God I hate Walmart

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Recouping monies from those who cannot afford to take care of themselves is the lowest form of human walking the earth today. I'll be burning copies of this video and distributing them all over the place. I use rubber gloves and a public computer.

Effin' WAL-MART. If Sam was still alive today, this case have would never seen a court room.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/0...art.lawsuit.cnn

[AFTiger 282]

BF, check your insurance plans because this is fairly standard.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Recouping monies from those who cannot afford to take care of themselves is the lowest form of human walking the earth today. I'll be burning copies of this video and distributing them all over the place. I use rubber gloves and a public computer.

Effin' WAL-MART. If Sam was still alive today, this case have would never seen a court room.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/0...art.lawsuit.cnn

Why should they be able to double dip and get twice the benefits they are due? Tragic as it is, WalMart isn't in the business of giving away $$. No matter how much they made. Think of how many others might fall in the same or similar situation. At what point does someone draw the line between " ok, you get the $$, but not you ?" .

But nice of those reporters to remind her of her dead son, so they could get their all important grieving shot. Who really are the bastards in this story ? Why, it's CNN, of course.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Yeah, everybody sees WalMart as this evil machine...and they put a brain damaged girl in front of us...so we instantly say "well she's got a sad story, so WalMart is wrong"...

REGARDLESS of what her policy said. So what does that mean? Healty people who get settlements get the shaft? Non-Brain dead people have to take theirs on the chin?

It's crappy. But the whole "Walmart has all this money and she doesn't have much money" is not an argument. And they'll get trounced in court. Socialism isn't a defense.

[AURaptor 1,126]

Commenting that WalMart made 90 billion or what ever in profit isn't fair at all. How many drugs does WalMart sell for just $4 for a month's supply? And that's for EVERYONE who has those prescriptions, not just WalMart employees ? This family's story seems like a Greek Tragedy, and it's truly a cruel , bad hand they've been dealt. I wonder if there's been no attempt to appeal to their local church, or community.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

Commenting that Wal-Mart made 90 billion or what ever in profit isn't fair at all. How many drugs does Wal-Mart sell for just $4 for a month's supply? And that's for EVERYONE who has those prescriptions, not just Wal-Mart employees ? This family's story seems like a Greek Tragedy, and it's truly a cruel , bad hand they've been dealt. I wonder if there's been no attempt to appeal to their local church, or community.

The court settlement, it would seem, are for damages and would help fund long term care. The insurance carrier WAL-MART provided paid for immediate medical care. The funny thing is that WAL-MART is going after this money and not their insurance carrier, unless of course, WAL-MART is the insurance carrier.

90 Billion dollars is a lot of money made off the back of American and foreign workers. Slave labor in China and other countries. I have no problem boycotting WAL-MART and most of family does not shop there because of the rudeness of their employees and the clientèle who shop there. We'll just go there for the prescription deals and that's it. Otherwise, we'll shop at Target.

[SouthLink02 8]

If WalMart allowed this case, it would create a massive windfall of others wanting the same treatment

[BamaGrad03 0]

Commenting that Wal-Mart made 90 billion or what ever in profit isn't fair at all. How many drugs does Wal-Mart sell for just $4 for a month's supply? And that's for EVERYONE who has those prescriptions, not just Wal-Mart employees ? This family's story seems like a Greek Tragedy, and it's truly a cruel , bad hand they've been dealt. I wonder if there's been no attempt to appeal to their local church, or community.

The court settlement, it would seem, are for damages and would help fund long term care. The insurance carrier WAL-MART provided paid for immediate medical care. The funny thing is that WAL-MART is going after this money and not their insurance carrier, unless of course, WAL-MART is the insurance carrier.

90 Billion dollars is a lot of money made off the back of American and foreign workers. Slave labor in China and other countries. I have no problem boycotting WAL-MART and most of family does not shop there because of the rudeness of their employees and the clientèle who shop there. We'll just go there for the prescription deals and that's it. Otherwise, we'll shop at Target.

Why would WalMart go after the insurance provider? The payout didn't go to them.

[AFTiger 282]

Commenting that Wal-Mart made 90 billion or what ever in profit isn't fair at all. How many drugs does Wal-Mart sell for just $4 for a month's supply? And that's for EVERYONE who has those prescriptions, not just Wal-Mart employees ? This family's story seems like a Greek Tragedy, and it's truly a cruel , bad hand they've been dealt. I wonder if there's been no attempt to appeal to their local church, or community.

The court settlement, it would seem, are for damages and would help fund long term care. The insurance carrier WAL-MART provided paid for immediate medical care. The funny thing is that WAL-MART is going after this money and not their insurance carrier, unless of course, WAL-MART is the insurance carrier.

90 Billion dollars is a lot of money made off the back of American and foreign workers. Slave labor in China and other countries. I have no problem boycotting WAL-MART and most of family does not shop there because of the rudeness of their employees and the clientèle who shop there. We'll just go there for the prescription deals and that's it. Otherwise, we'll shop at Target.

Why would WalMart go after the insurance provider? The payout didn't go to them.

I believe that Walmart is self insured. They are the provider but administered through someone like Blue Cross or UnitedHelathcare.

[quietfan 233]

Terribly sad...I think I feel more for the husband/dad than anyone: Losing a son (albeit in a noble manner), essentially losing the wife you once knew, yet stuck with the pressures and responsiblities. The wife apparently has mood swings and her screaming fits, but is she mentally aware enough to suffer the emotional stress her husband deals with on a daily basis? (Having dealt with two parents in nursing homes with dementia for extensive periods before their deaths, I can empathize with him.)

I also despise Walmart for many reasons...but I can't hold them to blame in this particular incident. They're just following standard policy as written into their health care contract, and if they bend the rules for one case they open themselves up to an avalanche of possible claims/demands from others seeking similar "rule bending".

My thought: I realize the Walmart fortune has been dilluted somewhat through division among several family members since Sam died, but I bet many of them could still spare $500K to help this woman and her family. How about a little charity and good media attention out of your own pockets, Waltons?

P.S.--Anyone know how to reach this family and/or contribute to their cause? I'm not saying I can come anywhere close to $500K (I wish!), but I'll send 'em my meager check to help out today if I know how.

[au2004ece 30]

I read an article about this where the man said "Wal-Mart made 90 billion last year, why do they need 90 billion and 200 thousand?". I guess Wal-Mart is supposed to subsidize every injured person who can't take care of themselves now.

I think this statement sums up everything liberals stand for. Just because somebody makes a lot of money, then liberals think those with less are entitled to it. Why didn't he say "Exxon made XXX billion last year, they should give us some money too!" or "My neighbor is rich, he should give us some money we are not due also".

Do you think if somebody hits your car that you are entitled to their insurance paying you for the damage plus your own insurance paying you a second time for the damage? Of course not.

However, I do agree that charity from those who do wish to give is great and should be how this problem is handled.

[BamaGrad03 0]

That's like the car wreck I recently had. It was the state's fault. My insurance provider said they would pay for my claim and recover their monies from the state...or i could go after my $$ directly from the state.

But not both.

[AURaptor 1,126]

90 Billion dollars is a lot of money made off the back of American and foreign workers. Slave labor in China and other countries. I have no problem boycotting WAL-MART and most of family does not shop there because of the rudeness of their employees and the clientèle who shop there. We'll just go there for the prescription deals and that's it. Otherwise, we'll shop at Target.

It's hard to have a sincere, honest discussion when you're such a blatant, unrepentant communist, and hypocrite. By all means, shop there for the cheap drugs ! You go right ahead and show that big, mean company what's what !

[MDM4AU 336]

BF, check your insurance plans because this is fairly standard.

Not really. Wal-Mart is a self insured group. They basically write their own benefits, etc. . You may be thinking of subrogation in instances where the driver at fault in an accident has liability insurance. The health plan may initially pay the claims then go after the auto insurer to cover the cost of claims.

With most fully underwritten groups (in Alabama anyway) you won't see such things as what Wal-Mart has.

[AUesquire 1]

This is a standard subrogation clause, typical in most every health care plan. The insurer has the right to recover funds paid to or on behalf of their insured when another party is ultimately liable for the damages. The insured, in this case the brain damaged woman, cannot do anything to jeopardize their right of recovery, which in most cases means signing a full release. If the insured signs a release, the insurer can no longer go after the liable party and will then turn to their own insured for reimbursement, which they are entitled to under contract.

With most companies, such as with Blue Cross, you can negotiate fairly substantial reductions, especially when you have a hardship case like this one. It sounds like there was little or no communication between Wal Mart, the liable carrier and the plaintiff's attorney. Something could have easily been worked out before it got to this point.

[AFTiger 282]

After legal fees (and taxes?) $417,000 was left. Walmart claims to have paid $470,000 in medical expenses.

So the lawyer took his cut. The Federal Government took its cut. But everyone is upset with Walmart?

[AUesquire 1]

No taxes on compensatory damages. Any part of the settlement listed as punitive would be taxable. Usually not listed as punitive if there's an out of court settlement because the parties can call it anything they want.

[CCTAU 3,346]

After legal fees (and taxes?) $417,000 was left. Walmart claims to have paid $470,000 in medical expenses.

So the lawyer took his cut. The Federal Government took its cut. But everyone is upset with Walmart?

Don't forget the state. In GA, the state can take up to 50% of the judgment.

[AFTiger 282]

No taxes on compensatory damages. Any part of the settlement listed as punitive would be taxable. Usually not listed as punitive if there's an out of court settlement because the parties can call it anything they want.

Should the lawyer have anticipated this? It has been pointed out to me that some injury suits over long term care require the defendent to provide for long term care rather than pay a lump sum. That would have been different and Walmart would have no recourse.

[AFTiger 282]

While we are hating Walmart, let's consider this

Friday, March 28, 2008

In Wal-Mart We Trust

Who did the most to help victims of Hurricane Katrina? According to a new study, it was the company everyone loves to hate

Colby Cosh, National Post

Published: Friday, March 28, 2008

Shortly before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast on the morning of Aug. 29, 2005, the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, gathered his subordinates and ordered a memorandum sent to every single regional and store manager in the imperiled area. His words were not especially exalted, but they ought to be mounted and framed on the wall of every chain retailer -- and remembered as American business's answer to the pre-battle oratory of George S. Patton or Henry V.

"A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level," was Scott's message to his people. "Make the best decision that you can with the information that's available to you at the time, and above all, do the right thing."

This extraordinary delegation of authority -- essentially promising unlimited support for the decision-making of employees who were earning, in many cases, less than $100,000 a year -- saved countless lives in the ensuing chaos. 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 the Federal Emergency Management Agency 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. In Kenner, La., an employee crashed a forklift through a warehouse door to get water for a nursing home. A Marrero, La., store served as a barracks for cops whose homes had been submerged. In Waveland, Miss., an assistant manager who could not reach her superiors had a bulldozer driven through the store to retrieve disaster necessities for community use, and broke into a locked pharmacy closet to obtain medicine for the local hospital.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart trucks pre-loaded with emergency supplies at regional depots were among the first on the scene wherever refugees were being gathered by officialdom. Their main challenge, in many cases, was running a gauntlet of FEMA officials who didn't want to let them through. As the president of the brutalized Jefferson Parish put it in a Sept. 4 Meet the Press interview, speaking at the height of nationwide despair over FEMA's confused response: "If [the U.S.] government would have responded like Wal-Mart has responded, we wouldn't be in this crisis."

This benevolent improvisation contradicts everything we have been taught about Wal-Mart by labour unions and the "small-is-beautiful" left. We are told that the company thinks of its store management as a collection of cheap, brainwash-able replacement parts; that its homogenizing culture makes it incapable of serving local communities; that a sparrow cannot fall in Wal-Mart parking lot without orders from Arkansas; that the chain puts profits over people. The actual view of the company, verifiable from its disaster-response procedures, is that you can't make profits without people living in healthy communities. And it's not alone: As Horwitz points out, other big-box companies such as Home Depot and Lowe's set aside the short-term balance sheet when Katrina hit and acted to save homes and lives, handing out millions of dollars' worth of inventory for free.

No one who is familiar with economic thought since the Second World War will be surprised at this. Scholars such as F. A. von Hayek, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock have taught us that it is really nothing more than a terminological error to label governments "public" and corporations "private" when it is the latter that often have the strongest incentives to respond to social needs. A company that alienates a community will soon be forced to retreat from it, but the government is always there. Companies must, to survive, create economic value one way or another; government employees can increase their budgets and their personal power by destroying or wasting wealth, and most may do little else. Companies have price signals to guide their productive efforts; governments obfuscate those signals.

Aside from the public vs. private issue, Horwitz suggests, decentralized disaster relief is likely to be more timely and appropriate than the centralized kind, which explains why the U.S. Coast Guard performed so much better during the disaster than FEMA. The Coast Guard, like all marine forces, necessarily leaves a great deal of authority in the hands of individual commanders, and like Wal-Mart, it benefited during and after the hurricane from having plenty of personnel who were familiar with the Gulf Coast geography and economy.

There is no substitute for local knowledge -- an ancient lesson of which Katrina merely provided the latest reminder.

ColbyCosh@gmail.com

link

[OldNewby 27]

Even though the manager of my local Wal-Mart sucks, most of the employees will go out of their way to help you when asked. We buy the majority of our groceries there (no meat except sausage, bacon) and it saves us quite a bit, and most groceries are not made in China. We also buy most of our meat, and "special" sale items at our recently remodeled Winn Dixie. Wal-Mart has not run them out of business.

With the price of gas, can't wait until the new Lowe's across from Wal-Mart opens.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

90 Billion dollars is a lot of money made off the back of American and foreign workers. Slave labor in China and other countries. I have no problem boycotting WAL-MART and most of family does not shop there because of the rudeness of their employees and the clientèle who shop there. We'll just go there for the prescription deals and that's it. Otherwise, we'll shop at Target.

It's hard to have a sincere, honest discussion when you're such a blatant, unrepentant communist, and hypocrite. By all means, shop there for the cheap drugs ! You go right ahead and show that big, mean company what's what !

There is no profit for the company on cheap drugs. Plus, I hate monopolies.

[AFTiger 282]

There is no profit for the company on cheap drugs. Plus, I hate monopolies.

Then you must really hate the public school system.

Anyway, if Walmart is a monoploy, how are you able you boycott it?

[Bottomfeeder 244]

There is no profit for the company on cheap drugs. Plus, I hate monopolies.

Then you must really hate the public school system.

Anyway, if Walmart is a monoploy, how are you able you boycott it?

Maybe not yet a monopoly, but closing fast. And, yes I do really hate the public school system, especially, here in Alabama. What a joke.

[BamaGrad03 0]

There is no profit for the company on cheap drugs. Plus, I hate monopolies.

Then you must really hate the public school system.

Anyway, if Walmart is a monoploy, how are you able you boycott it?

Maybe not yet a monopoly, but closing fast.

Closing fast? Please provide details.

And, yes I do really hate the public school system, especially, here in Alabama. What a joke.

I went to public schools in Alabama from K-12...and I feel I got a very good education. I took 9 Advanced Placement classes in high school, I was very prepared when I went to college.

Education, often times, is what you make of it.