Quote:
Originally posted by Rudey
Competition is only fair. Do I care that other business go out of business instead of competing? Not one bit. But what I do care about is Wallmart competing unfairly. For example they offer low wages with low benefits and then offer seminars to their employees on how to receive welfare benefits from the government. Essentially tax payers transfer assets to the government and the government transfers part of that capital to Wallmart.
-Rudey
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That's what I'm talking about though. The only reason they can offer prices like that is because their overhead is so low. Their overhead is so low because their employees are not compensated at a rate high enough to even pay basic living expenses. I used to be a firm believer in a policy of a hands-off, laissez-faire attitude when it came to the economy.
More and more though, I'm starting to see where we might need to set a higher minimum wage. Blue collar folks are often finding that their options are basically limited to customer service, retail, etc. These jobs are often the kind that cannot be shipped overseas.
When these folks because of their low wage are becoming dependant on government welfare to make ends meet, I start to have a serious problem with their employers. Especially Wal-Mart, registered as an overseas corporation -- they don't even pay into the system except for maybe sales tax (I was at the Secretary of State's place a few weeks ago trying to find a process serving agent for Sam's when I saw this).
I don't think we should be rewarding people for lacking the drive, ambition, or raw material to not have anything better to do than stock shelves at Wal-Mart. I'm more interested in making sure that I don't have to end up footing the bill for them being bottom feeders.