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That is a problem with the tax system then, not a department store.
What about the hundreds of millions wal fart pays in corporate taxes? Objective facts please.
Your wish is my command. From an article published 4 days ago in the Commie rag, FORBES:
Quote:
The largest private employer in the U.S. continues to exploit tax breaks to rewards its executives, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a D.C. based think tank which has researched executive compensation, and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), a tax reform coalition. That finding was published in a report released today, Walmart’s Executive Bonuses Cost Taxpayers Millions, focusing on the retail giant’s tax strategy...
ATF notes that the pay structure for executives has allowed Walmart to save $104 million in federal tax. The reason can be traced to a 1993 change in the tax law which exempts stock options and performance pay from total income when figuring executive pay limitations...
Frank Clemente, executive director at ATF calls it “truly one of the most perverse loopholes of all time” noting that “the bigger the executive bonuses the less Walmart pays in taxes.”
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) thinks that manipulating bonuses to escape the cap needs to stop. He has authored a bill, Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act (H.R. 3970), that would close the “CEO loophole.” The bill wouldn’t limit the ability of companies to pay their executives big dollars but it would include performance pay for purposes of figuring the deductibility cap. Rep. Doggett says about his proposal, “Publicly held companies like Walmart can continue paying their executives multimillion dollar bonuses; just don’t expect the American taxpayer to pick up your tab. It makes no sense for working families to subsidize those making nearly 300 times the average worker.”
...The estimated savings to taxpayers of Doggett’s bill, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, would be $50 billion over 10 years. To put that into context, $50 billion is nearly twice the proposed budget for the Department of Justice for the next fiscal year, or nearly 1-1/2 times the budget of the Department of Homeland Security.
Of course, the focus of the bill is on executive compensation. Pay for the Walmart’s executives is a far cry from what it pays its employees. ATF claimed in an April report that Walmart’s regular workers cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $6.2 billion in public assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing. That, coupled with tax breaks for its executives, according to the report, results in a “double burden on U.S. taxpayers” while the company continues to boosts its bottom line.
Objective enough for you? I have had the experience of watching a Wal Mart arrive in my small rural town. We used to have a vibrant Main Street with all sorts of different stores. Wal Mart's arrival was the death knell for many small businessmen here. I now have the choice of shopping at Wal Mart or else driving about 100 miles to shop in a city which offers several large malls with a variety of department stores and other shops. Many people here don't have the money to make a 200 mile round trip several times a month to avoid shopping at Wally World. Personally, I do a lot of shopping online to avoid giving Wal Mart my hard earned dollars. If for some reason I want to support the Communist Republic of China, I'll make a charitable contribution for the construction of a new sweatshop in Shanghai after the next one burns down.
I think WM only impacts very rural areas it moves into. There's a big chance it would wipe out small businesses with it's convenience and low prices in that type of area. If it comes into a larger city, there's really no impact...it's just a matter of shoppers preference/maintaining bragging rights and the ability to say "I bought local".
I personally only go to WM if they have something very specific I need and I don't have time to order it online. I don't like their customer service/cashiers and everyone in the store seems so unpleasant. And the lighting is always dim...that bugs me.
The main complaint re: the Walmart (big box) model is that it, like many others, has pushed mercantilism to the BIG STORE model, the poster who commented on the lack of a viable downtown in many of the smaller towns is correct in his observation that this phenomenon relates to any big box arrivals.
Yes they do pay substandard wages despite OP's contention to the contrary, not to mention a pretty good dodge of the issue by assuming that the WM employees don't actually work too hard anyway, so low pay it is..Big box is a system, period. It has taken on a life of it's own, and America has gotten used to having fewer choices in the process, yes there's more "stuff" but lower quality, less brand choice, and worst of all they are creating the norms in these aspects of our consumer life. People don't say "I'm going to the hardware store, it's Home Depot now, and "going shopping" can now be construed as a trip to Walmart.
One thing about the big box mentality that goes unnoticed by most is that once they are the local kings they set the quality and available product standards, you don't "get it your way" at Home Depot, Lowe's, OR Walmart. They generally sell on the low end of hardware and recently have been telling customers to "go online" to shop, which is what I try to do, only I don't patronize these big stores online, why would I when they actually can be higher priced online for the same stuff everybody else has.
They first offered convenience and then went to the online aspect in search of greater profits. As for the OP's contention regarding the taxes paid by Walmart I can only say the entire picture has to be taken into account and when this is done the situation doesn't always add up to a positive. You have to quantify the cost these types of business models inflict on the local economy.
If I was the OP I wouldn't worry too much about Walmart, they'll be around as long as America wants them to, in the long run I think even the dullest of minds will see the lack of any real community spirit on the part of the big box types and all the negative stuff they represent, they ARE part and parcel of the founding principles of globalism, a system we have yet to fully understand. Their ability to undercut the competition happens in an environment of govt collusion and the utilization of third world labor, the fact that Walmart alone gets an indirect subsidy from the huge expenditure of welfare dollars in their stores makes them a dangerous proponent of all that may be wrong (who's really on welfare?) in that system.
At days end we all know what the fallout of low wages has been, not to mention the fact of low wage jobs being a new norm in the global business scheme. When American's can figure out the entire trail of money and perks that we've collectively provided for some of our largest corporations we may see some change in the way we want to live, until then we'll all be on the corporate plantation, to the detriment of some, and the delight of others....
Here are what I see as the primary problems with Walmart (and other companies that pay their workers less than a living wage):
1.) Billions of our tax dollars are being spent to subsidize these companies indirectly.
They pay such low wages, their employees qualify for government programs which they actually need in order to live healthy lives. Walmart is one of the worst, not only because they are one of the nation's largest private employer, but because they embrace these programs and ENCOURAGE their employees to use them. They help their employees apply for foodstamps, sign up for subsidized heathcare like kids clinics and breast exam vans, etc. All Americans (including Walmart employees themselves if they pay income taxes) are providing Walmart employees with supplements to the income they WOULD BE receiving if Walmart paid a living wage. Not merely my opinion. Read about it Bloomberg Business News: How McDonald's and Wal-Mart Became Welfare Queens - Bloomberg
2.) As America's dominant retailer, the company has led the way in ensuring that U.S. manufacturing jobs are lost.
Our country lost 7 million manufacturing jobs between 1980 and 2011. Appliances, electronics, clothes, toys, housewares, and other things that used to be "made in the USA" are now made almost exclusively overseas because of the retail giants' insistence on paying the lowest possible wholesale price, even if it means exploiting workers and/or taking jobs from Americans who used to be able to support families on their labor. But, hey, don't listen to me, a person raised in the "rust belt." Read the statistics: NOT Made in America: Top 10 Ways Walmart Destroys US Manufacturing Jobs | Demos
3.) Can anyone still doubt that Walmart hurts entrepreneurship, small businesses, and family-owned retail establishments?
4.) There's no question that big box stores have a negative impact on the environmental resources we all share.
Walmart should be congratulated for recent initiatives to make their stores more "green" and reduce their carbon footprint (and lower their utility costs ... there's really not all that much altruistic about it). They do much less damage than they used to. And it's not all their fault, being tied in with urban sprawl, but the damaging effects of this corporate giant cannot be minimized in terms of its destructive force on our environment. The section in this article on "The Environment" explains it succinctly: Green America: Beyond the Wal-Mart Economy
5.) No way are the contributions of the Walmart Family Foundation a fair trade off for what the Walton family TAKES from our nation and its citizens.
First and foremost, keep in mind that the heirs of Sam Walton possess a combined personal fortune of $140 billion dollars in wealth. That's as much as 42 percent of the American population. A recent report revealed that neither Rob Walton nor Alice Walton has contributed a single dollar to the Walton Family Foundation, Jim Walton gave $3 million in 1998, and sister-in-law Christy has given $52 million. The Family Foundations charitable donations are less than one week’s worth of the Walmart dividends the Waltons will receive this year. Furthermore, it is less than the estimated value of Rob Walton’s collection of vintage sports cars. Also, the Walton family are among the nation's most creative in structuring their charitable donations to have the maximum positive impact on their tax participation. Certainly not against the law but personally I think it's unpatriotic. Walmart Heirs Have Given 0.04 Percent Of Net Worth To Family Foundation: Report
6.) More than they give to charity, the Waltons spend on lobbying to improve the tax status of America's wealthiest citizens.
Of course the charitable and estate planning practices employed by the Walton family are available to all and commonly used by those who fall into that income category. But the Waltons are one of the prime reasons those favorable laws exist for the rich. Daddy Sam was said to deplore politics, but his heirs are making up for it pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying for tax cuts for the super-rich and against anything that would require their corporation to spend money on their employees or the general public. They also are vehemently anti-union and contribute generously to anti-union politicians. They are always careful, though, to spend less on these activities than what they get back in terms of tax cuts. These artful dodgers "spend millions to save billions." Again, not merely my opinion: How Wal-Mart
Last edited by Jukesgrrl; 06-07-2014 at 04:01 PM..
Reason: Formatting
I'm betting they pay less taxes than would the retailers they displaced. Economies of scale and all that.
Yes. And like all major corporations, they have dozens of tax attorneys on staff to figure out creative ways for them to avoid paying, or pay less, or pay later. Small businesses pay more, just like middle class people pay a much higher percentage of their income in taxes than the very wealthy do.
It wasn't a joke that Mitt Romney's secretary gave a larger percentage of her income to the IRS than Mitt did. That was the truth. Now figure out how much money the IRS is out when the big corporation, which is in a lower tax bracket, pays less than the combination of all those small retailers Walmart put out of businesses. And the Walton family, collecting all the billions in profits Walmart turns ... they are paying their income tax in the Mitt Romney bracket while the small business owners were in the secretary's bracket. Lose/lose ... for everyone but the 1%.
Some people say walmart underpays their employees and doesn't give them enough benefits.
Pays them the market rate. Since there is a large labor pool, that rate can be low. They do offer benefits, but most of them cannot afford any of the benefits.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Know Nonsense
Is walmart really supposed to be a career type job?
Sure, you ever see how much some managers and the store manager makes?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Know Nonsense
When I rarely go into a walmart store to see what i haven't been missing I don't see a lot of work being done. The workers in walmart stores don't seem to be working all that hard for the most part. It seems as long as they do what they are told they have a job. Productivity is not a priority. So are they really under paid for what they do?
You do not want to be a great worker there (tall poppy syndrome apply?).
5.) No way are the contributions of the Walmart Family Foundation a fair trade off for what the Walton family TAKES from our nation and its citizens.
First and foremost, keep in mind that the heirs of Sam Walton possess a combined personal fortune of $140 billion dollars in wealth. That's as much as 42 percent of the American population. A recent report revealed that neither Rob Walton nor Alice Walton has contributed a single dollar to the Walton Family Foundation, Jim Walton gave $3 million in 1998, and sister-in-law Christy has given $52 million. The Family Foundations charitable donations are less than one week’s worth of the Walmart dividends the Waltons will receive this year. Furthermore, it is less than the estimated value of Rob Walton’s collection of vintage sports cars. Also, the Walton family are among the nation's most creative in structuring their charitable donations to have the maximum positive impact on their tax participation. Certainly not against the law but personally I think it's unpatriotic. Walmart Heirs Have Given 0.04 Percent Of Net Worth To Family Foundation: Report
Reading that makes me wanna vomit a little in the back of my mouth. The six Walmart kids have more money than the collective net worth of 42% of the American population! They are the greediest scumbag family I've heard about in a long time, and that's comparing them to despicable filth like Bernie Madoff and Donald Sterling. Alice Walton spent over $400 million of her money to build a useless art museum in Bentonville, AR, and the Walmart Family Foundation has donated over $1.2 billion toward it's endowment. All of that money so a few rednecks can look at art, huh? Just imagine how many hungry kids that could feed in Africa, or even help send a few Walmart employees' kids to college.
Any way you slice it, Wal-Mart's upside for low prices to consumers is vastly outweighed by all the negatives it imposes on America. Stocking their shelves with over 80% of their merchandise made in China or Taiwan is not doing any favors for the U.S. economy. It only makes our chief economic rival become stronger and more dominant in the global marketplace at our expense. They should be flying a red Communist flag over every Wal-Mart store.
Wal-Mart's suppliers are increasingly forced to kowtow to their outrageous demands, driving down profit margins virtually to zero or else face complete bankruptcy. Go read about the Rubbermaid battle with Wal-Mart in the 90's and you'll see that Wally World is an arch-enemy of American workers trying to earn a decent wage, not it's friend.
As with any monopoly, customer service decreases because the 800-lb gorilla no longer feels compelled to satisfy consumers in order to gain a competitive edge. They won the market, so take a dump on the people who made you rich. It seems like long lines at the checkout register are the norm now, simply because making people wait in line and become angry doesn't bother them anymore. There never seems to be anyone in the electronics dept. willing to help you. Most of the cashiers are hoodrats with gang tats and probably long criminal records.
I'm looking forward to the day when ordering all consumer items and groceries can be ordered online and delivery is free and promptly delivered by self-driving cars and robots right to your doorstep with a smile. Then we can bulldoze the 5,000 Wal-Mart stores and return the property to Mother Nature so the bunnies and raccoons can have their habitat back since 6 greedy self-entitled a-holes from Arkansas stole it from them and made our Chinese enemies wealthy.
Your wish is my command. From an article published 4 days ago in the Commie rag, FORBES:
Objective enough for you? I have had the experience of watching a Wal Mart arrive in my small rural town. We used to have a vibrant Main Street with all sorts of different stores. Wal Mart's arrival was the death knell for many small businessmen here. I now have the choice of shopping at Wal Mart or else driving about 100 miles to shop in a city which offers several large malls with a variety of department stores and other shops. Many people here don't have the money to make a 200 mile round trip several times a month to avoid shopping at Wally World. Personally, I do a lot of shopping online to avoid giving Wal Mart my hard earned dollars. If for some reason I want to support the Communist Republic of China, I'll make a charitable contribution for the construction of a new sweatshop in Shanghai after the next one burns down.
Excellent post, Colorado Rambler . A dozen years or so ago, there was a TV special that involved a former Walmart executive. His job was to take a team into a relatively small town to determine viability for a new store. He told how they would drive down the street of the small town and make bets with one another about how long this Mom and Pop store would last, or the one across the street or around the corner. And he stated they had become quite good at knowing how long they would have to wait or how much they would temporarily have to cut prices--say in their hardware department--in order to put the local hardware store out of business.
The problem with our entire economy now is the amount of consolidation in banking, pharmaceuticals, retail operations, insurance companies, and others, that have simply gotten too big for our government to allow them to fail. The Sherman Anti-trust Act is dead and gone. The result is fixed, not competitive, pricing, less choice, poorer service, and a sense of hopelessness pervading those making less than median income in this country. And they would be correct in their assessment that they have little chance of betterment when our conglomerate corporations are interested primarily in accumulating more profit that ends up benefitting only the largest shareholders which frequently are other mega corporations.
We are already on our way to becoming England II, a former great power, struggling to remain viable in a world leaving us behind. The new super economic powers will be China and India for sure, and possibly Brazil.
When we let our richest folks run away with all the dollars in our nation without bringing along the bottom half of the income ladder, the writing was on the wall. There will be some reading this post that will be alive to see it happen.
P.S. Historically our greatest economic booms have been when the gap between the top 20% of wage earners and the bottom 20% of wage earners was at its smallest. We are now entertaining gaps between those two groups which are wider than in any time in our history except right before the Great Depression. Funny how history repeats itself. Walmart has certainly done its part to make sure that gap widens further.
Last edited by Wardendresden; 06-08-2014 at 04:04 AM..
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. A dozen years or so ago, there was a TV special that involved a former Walmart executive. His job was to take a team into a relatively small town to determine viability for a new store. He told how they would drive down the street of the small town and make bets with one another about how long this Mom and Pop store would last, or the one across the street or around the corner. And he stated they had become quite good at knowing how long they would have to wait or how much they would temporarily have to cut prices--say in their hardware department--in order to put the local hardware store out of business.
