Friday Blog Round-Up: Holidazzle Edition

This will go with the rest of WalMart’s sleazy anti-capitalistic attitude that cannot behave itself towards the rest of American businesses-

“Wal-Mart’s success has come at an enormous and painful cost to our national and local economies. From its boarding-up of Main Streets to its failure to pay workers fairly, to its imposing on taxpayers welfare costs for its underpaid employees, to its material contribution to our obscene ballooning trade deficit with China, this “Wal-Martization” of America is leaving us with an economy increasingly characterized by a gaggle of cheap imported consumer goods, shoddy employee practices, and insensitivity to communities.”
Leo Hindery Jr., a former CEO of telecom carrier Global Crossing

More observations and complaints this time coming from the business community that also has to pick up the taxpayer expenses because of WalMart dumping their ‘associates’ onto the taxpaying public suckers for ‘imposed welfare costs’ because of ‘underpaid employees’. Before we hear the pro-WalMart slobs getting their panties in a twist about the billions every year for WalMart corporate welfare and subsidies, how is it that these ‘capitalists’ never squeal like stuck pigs on behalf of other businesses that have to foot the welfare and subsidies bill for Bentonville? Perhaps the WaMart worship alter only allows the type of selfish cult that doesn’t even recognize other business interests.

WalMart- As ‘love of money’ psychopaths why should we care about other American businesses paying for our being number one in United States corporate largess at the public subsidies trough?

Just a sampler on the beginning of the WalMart subsidies train-

November 2006-

WAL-MART STILL TOP USER OF STATE HEALTH CARE FUNDS

How Wal-Mart Compares to Other Employers and Competition-

While Wal-Mart is once again the largest beneficiary from state health care programs, it is not the largest employer in the state. Boeing, Microsoft, Safeway, and Kroger each have more employees, but all four of the largest employers combined have fewer employees using public health care programs than Wal-Mart.

The cost of Wal-Mart’s state health care subsidies for 2006 exceeds:

The combined cost of health care subsidies to all of its major discount store competitors: Home Depot, Costco, Sears, K-Mart, and Target.

The combined cost of health care subsidies to all of its major grocery store competitors: Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons, QFC, and Haggens.

http://www.wslc.org/photos/temp/06-WM-Medicaid-BHP.doc.

Illinois Leads Nation in Wal-Mart Subsidies
Newstip Date: 06-05-2007

http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Newstips&main_id=754

WalMart/Bentonville subsidies slobs- On behalf of the Walton billionaires we want to thank all you taxpayer suckers for the billions in free public money you gave us. Our propaganda for ‘capitalism’ and ‘free enterprise’ is really paying off. And now a few words below from our Edelman internet ‘war room’ frauds, fakes, shills, trolls and the always lame, undocumented, unsourced and full of bs Oregon Taxpayer Sucker of the Year 2007, matthew vantress.

same old tired bs and propaganda sdv.come up with something new and honest.

matthew YOU DUMB FUCK!

SDV posted sources/references with this posting.  That’s something I’ve never seen you do once.

SDV in: I find the stats you posted regarding Illinois state health care and WalMart employees use there of to be astounding. In the light of the REIT connection between Illinois and Italy,where there is an intententional effort to avoid paying state tax to Illinois,WalMart is further disenfranchising the very citizens who shop at W/M-and abusing the state’s public health agency. Also, I recall all the brouhaha when W/M went into Chicago,and there was a big push to establish a decent minimum wage-well,there was even a bigger push back against it,and it failed. Is it just coincidence that Obama is from Illinois-or synchronicity??

Was that the same Leo Hindery Jr. who was fired after 8 months on the job as CEO with Global Crossing and just 15 months before they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy taking with it over 10 BILLION dollars of investor’s money?

There were a couple of interesting things in (and not) the report that would have made it more complete.

1.  Make sure you are comparing apples-to-apples here.  You can pretty much leave the likes of Microsoft and Boeing out of the mix because they are not in the same retail space.

2.  As interesting note as stated in article… the numbers for 2006 were lower than 2004 so Walmart “performance” improved over that 2 year period.

3.  It would be nice to see the full-time employee count for comparison and only use those numbers for comparison.

i dont post govt resources or stats screwed by because they are full of bs just like all your lame postings are on here.

2.

To continue your fruit theme, Mary, I’d say you have to be a deft cherry-picker to pluck any performance improving numbers out of Bentonville.

How does that translate to investors?

Was that the same Leo Hindery Jr.....(/)

Yeah, I’d think long and hard before I used Leo as a source. Unless, of course, you were trying to illustrate corporate crime.

If I said “you have to be a deft cherry-picker to pluck any performance disappointing numbers out of Bentonville.” I’d be accurate in my statement as well.  People read what they want to read.

And I agree on the Hindery statement.... not the “best” person to describe what is right and wrong.

One more thing I’d like to see in a survey is how Walmart pay scales compare to the direct competitors for a region, and that include the “mom and pop” retail stores.  That will go a long way to telling whether Walmart, or any other company for that matter, pays prevailing wages for a specific job

Had a wondeful opportunity today to discuss Walmart with others today. I heard another person talking about this company because they saw a video about WM. The “Quebec store” was mentioned. What a wonderful opportunity it was to tell a few of them the history of this awful company. Two people stated that they would never shop Walmart. I hope that I planted the seed in the other 2 or 3 people who were listening.
Walmarts millions and millions of dollars of advertising will not stop the peoples determination to expose this company for what it is. A low life, blood sucking corporate bully.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

hey folks if you dont believe me on union grocery go check out www.supermarketswindle.com and come back on here and tell me how wrong i am.

check it out sdv www.supermarketswindle.com

What I’d Like to See...

Yeah, “mary!” And what I’d like to see is how the pay scales compare in a town or region that doesn’t have a Wal-Mart of any kind within 50 miles with places that do (if such a place exists).  This would include the often cited “mom and pop” stores, that have to “compete” with a Wal-Mart and those that don’t.

You see… you talk about “direct competitors” of Wal-Mart.  Well when somebody wants to “compete” with Wal-Mart, one of the first things to go are decent wages.

This kind of survey or study would go a long way towards showing whether Wal-Mart is leading the “race to the bottom” or not.

vantress-

If you are shopping for absolution because of your ignorance on Southern California grocery workers, the grocery business and retailers here, strikes, contracts and wage and benefit history, you have come to the wrong study group. As I have told you before, do your homework and then get back with us. You have nothing to offer this commentary blog.

mary-

It is not surprising that you are eager to dismiss Leo Hindrey and his business CEO honest and blunt comments/observations on WalMart-

“Wal-Mart’s success has come at an enormous and painful cost to our national and local economies. From its boarding-up of Main Streets to its failure to pay workers fairly, to its imposing on taxpayers welfare costs for its underpaid employees, to its material contribution to our obscene ballooning trade deficit with China, this “Wal-Martization” of America is leaving us with an economy increasingly characterized by a gaggle of cheap imported consumer goods, shoddy employee practices, and insensitivity to communities.”
Leo Hindery Jr., a former CEO of telecom carrier Global Crossing

Perhaps your own great accomplishments as a CEO of a multibillion dollar company can enlighten us further with another song from the WalMart/Edelman dumpster of praise sonatas for the Bentonville wolves. That is of course if your lunacy approval and applause of USA CEO George W. Bush and his grasp of right and wrong don’t get in the way.

WalMart- Screwing people over takes time, patience, careful planning, political connections and a ruthless determination to not give a crap. Being a poverty engine is hard work. And what is wrong with being part of the President’s counsel of ‘love of money’ psychopaths anyway?

Hey Screwed by,I have an example for you. But it exsists outside of the lower 48 states.
Fort Nelson British Columbia is @ mile 300 of the alaska highway. The nearest Walmart is 4 hours to the south. The next one is 10 hours to the north. The Average wage for retail here is $ 10-12 to start and all employers have to pay benefits in order to keep people. People are always afraid that walmart will open a store here. I have studied their business model and it won’t happen. Our town is TOO SMALL and there is no outlying population to draw from.Walmart goes for the BIG STORE where ever they go. They have to have the people to come to the store.
It won’t happen here.
And even if it does I WILL NEVER SHOP AT WALMART

Mike the Canuck ; Joyeux Noel! I recently had the opportunity to watch the latest Michael Moore film,"Sicko", (which BTW was his most universally lauded effort so far), and it got me to thinking. With Canada’s universal health care system(which W/M would benefit from-and that’s why they are in favor of it in the U.S.) I wonder why there aren’t more W/M’s in Canada?And why there doesn’t seem to be the push to expand into Canada,by W/M, with the sense of immediacy as say in India,or China,or Banco Mexico-how about WalMart Banque Canadienne??Can that be far on the horizon??

DDRB ,In answer to your question, no I doubt the bank of walmart would EVER happen here in Canada. The reason is that Banks in Canada must hold a Charter from the federal goverment in order to operate nation wide. On a provincial level we have credit unions, but they operate under regulations from each provincial goverment. Walmart would not like to operate a bank in Canada because they would not get their “own” way. Yes we have lobbists here but not in the banking industry. It is too tightly regulated.

“It is not surprising that you are eager to dismiss Leo Hindrey and his business CEO honest and blunt comments/observations on WalMart”

It’s ashame he wasn’t “honest and blunt” with Global Crossing’s investors instead of helping to pillage through 10 BILLION dollars of investor money.

Mike the Canuck, you live in Fort Nelson?  Just so happens my husband and I have checked out that place for possible relocation if or I should say when we finally decide to leave the states.  He grew up on Vancouver Island and when we visited a couple years back he was disgusted to see that area had been infested with a few walmarts.

hi, i think you’re thinking of nelson which is in southern bc.There is no walmart here. The nearest walmart is in fort st john bc which is 4 hours to the south

No, we had looked in Fort Nelson in Northern BC.  Part of the attraction was it not being overpopulated and over-commericalized like it has been in the southern part of your province.  When I commented about the area with Walmarts I was referring to the island.

sorry my mistake

mary-

I see you missed what happened at Global Crossing in your effort to impugn Leo Hindery. (Remember to check your motives at the door!) It was Gary Winnick that took down the investors, employees etc-

Global Crossing - A Case Study

The Global Crossing rise and fall started and ended with Gary Winnick. Other individuals and/or companies also contributed to Global Crossing, but Gary Winnick was the major player in the scandal. In just under four years Gary Winnick managed to start a new company and then cash out with $734 million from selling his stock right before his company filed for bankruptcy.

The employees and investors of Global Crossing lost $40 billions worth of stock as a result of the Global Crossing collapse. In total the top executives benefited from stock sales of reportedly more then $1.3 billion, and they were only fined a total of $100K.

The employees and investors did settle with top executives of Global Crossing for $324 million ($55million from Winnick), even though they lost billions. Global Crossings settled, but they do not claim any fault in the matter. Firms that insured Global Crossing will pay back $195 million of that, and $19.5 will be covered by the company’s former lawyers, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. The remaining $54.5 million was paid by top executives of Global Crossing. Winnick paid the $55 million out of good faith.

Global Crossing founder Gary Winnick resigned from his position on the board in December 2002. He left the company with profits of over $730 million from his Global Crossing stock sales prior to the company filing for bankruptcy. Even though he admitted no wrong doing Winnick agreed to pay back $30 million to settle lawsuits brought on by employees and shareholders. He also paid $25 million to employee retirement funds.

http://www.nicometo.com/timweb/Stritch/rss.xml

Perhaps mary...it was these other statements by Leo Hindery that really bothers/troubles/worries what is left of your conscience-

Former Telecom CEO Leo Hindery on CEO Responsibilities, Pay, and Ethics
By Mark Fortier

Excerpted-
In your examination of big business you cite the example of Wal-Mart and suggest that huge growth has left employees out in the cold with low wages and “the most-costly-to-employee healthcare benefits anywhere.” How do you think such corporate behemoths could better manage this kind of situation?

Leo Hindery:
Wal-Mart, in my opinion, lost its “soul” when Sam Walton left management and then passed away, and no right thinking ethically-driven CEO should tolerate and accept the combination of low average wages, de minimis benefits, union bashing, and community disrespect which has since come to hallmark the company.

The question Wal-Mart simply needs to ask itself is “when is enough, enough?” - and in an honest answer thereto will come behaviours more like those of its primary competitor, Costco, which is stellar by comparison. Company growth should come with the partnership of employees and not on top of them.

http://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/leo-hindery.shtml

Or perhaps mary… you were still wanting to defend the Bush family practices-

House Committees To Investigate Global Crossing
Dan Ackman, 03.13.02, 9:00 AM ET

Excerpted-
As with Enron, political officials are deeply enmeshed in Global Crossing: Former President George Bush, took stock in the company in lieu of an $80,000 speaking fee in 1998. That stock later grew in value to as much as $14 million.

http://www.forbes.com/2002/03/13/0313topnews.html

mary-

If you are looking for stockholder ‘subrogation’ rights to never lose money while gambling in stocks like Global Crossing, you have come to the wrong arena for your complaint and should dump any WalMart stock you still foolishly may have.

“Wal-Mart, in my opinion, lost its “soul” when Sam Walton left management and then passed away, and no right thinking ethically-driven CEO should tolerate and accept the combination of low average wages, de minimis benefits, union bashing, and community disrespect which has since come to hallmark the company.”
Leo Hindery

WalMart is long overdue in their shopping around for another CEO. Hindery is at least half right about the Bentonville slobs.

screwed by walmart does not dictate what the other mom and pop stores pay their workers.those other places decide themselves how much they pay sir not walmart.

Hey matthew......take the underware out of your mouth when you talk.

SDV, I see you keep up the good habit of “cherry picking” and not telling the WHOLE story.  How do you think Winnick made all of money… well, it all started in June, 2000 when Hindery followed “true” protocol for a then CEO when he violated SEC rules of “insider trading”.  He was the one who sent the email to Winnick to “start selling shares very soon” based in insider company information not released to the public.  Oh, and btw, Hindery was very generously rewarded when he was fired after 7 months on the job by walking away with almost 250 MILLION dollars in his pocket.  The last time I checked I haven’t seen Walmart investors lose every cent of their investment on a company that never made any money.

Yea, I thought so..... I didn’t have to go far to “impugn” the reputation of Leo Hindery.  He accomplished that all by himself with his actions.

ScrewedbyWal-Mart, Ken & SanDiegoView,

Do you know what the hallmark of a Second-Rater is?  It’s someone who resents the achievements of others and puts them down for it. And you are ALL Second-Raters.  You can’t make it yourself, so you are against those that have made it.  It’s sad that you have to take your frustrations out on others.

Tommy in
Monday, December 17 at 01:58 AM

“Do you know what the hallmark of a Second-Rater is?”

Yes Tommy. Mary just gave us a perfect example. I don’t remember Hindery ever being indicted for anything and former President Bush did not seem to have any objections about global Crossing either!

Isn’t this the point where you get hit in the face with a pie, Soupy?

To Mike The Canuck: Don’t ever say Wal-Mart won’t come to where you live because the area is too small. Wal-Mart tried to come 15 miles away from me in 1993. The population of that town was 3,000, but they have loads of tourists pretty much all year long. A citizens group formed IMMEDIATELY to keep them out, and they were successful. Wal-Mart wanted to build a 100,000 square foot store. Wal-Mart’s building permit was denied by the town planning board in early 1996. During that process the town also put in a retail building cap. Wal-Mart challenged both the building permit and retail cap in court. They lost NOT ONCE BUT TWICE.
In 2006 Wal-Mart began looking where I live. Population here is about 5,000. A citizens group formed IMMEDIATELY here as well. In addition we succeeded in electing 3 anti-sprawl people to our town board. A 10 acre site Wal-Mart needed to build on was in the process of being rezoned. The new board STOPPED THE REZONING PROCESS! And we are in the process of putting in a retail cap here too.
We have 2 Wal-Mart’s both an hour’s drive away from us. As much as they have tried to come here, we have kept them out. But I’m sure they haven’t given up yet.
Every day at least 1 or more people wake up to the kind of company Wal-Mart really is and they stop shopping there. I will grant you they still take in their millions or so every day, but this company no longer gives many that warm fuzzy feeling that was seen in the 1980’s and possibly the 1990’s. Wal-Mart’s reputation is on the line, and they have to resort to Tv commercials to try to improve it. Why don’t they try paying their employees a living wage to start with and stop squeezing their supplers? That would go further than a few tv commercials.
I am still standing by my original statement that the honeymoon is over for Wal-Mart. When they first opened for business and for many years after, folks loved their bargain prices, and selection. Sam’s made in America campaign probably gave folks a warm fuzzy feeling knowing they were supporting American businesses. But now 70-80 percent of what they sell is made in China! Their stock price has stagnated, word is out on how they treat employees, muscle their suppliers, etc. Bentonville brass may see things differently, but it’s the customer whose opinions really count.
And I believe every day one or more people are choosing NOT to shop there anymore.
But Mike The Canuck--no area is too small for Wal-Mart!! They will go anywhere if they can make a buck. And if the store loses money--no problem. They’ll just close it up and move on.

Resent the achievements of Leo Hindrey.... Are you kidding me?  The only difference between him and the top guns at other companies who have cheated their way at the top is he wasn’t put in jail.  But then again their’s alot of white collar crimes that people get away with every day. 

I hear now that he’s an economic advisor to John Edwards campaign.  NICE! 

No I don’t think resent is the right word there.

BLOG ROUNDUP - THE small PICTURE

Apparently there’s at least one Canadian unhappy with Wal-Mart’s “seasonal merchandise” selection.

<a >

While police spent Sunday reviewing the store’s security tape, about a dozen employees were brought in to clean up the mess.

Arson suspected in Yellowknife Wal-Mart fire

I’d kill for EDIT capabilities!

It’s a “high wire” act, Ken

I like to compare posting on this blog and using html to “walking on a tightrope without a net.”

Hey...we know you can do it!  We’ve seen you post links before.  Don’t sweat it.

Hey guys, just thought I’d let you know.....yellowknife isn’t accessable by road right now. They have to wait until the ice freezes on great slave lake then the highway dept puts the ice road in...........so walmart might be hard pressed to replace the burned stock...unless they want to fly it in.
Oh and slightly off topic
There was a cartoon on TV this weekend that took a direct shot at walmart. If you can get a chance try and watch
Bah Humduck, A looney Tunes christmas Carol
Very Funny but i don’t think the people in bentonville will be rushing out to see it

jane please explain why you are as quiet as can be when other retail development that brings more crime and traffic than wm does wants to build in your town?how come you folks dont raise the same issues of concern with the other development that you do with wm?i am eager for your answer on that.

Because you pulled the premise of your question out of your ass vantress, like everything else you post here. WalMart is your great god of acceptable business practices and the Bentonville retail ‘love of money’ psychopaths can only be made to possibly look good by attempting tp make other retailers look bad.

WalMart- Our reputation is in the toilet. Only the desperate of poor America will shop in our dumps and we need internet kooks like vantress to sing our worship hymns from the manual of fraudulent and insane public relations.

...internet kooks...

All I can say to that one is…

“...look at the man in the mirror, SDV...”

Ok, Ok. You can hold open the WalMart “manual of fraudulent and insane public relations” for vantress to sing from but…

Stop kicking yourself bbrd, you will wear out your shoes.

everything else you favor darn near brings more traffic and problems than wm does sdv its a fact too.get your head out of you know where sdv.