household. By now, of course, it's become obvious that Democrats aren't so much anti-Wal-Mart as they are pro-organized labor... Yet despite unions widely disseminated claims, the wages that Wal-Mart pays its employees are competitive. In 2004, Global Insight found that the average wage nationwide for jobs equivalent to Wal-Mart's was $8.46 an hour. Wal-Mart paid $9.17. Put bluntly, the war against Wal-Mart Stores is a war against the poor, and it's shocking to watch a major political party carry it out... A Zogby Poll...found that 85% of frequent Wal-Mart shoppers pulled the lever for President Bush in 2004, and that 88% of people who never shop there voted for John Kerry. Maybe the split in this country isn't so much red state versus blue, but Wal-Mart vs. non-Wal-Mart. And since 20% of Americans are Wal-Mart shoppers, Democrats might think twice before alienating them any more than they have so far.

[DKW 86 7,419]

Here's some intersting figures I received this morning courtesy of the Patriot Post. The complete article can be found somewhere here.

it's become obvious that Democrats aren't so much anti-Wal-Mart as they are pro-organized labor...

Is there anyone stoopid enough to think that the Dems ever did anything other than kiss Union

Right up this thread is my post on Ford & GM. Folks, these companies are not long term viable almost solely because their UAW contracts are insane. Watch as jobs go overseas because the companies can only get to real world wages by moving off-shore. The UAW is completely and totally unresponsive to the needs of the companies.

Not that the fat cat CEOs and MGT types didnt do their shares to harm the companies. They agreed to the insane-unsustainable wage packages. They designed cheap, unreliable, undesirable cars for years so they could meet some insane "next quarter" cost reduction line. Any time you have companies run by accountants you are going to have big trouble. Who in the heck approved such collosal sales bombs as the Aztek, the SSR, the new T-Bird, The GT-40 and others? Who took over Successful brands like Plymouth, Olds, and Mercury and ran them into or almost into the ground? I can look at the eight brands of GM and I cannot see more than 2-3 cars I would even look at. Who decided that milking the SUV craze and totally ignoring the car side of the equation made good sense? Why in the name of hell is Ford trying to develop and sell a GT-40 that they cannot sell but to a few fat cats? They need that money to save the real car sales going on now.

Maybe MGT is just now getting full awareness that they are in deep trouble. The UAW just sits there with its hands out wanting even more and more and more.

Folks, GM has a junk rated credit line. In other words no one thinks they will pay back their debt now. Ford has a 2 stages below junk rating. These guys are going to have to turn it around quickly. They are going to have to make the changes now. Ford is shutting down truck plants now, some 5-6 weeks more than normal. This is just the beginning.

[WinCrimson 61]

I hate Wal-Mart. Not for those reasons mentioned, but because their customer service since Sam Walton died has gotten progressively worse.

I still shop there out of convenience and necessity, but I wish that every Wal-Mart in America would close.

Touché

[AUman43 5]

I wonder just how many people commenting on Wal-Mart have actually worked there and know what they are talking about?

After retirement, I spent 8 months working at a Wal-Mart just to have something to do. BIG MISTAKE! They never gave me two consequetive days off, worked me off the clock as much as possible, abused other employees verbally and intimidated them (couldn't to me because they knew I didn't have to have the job) held employees to under 40 hours a week to avoid classifying them as full-time employees and payiing

Them benefits, etc. When they claim to provide health insurance to full time employees, the fail to mention that about 80% of their non-management employees work at least 2 jobs to make ends meet and cannot afford their share of the premiums for coverage. They also hide the fact that they find a way to get rid of older employees as soon as they become feeble and/or disabled. The four Walton Kids were worth about 269 Billion last year and yet won't treat their employees as decent as old Sam did. They gobble up local businesses which have provided good incomes to locals and replace them with their jobs which pay just above minimum wage. This comes from a voice of EXPERIENCE not rumor. This organization is certainly one good example of capitalism and the good ole American way of Screwing your brother to get to the top..... Republicans probably love Wal-Mart because it reflects the free "screw you" market value of things with no consideration for human suffering and injustice......

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Well Shug, tell me how this is any different than what any mom and pop joint would do. That small store that WalMart gobbled up most likely employed less than 20 people, and I have yet to see one that offered a strong benefits package (I know the ones in Pell City didn't).

They gobble up local businesses which have provided good incomes to locals and replace them with their jobs which pay just above minimum wage.

Show me a non-union retail store that pays wages significantly above the minimum.

I'm not pro Walmart by any means, but they are getting a raw deal from the media and union loving liberal democrats. These are the people that think every worker should be paid $20 an hour regardless of their skill level. Socialism doesn't work man.

[DKW 86 7,419]

I am not Pro-Walmart either. If you dont like how they do their employees, start a business and pay yours right. Free market. I know about the hold them under 40 and avoid the benefits. The folks can move on. Their are no ties holding you to Walmart.

[Captain Liger 0]

I miss the days of the small Wal-Mart stores that were equipped with just a plain 'ol snack bar. Remember those? The chili-cheese hotdogs and nachos were to DIE for.

Listen, I don't look too kindly on Wal-Mart either but they've done what probably any one of us in here would have done: taken complete advantage of an economic situation and raked in billions. That's capitalism and that's what this country stands for, love it or hate it. If you don't like it then open your own mega discount superstore and give 'em some competition. Otherwise, stop whining.

I worked at Wal-Mart too for two years during college and hated every minute of it. My dad couldn't understand why at the time. He's been a Wal-Mart truck driver for nearly 20 years now so his vantage point of the corporation is somewhat different than that of the regular worker bee slogging it out in the trenches. I can remember when Sam Walton was alive and he'd tell stories about meeting him and what a great guy he was to work for. When he'd take me on the road with him as a kid we'd go into the stores before they'd open and the workers would be having the equivalent of a pep rally. It seemed like an exciting place to work at. By the time I got hired on working in the tire and lube express Sam had been dead for years and the atmosphere wasn't what I remembered it as a kid. Quite disappointing. They plaster Sam's face all over the place and claim that "Our People Make the Difference." Nowadays its disgusting because its all about the mighty dollar with no regard to the employees...which, TM, is probably a key reason behind the crappy customer service you, like I, experience. But, regardless of how much we complain about it nothing is going to change internally at Wal-Mart and you can't really fault them for their capitalistic practices that they execute in a capitalistic country regardless of how shameful some of the stuff they do is. (is......is.....was that grammatically correct?)

[otterinbham 0]

Here's my take on the old warhorse that Wal-Mart forces small retailers out of business.

If you're a small business, you know that Wal Mart is coming to town at least a year in advance. Here's what you can do about it:

1) Figure out ways to drive down your price points so that you're reasonably competitive. Join a retailing cooperative for more buying power. You don't have to match Wal-Mart prices to compete. You just need to not be a lot higher.

2) Your Ace in the Hole is customer service. Case in point? When I was restoring my historic house on Southside, I practically lived in the hardware store on the weekends. I tried to frequent the independent operator (In Birmingham, 5 Points Hardware and Little Hardware were my alternatives). Guess what? Their inventory was chaotic, the sales help was always rude, and the prices were exorbitant. So I finally threw up my hands and started driving to Lowe's and Home Depot. The point? People will pay extra if you have helpful staff. Otherwise they might as well shop at a big box retailer.

3) Actually start marketing. Most of these retailers have lived off walk-in traffic, and got fat and lazy as a result. Just by keeping up a customer database and mailing out a monthly postcard, you can get really good results.

4) Appeal to "hometown" sentiments. When you have done #1, #2, and #3, you can make a strong case for customers to keep their money in town. After all, you know them, you support the community, etc. etc. But if you give them lousy prices, indifferent service, and don't change your marketing a lick, then you deserve to hang that "Going Out Of Business" sign in your front window.

[CCTAU 3,314]

I love Wal-mart and shop there as often as I can. If you don't like that, then stay at Target where the prices are higher and the ammo cannot be found.