Why America is Severely Broken - Meet Alice Walton

reply to post by Xtrozero

why are you nitpicking professions ??
how does any 'general labor' position that a person can walk in off the street and perform (skills or not) compare to any position that requires secondary education ??

a cook is a cook is a cook but a Chef requires a degree.
a server is a server in every establishment, however, servers who are also mgrs usually require a degree.
a cashier/independent business owner does accounting every day but neither are 'accountants' without a degree.
in-house bookkeepers are also 'accountants' minus a degree.

i really don't follow this nonsense. what is your point here ?
we aren't dicussing general payroll or employees with degrees.

if your phd chemist example wants to make more than 8 or 9/hr, perhaps they should exercise their degree and i could take it one step further and suggest they stop taking the jobs needed by so many others. they have a degree, they should put it to use.

skill is Not Based On experience or practice.
skill is natural, it is honed with practice and experience.

lawyers ??? that's your best example ?
would that be before or after we fish'em out of the pond ?

i'd differ that opinion all day but you're welcome to it.
regarding general labor jobs, about the only 'training' that is 'needed' is proper programming ... the rest comes naturally

again, we are discussing WalMart's practice of reducing hours to avoid paying reasonable wages, benefits, healthcare and or educational options. and to such an extent that many of their employees are sustained via tax dollars.

not so surprisingly, each of those 'other' jobs you mentioned seem to provide all of the above so, what's your point again ?

perhaps this is so but it isn't coming across that way.

I'm not defending Wal-Mart or any shady practices they employ

we aren't discussing minimum wage, we are discussing bad business practices of mega corporations throughout the country. this thread just happens to focus on one of them and it's leader.

sad that you insist on taking it in some other direction.

Who is really to blame for Walmarts exploitation of workers? Personally i do not blame Alice Walton she would do what any blood sucking parasite fat cat CEO would do in her situation. You have board members pushing for greater dividends and the easiest solution is to cut your costs.

Do not attack the person attack the system. The government willingly allows Walmart to do these terrible things and truthfully who is going to stop them? We all talk about change but thats all we do, talk, unless we turn our talk into action, and i dont mean marching in wall street why all the stockbrokers laugh at us, i mean real action this will become an all to familiar occurance.

reply to post by HopefulIdeologist


the problem is 9 out of 10 americans are so blinded by materialism they dont care, meanwhile we are swimming in debt!! in the 40's my grandpa didn't have an iphone or cable or $100 gym shoes etc etc he was able to buy a home and raise 6 children and he was an alcoholic lol that was before the insane greed that came through and took over.

i'll give you a situation that reminds me of the hostess fiasco. the u.s government voted to give themselves raises even though most of our checks will see increases in taxes this week. our own politicians are telling us to eat cake but we are so stuck watcing dancing w the stars and trying to keep up with the jones that we could care less about whats going on in our planet!

reply to post by n3mesis


"it sucks but it's because of the economy, no one will spend 20 dollars if they can get the same item for 10 dollars, anyone with a family knows this.. you can't fight evil while having people who depend on you and people will ALWAYS take advantage of that situation."
You should start searching for the evil within....speakiing of advantage....

See the solution lies within the problem....you (the USA) have bought this upon yourselves. Where was the outcry for the last 50 years while your companies grew strong and you lived off the fat and cheap credit at the expense of overseas workers (its only the "other" big deal). I'm talking of the South American Banana Republics with their CIA backed Dictators whose economic model you benefited greatly. You conveniently forget that some of the Globalists that run these large corps. are americans, that their profits are often reinvested in your country and that you 401K pension plans rely on investment return from the Corporations profit.

from www.prisonplanet.com...
"Regarding US government history to use its own guns in unlawful murders, documentations show up to 30 million US government victims from unlawful armed war attacks since WW2"

America exports her inflation. Think seriously about this statement and research it. You will discover how the printing of money has given you a false sense of entitlement and invincibility. Or shall we talk about how worldwide oil is traded in Dollars US to keep your bankrupt country afloat. You post world war 2 parents had some someblence of manufacturing industry but that was soon destroyed by more efficient products from Japan while your Unions leaders cried foul urging Import tariffs (whilst pocketing backhanders from the Boardrooms to keep your demands low). Your parents saved before buying but now your spiritual less life needs evermore entertainment and iPhones being replaced every 12 months to fill the void, ah.. credit is a 2 edged sword.
The emergence and prominence of Realty TV across every station attests to how easily you have succumbed to George Orwells Soma. Hey lets just start another war that will 1) provide stolen resources to keep us going a few more years 2) solve our "youth problem, easy cannon fodder 3) they're only terrorists or (fill in any blank here...) 4) keep our arms manufacturers busy and the economy strong 5) keep the drug companies busy with the returned vets as they are upto capacity pumping you with their soma to make you feel feel better or "special" about your low self esteem or "issues" Lets not let facts like "no evidence of WMDS get in the way".
Its only EVER the "other" who will suffer
By allowing successive US administrations to keep kicking the can down the road you are only making the noose tightening non reversible. You were fed and weaned at the teat of welfare and enitlement. Welcome to reality

Originally posted by coop039

Originally posted by newcovenant

Originally posted by olaru12

I only buy "Made in America" I pay a little more but in the long run it last much longer than Chinese crap.

I don't patronize Walmart or Sams Club because their power over their employees borders on slavery.

IMO it's unpatriotic to buy from companies that take advantage of cheap Chinese slave labor and foster American manufacturing to lay off Americans and move off shore. Putting profit above America is TREASON.

edit on 6-1-2013 by olaru12 because: (no reason given)

Excellent answer! I admire you and think everyone should follow your lead starting of course with myself.

Is it even possible for the average American to buy EVERYTHING they need made in America?
I guess we wouldnt have computers, or cell phones, Im not even sure we could have all that much clothing. Really the only things we can all buy Made in USA would be certain food items. But even much of our food is imported now.

Yes and no.
You can always find what you are looking for.
Nexus Q, google and Android make a phone made in America.
Google "made in America" and in advance search mode exact word (whatever you are looking for) and you will find some of everything available in brands that are made here.

reply to post by The Old American


You might want to do some research, Walmart does indeed operate as a manufacturer, it goes by the name Great value. Second, Walmart has bought our the market by strong arming other producers such as coke into "us and only us" clauses. If you feel like that is not a shady business tactic then maybe you should work there for 8 dollars an hour so that one fourth of your annual pay can go to the government and the owners net all their"worth".

reply to post by onemoreface


What are you babbling about? Coke?? So the coke I drink was bought at Walmart? I don't think so....

There is no me and me only/ exclusives of any major manufacturers. As a matter of fact, walmart and others are being bypassed by direct/factory outlets as we speak.

The big and only advantage Walmart has ISN'T wages. Any Mom and Pop shop can survive without wages, per say, something that WalMart could never compete with. Mom and Pops can operate without medical plans, huge Human resource departments, PR departments, legal departments ad nausem....

Their advantage is VOLUME . Period. Volume purchasing of products, often selling these products at prices below the price paid by the Mom and Pops shops in the first place!

That's the real bottem line. The rest is garbage. Political noise. Supply and demand.

Having delivered to many, many WalMart distribution centers over the years and "visited" with many employees...er sorry, "associates", a lot had family members with jobs elsewhere, decent wages but no medical, the spouse would work for lower wages at wally's world but cover their whole family with the Wal Mart medical plan. By and large, it was a workable solution that most were satisfied with.

Again, a huge work force allowed relatively cheap medical insurance due to the group size.

This has been going on for decades, the attacks...much more recent.

You won't hear this anywhere else that I know of, but here goes. When WalMart stuck to electronics, consumer goods as in the early years, there wasn't much noise. Cities and towns competed to get a "WalMart" for the economic boost. Construction, jobs, all adding up in new revenue for the counties/towns in question.

When they moved into the traditional grocery chain market, they stepped on some serious toes, both "old money" AND big national Unions. safeways, supervalus, a whole bunch of big old boy networks.

The big strikes in LA at the chains, reducing corporate contributions to medical plans and pensions to compete with the WalMarts of the world set all this off. That's when the attacks started, at least on a large scale, that I'm aware of.

Of course, Walmart is arrogant and has done some things that I'd question. being successful isn't one of them. Now the Targets and the Costcos of the world are emulating them, with tweeks that make them perhaps a little better, and zero attacks.

Hello? Doesn't that seem funny seeming there is no significant difference in the supply and demand, volume purchasing process of any of them!!!

These too, will pass...I remember when IBM/Big Blue was the big monster, untouchable with their "360's".

I laughed my head off seeing them "testify" against Gates and microsoft in the Clinton era...My point is these guys will go the same route, probably faster than IBM did. Things change so fast these days.

Above all, this attack is about capitalism, "fairness" so on. Capitalism is abused, but works better than any other system.(Those other so-called systems are also abused even more so).

Buy where you want or don't want. Work where you want or don't want. Just quit whining......