Wal-Mart’s Brazilian Boom

The Brazilian retail market has been a BOON for GM,who makes and sells only Chevrolets in Brazil. The Brazilian GM is an entirely independent entitiy of GM,and has NOT asked the Brazilian government for bailout money,according to news sources at CNN.money.For the ENTIRE story,WELL worth reading,here’s the info:SAO PAULO -(Dow Jones)- Top executives at General Motors in Brazil can’t seem to say it enough - Detroit’s problems aren’t Brazil’s problems. ...

CNNMoney.com - 15 related articles »
GM to invest 1 bln dollars in Brazil - Xinhua - 3 related articles »

UPDATED: Tyson Foods Buys 3 Brazilian Firms
By Andrew Jensen
9/18/2008

CEO Richard Bond leads Tyson Foods Inc., which announced the purchase of three Brazilian poultry companies Thursday.

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale said Wednesday that it has bought three poultry companies in Brazil.

Tyson officials confirmed in a news release that the company is purchasing Macedo Agroindustrial and Avicola Itaiopolis, both in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and will initially have 70 percent ownership of Frangobras in the state of Parana.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tyson says it expects the deals to close within 60 days.

Macedo is a strong retail chicken brand in southern Brazil. The company also exports chicken to a variety of countries including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa and Yemen. Tyson plans to expand production, more than doubling the plant’s capacity to 176,000 birds per day.

Avita and Frangobras are new poultry companies with tremendous growth potential, Tyson said. Both recently built new, strategically-located plants that contain modern processing technology.

Tyson’s investment in Avita and Frangobras will enable each processing facility to increase daily chicken production to 320,000 birds.

The company’s debt got an upgrade Friday from one agency a week after Standard & Poor’s downgraded its credit rating to junk status on Sept. 4.

On Friday, following an announcement that Tyson added collateral and guarantees to its $1 billion credit agreement, Fitch Ratings of Chicago upgraded its rating on Tyson’s debt from “BB+” to “BBB-”. BB is a speculative rating while BBB indicates good credit. The plus or minus indicates the rating’s position within the category.

On Sept. 4, Tyson announced a 20 million share offering and priced $450 million in convertible senior notes maturing in 2013 to pay down debt and fund acquisitions and strategic investments. After the market closed, S&P;downgraded Tyson’s debt from “BBB-” to “BB”.

On Sept. 10, the Springdale-based meat producer said it would set a share price of $12.75 for the Class A common shares and that former company chairman Don Tyson would purchase 3 million of the shares.

Also on Sept. 10, Tyson announced a 60 percent acquisition in Shandong Xinchang Group, a Chinese poultry producer, as it continues to expand internationally. ~~~~~~~~~NOTE: Isn’t WalMart expanding in Brazil,also? If I’m not mistaken there was a recent thread here about Castro Wright speaking to Mayor’s Conference in Miami,stressing the expansion in South America by WalMart. Castro wright is from Brazil if I’m not mistaken. Seems that Tyson’s thinks that whither thou goest,WalMart, ..........

“The recent selection of Mike Duke, who had headed Wal-Mart International since 2005, as CEO is one clear indicator that Wal-Mart will seek to push aggressively into Brazil and other emerging markets, but is willing to do so under a variety of names and brands. However, in contrast to the U.S. where Wal-Mart is dominant...”

From BusinessWeek Nov. 2008

“Since 2005, Duke has headed Wal-Mart’s international business, with 3,200 stores and $100 billion in sales. He has faced some thorny decisions, such as exiting poorly performing South Korea and Germany, while bulking up in Latin America. Duke has indicated that he will shift more of Wal-Mart’s new-store focus to faster-growing emerging markets. “Wal-Mart has reached the point of diminishing returns in the U.S.,” says Donald Delzell, head of the retail consulting firm Future Merchants. “Continued growth is based on international expansion.”

“Wal-Mart has reached the point of diminishing returns in the U.S.,”
Donald Delzell

Basically, WalMart is no longer growing in the United States. Awhile back we already hit the point where WalMart is self-cannibalizing and that itself within a downward economy in which WalMart is designed and intended to thrive.

Remember, Americans would not shop at WalMart if they were not forced into economic downgrading.

WalMart- Desperate America’s store of last resort.

WalMartuary.

SDV,

“Remember, Americans would not shop at WalMart if they were not forced into economic downgrading.”

Yeah, we know, Americans didn’t start shopping at Wal-Mart before the economic downturn, right?  Strange, how they were able to become the #1 retailer in the U.S.A., when no one was shopping there before last year!!

Just some more of your ‘twisted’ view of history!!

RDS,

The typical imbecile of you to evade what has happened to America over the past 35 years, and the WalMart benefit from the growth of American poverty. Perhaps you just got confused again over which ‘economic downturn’ you were willing to acknowledge this time.

Twilight of the Middle Class
May 1, 2006 By Anne Field

“But these days the middle class isn’t what it used to be. Three decades of stagnating real wages, a globalizing economy that has eliminated (millions) of high-wage industrial jobs — and, increasingly high-wage technical jobs, too — have taken a toll: The great American middle class is shrinking. In 1973, families with annual incomes of between $30,000 and $80,000 (in 2005 dollars) accounted for two-thirds of American households. Now, it’s fewer than half, according to Sam Pizzigati, author of Greed and Good and the editor of Too Much, an online newsletter about income and wealth distribution.”

Try this for a ‘twisted’ view of history…

U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty
By Tony Pugh McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Thu, February 22, 2007

WASHINGTON -

WASHINGTON—The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation’s “haves” and “have-nots” continues to widen.

A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of the 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903—half the federal poverty line—was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That’s 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy’s review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn’t confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the median household income for working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation’s 37 million poor people into deep poverty—the highest rate since at least 1975.

The share of poor Americans in deep poverty has climbed slowly but steadily over the last three decades. But since 2000, the number of severely poor has grown “more than any other segment of the population,” according to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“That was the exact opposite of what we anticipated when we began,” said Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, who co-authored the study. “We’re not seeing as much moderate poverty as a proportion of the population. What we’re seeing is a dramatic growth of severe poverty.”

WalMart- We have benefited off America’s impoverishment for decades. We should know..we helped to create it.

SDV,

“The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high”

All this shows, is that there are many Americans who aren’t trying hard enough to get ahead!!  Perhaps the increase of ‘drug usage’ has something to do with that!!  Also, the rise in single-parent families, with ‘dead beat’ dads, is another factor!!

“the gulf between the nation’s “haves” and “have-nots” continues to widen.”

First, is the liberal notion, that there are only X number of dollars, so if one person has a dollar, that means someone else can’t have one!!  The real fact is, that the money supply grows all the time, that is why the ‘value’ of the dollar changes!!  So, if someone gets more and becomes a ‘have’, that doesn’t mean that someone else MUST become a ‘have not’!!  And you totally ‘sidestep’ the gulf between ‘haves’ of the ‘middle class’ people who earn $70/hour (wages and benefits) and ‘have not’ ‘poor class’, who $20/hour or less!!  Your side tends to focus on the gulf between a CEO and a ‘cart pusher’!!

“A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903—half the federal poverty line—was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.”

If a ‘family of four’ is making less than $9,903 a year or an individual is making less than $5,080 a year, they surely aren’t trying!!  An individual working at McDonalds at $6.00 an hour, 20 hours a week, would make $6,240 a year!!  The problem is, “You can lead a person to a job, but you can’t make them work”!!

“found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty.”

That means that 84% of Americans aren’t in deep or severe poverty, right?  How do most people stay out of deep poverty, while others can’t?  Why should ‘educated’ people be blamed for the plight of the ‘uneducated’?  I would bet, if you checked, the majority of those that are in ‘poverty’, are ‘uneducated’!!  That doesn’t mean they weren’t given the chance to learn, it means they didn’t try to learn, they are the ‘dropouts’, ‘dopers’ and ‘the entitlement people’!!  Who signs your paycheck?  Probably, that ‘geek’ or ‘nerd’, that you used to make fun of, because he was ‘learning’, while you were ‘goofing off’ in school!!

Great article SDV. And I particularlly like the last statement which seems to say it all: “ Wal-Mart, We have benefited off America’s impoverishment for decades. We should know...we helped create it.”
But as for folks like RDS, don’t waste your time trying to convince them. They will be pro Wal-Mart’ers till the day they die. You can show them all the facts and figures you want, statistics, etc. You can even show them all the pictures of dying or dead business districts. It doesn’t matter. They will continue to love and shop at Wal-Mart. And they will continue to believe that this company is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
In our little village where Wal-Mart tried to come only a few short years ago we had a HUGE SPLIT. It suddenly became an issue between the “have’s” and the “have nots.” The “have nots” complained that they couldn’t afford to shop here and they wanted the Wal-Mart. The “haves” said we didn’t and couldn’t support a store of that size. The problem is both sides were right.
Yes, living in a small village can be tough. Small independent retailers CANNOT PURCHASE IN THE LARGE LOTS THAT WAL-MART CAN. Thus they can’t get the wholesale prices they need to keep retail prices down and reasonable.
But the other problem is that Wal-Mart would have come and TOTALLY DESTROYED OUR DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES. I have done plenty of homework. Wal-Mart would have made our village a ghost town. And for those who felt people would have shopped at Wal-Mart and CONTINUED TO SHOP DOWNTOWN---WELL THAT JUST DOESN’T HAPPEN. The facts, and the dead and dying business districts prove otherwise.
The problem with pro Wal-Mart folks is they don’t believe the facts, statistics, or pictures. So I don’t talk to these folks anymore. It is a COMPLETE WASTE OF MY TIME. SDV---keep putting up your posts---but take it from me, folks like RDS will NEVER BE CONVINCED NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY OR SHOW THEM.

Jane,

“The “haves” said we didn’t and couldn’t support a store of that size.”

This is a very ‘telling’ statement, because YOU were one of the ones who were against the Wal-Mart store, could it be that you were one of the ‘haves’?

“The problem is both sides were right.”

But, even though BOTH sides were right, it seems that the ‘haves’, didn’t regard the problems of the ‘have nots’ as being serious enough to side with them!!

“I have done plenty of homework. Wal-Mart would have made our village a ghost town.”

I don’t know where you got your homework from, but I have seen the introduction of a Wal-Mart to an area, create the construction of many others businesses in that same area!!  Many MOVE from the downtown area, as they did in the day of the mall, but, they didn’t die!!  You will NEVER really know what would have happened, had a Wal-Mart store been built, because you STOPPED it!!

“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself” ~ FDR

Jane,

I’ve dealt with the WalMart internet trolls and Edelman propaganda slobs for years and know that RDS is a fool. However, RDS is useful in the sense that he exemplifies a psychopath subculture in America and brings to the surface the attitude of endless excuse making for opportunism and exploitation corporatism ( virtues of selfishness ) that the people of this country are sick of. Thinking of RDS or WalMart as a citizen of our nation makes me want to vomit.

The New Testament uses language to describe ‘love of money’ anti-Christ types and there are many having the same selfish Christhating social and economic indifference that criminologists describe today as psychopathic. Approx. 1% of a given population is known to be psychopaths/sociopaths and WalMart/Bentonville long ago took up the banner of the cultural effort of ongoing acceptance of corporate psychopathy. America’s shoppers have had to cringe at the monopolistic and government subsidized business practices of the WalMart model.

WalMart- Let us drive you to the poorhouse America while we lie about how much money you are saving. The multi-billionaire Waltons want to thank again the taxpayer suckers who have subsidized WalMart for billions.

WALMART IS THE NATION’S LARGEST AND FOREMOST JUDAS

SDV,

“RDS is useful in the sense that he exemplifies a psychopath subculture in America”

Yeah, I exemplify that ‘phychopathic subculture’, that was common in the late 1940’s thru the 1960’s, that believed in paying their way through life, kept DEBT to a minimum, thought living on ‘welfare’ was a ‘bad’ thing, believed that working was a ‘good’ thing, knew how to maintain a budget, practiced ‘delayed gratification’, believed that being married BEFORE you had children and two parent ‘families’ were better for raising children, all the things that your generation calls, WACKO concepts!!  I know that things were a lot worse back then, but, we are sure glad that YOUR generation is now in charge and things are running so smoothly (except for Wal-Mart that is)!!

I know, that you think ‘credit and debit’ cards are ‘way’ better than actually having to have the ‘cash’ to pay for things, right?  After all, there’s always bankruptsy to fall back on to ‘bail’ you out, right?

How about jobs, how do they get created?  I have seen suggestions here from the anti side (your side), like, ‘paying higher wages, to bring jobs back from overseas’, ‘just put people to work making things that no one can afford to buy’, and the good old, ‘consume less’!!  I’ve been waiting for you to suggest, ‘living on a ‘commune’ with the HOLY BAGWON controlling your every move’ and ‘selling flowers at the bus station for any cash you may need’!!

Yeah, my views are psychopathic and yours are the way to go, damn be to ‘normal marrige’, damn be to ‘financial and personal responsibility’ and up with ‘socialism’, right?  Now go roll yourself another ‘doobie’, get high and come up with more ‘great ideas’ to ‘change’ the country!!  How about this one? ‘no one works, we just all sit around getting high, until we all pass away from starvation, so we can meet that big Kahuna in the sky and see peace forever’ and be sure to totally reject that ‘terrible’ CAPITALISM (except Costco that is)!!

Rds,
why bother with a “nut” from the “land of fruits & Nuts” (SDV) Its obvious his brain is fried from whatever he’s been smokin for the last decade and he is consumed with the liberal disease! SDV= Socially Deranged Venereal Disease

Mark,

I find your indifference to WalMart’s Gay and Lesbian agenda and Bentonville’s contribution to the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce standard immorality for today’s pro-WalMart trolls.

Perhaps you and RDS can find a secular conservative ‘room’ together and check each other out for Christhating ‘social derangement’ and other hostilities to Christian morality. After all, RDS is a kook that cannot stand capitalism that must behave itself and you are another blind hillbilly that doesn’t mind being molested by pro-WalMart imbecility, Ayn Rand style. 

WalMart- America’s number 1 retailer of preventable cancer through cigarette sales. We help to kill 400,000 Americans every year.

SDV,

Seems like you are repeating yourself, oh, I almost forgot, that’s all you know how to do, is to act like a ‘broken record’!!

If it seems repeated as a tone of moral repudiation of WalMart and you don’t like it RDS, then you have my permission to think of it bothering you alone as the only reason that I do it.

“I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.”
Lily Tomlin

Competing with Carrefour is no slam dunk for Wal-Mart.

This ‘world domination’ thing hasn’t worked out exactly as planned.

“Our priorities are that we want to dominate North America first, then South America, and then Asia, and then Europe,” Wal-Mart’s President and CEO David Glass told USA Today business reporter Lorrie Grant November 10, 1999.

Ken V:  Happy Thanksgiving,Kenzu!

Ken V:  Happy Thanksgiving,Kenzu!

Is that from one turkey to another?

(for the rest of you, seeya at the stores in the morning!)

And remember that Santa died on the cross for your credit card debt!

@sdv: “WalMart- We have benefited off America’s impoverishment for decades. We should know..we helped to create it.”

WalMart has been noted as a cause of deflation, or a reason that inflation has slowed down at times. Creating impoverishment? The opposite is true.  When you pay less for stuff, you have more money left over.

@sdv: “WalMart- America’s number 1 retailer of preventable cancer through cigarette sales. We help to kill 400,000 Americans every year.”

No, not really. In fact, not at all. Not one single customer was forced to buy cigarettes there.

@sdv: “The multi-billionaire Waltons want to thank again the taxpayer suckers who have subsidized WalMart for billions. “

The total amount on these subsidies is $0.

“When you pay less for stuff, you have more money left over. “.............and when you BUY less, you have more money.Save money.Live better .Shop elsewhere.

ddrb,

“and when you BUY less, you have more money.Save money.Live better .Shop elsewhere.”

That makes sense, if you shop elsewhere at ‘higher prices’, you will surely BUY less!!

But, it also must be noted, that you will surely NOT “Save money and Live better”, paying ‘higher prices’!!  And, if you believe that you will ‘save money’, by paying ‘higher prices’, you’re thinking is faulty!!  Same goes for the thinking that raising wages in America, will bring jobs back here!!

Wal-Mart Worker Dies After Shopper Stampede, NY Daily News Says

Wal-Mart worker dies after shoppers knock him downNEW YORK (AP)

Man trampled to death in Black Friday rush
NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (UPI)—A male worker at a New York Wal-Mart was killed Friday when anxious shoppers trampled him in their rush for Black Friday bargains, witnesses say.

Report: Man dies, woman miscarries in Wal-Mart Black Friday rush November 28, 2008
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20081128/UPDATES01/81128005#pluckcomments

November 28, 2008
Two dead in Black Friday stampede at Wal-Mart
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/11/two_dead_in_black_friday_stamp.html

WalMart- Save More. Live Better. Get killed, courtesy of the ‘love of money’ mentality generated and brought to you by WalMart’s Bentonville psychopaths.

WalMartuary...................

Save more. Live Better. You can bet your life on it.

@ddrb: “Save money.Live better .Shop elsewhere. “

How do you save money when you go to shop at a more expensive place?

How do you save money when you go to shop at a more expensive place?

You avoid the hidden costs associated with shopping at Wal-Mart. (Type hidden costs in the SEARCH WAL-MART WATCH box upper right)

It’s the average shopper’s innability to see the big picture that guarantees Wal-Mart’s success.

Don’t feel bad, realist, you are definately not alone in your myopia. Although the current global economy makes the ‘race to the bottom’ and Wal-Mart’s role in it a little hard to ignore, there is always that 10% that doesn’t get the word.

Live Better In Cheap Underwear

“How do you save money when you go to shop at a more expensive place?”

You beat me to it realist.

I never said you save money by shopping at a more expensive place.RDS said that. I said when you buy LESS, you have more money.Period. Read it again. Buy less and shop elsewhere,when you do shop. What’s hard to understand about that? Shopping elsewhere doesn’t mean you have to pay more.Shopping LESS often,however does mean you SAVE more-by spending LESS money-anywhere-period.Sheesh!

more expensive place?

You’d be the first person to prove it realist, if you could in fact show that Wal-Mart has the lowest price on EVERTHING!

This debate has been raging for several years now on this blog… long before your arrival!

Prove to us that shopping elsewhere always means paying a higher price.  In the meantime, stay away from the Wal-Mart Kool Aid.

ddrb,

“I never said you save money by shopping at a more expensive place.RDS said that. I said when you buy LESS, you have more money.Period. Read it again. Buy less and shop elsewhere,when you do shop.”

I was just quoting the people on the anti Wal-Mart side, who say that ‘people are being ‘forced’ to shop at Wal-Mart during this economic downturn’, thus intimating that Wal-Mart has the ‘lowest prices’!!  And, if you follow the logic, if Wal-Mart has the ‘lowest prices’, then it must follow, that the other stores have ‘higher prices’!!

Wal-Mart has the lowest price on EVERTHING!

That’s the old line, Screwed. Listen to the new ad campaign. Wal-Mart now claims it’s prices are “unbeatable”.

I wonder if the average Wal-Mart shopper will take time off from trampling people long enough to comparison shop?

Live Better In Cheap Underwear

@ken v: “You avoid the hidden costs associated with shopping at Wal-Mart.”

I looked. The welfare one is a very false claim. WalMart is not to blame when employees make bad lifestyle choices and go on welfare. The employees make these choices, not WalMart. So the total hidden cost is $0.

@ken v: “It’s the average shopper’s innability to see the big picture that guarantees Wal-Mart’s success. “

The average shopper sees the big picture and is informed about their choices. So they choose WalMart sometimes, and sometiems they do not. These shoppers make their decisions on real costs, not imaginary “hidden” costs and fake cases.

@ken v: “Don’t feel bad, realist, you are definately not alone in your myopia. Although the current global economy makes the ‘race to the bottom’....”

Race to the bottom is a good idea: better values. Sure beats “Race to the Top” which is out-of-control inflation.

@sdv: “The multi-billionaire Waltons want to thank again the taxpayer suckers who have subsidized WalMart for billions. “

The total amount on these subsidies is $0.~"realistin e.g."~NOTE: Are you speaking of the Walton family, exclusively ,not getting subsidies,or WalMart and Sam’s Clubs not getting subsidies? How do YOU define a subsidy ,realist?

Costs to Taxpayers
Download the Costs to Taxpayers flyer - PDF

Your tax dollars pay for Wal-Mart’s greed

The estimated total amount of federal assistance for which Wal-Mart employees were eligible in 2004 was $2.5 billion. [The Hidden Price We All Pay For Wal-Mart, A Report By The Democratic Staff Of The Committee On Education And The Workforce, 2/16/04]
One 200-employee Wal-Mart store may cost federal taxpayers $420,750 per year. This cost comes from the following, on average:
$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
$42,000 a year for low-income housing assistance.
$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families.
$100,000 a year for the additional expenses for programs for students.
$108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children’s health insurance programs (S-CHIP)
$9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance.
[The Hidden Price We All Pay For Wal-Mart, A Report By The Democratic Staff Of The Committee On Education And The Workforce, 2/16/04]

Health care subsidies compared to executive compensation

Excluding his salary of $1.2 million, in 2004 Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott made around $22 million in bonuses, stock awards, and stock options in 2004.
This $22 million could reimburse taxpayers in 3 states where Wal-Mart topped the list of users of state-sponsored health care programs, covering more than 15,000 Wal-Mart employees and dependents. [Wal-Mart Proxy Statement and News Articles GA, CT, AL].
Your tax dollars subsidize Wal-Mart’s growth

The first ever national report on Wal-Mart subsidies documented at least $1 billion in subsidies from state and local governments.
A Wal-Mart official stated that “it is common” for the company to request subsidies “in about one-third of all [retail] projects.” This would suggest that over a thousand Wal-Mart stores have been subsidized. ["Shopping For Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth,” Good Job First, May 2004]
Community Impact
Download the Community Impact flyer - PDF

Wal-Mart’s growth negatively impact worker’s wages

The most comprehensive study of Wal-Mart’s impact showed that the stores reduced earnings per person by 5 percent. This 2005 study by an economist from the National Bureau of Economic Research used Wal-Mart’s own store data and government data for all counties where Wal-Mart has operated for 30 years, It found that the average Wal-Mart store reduces earnings per person by 5 percent in the county in which it operates. [David Neumark, The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets 2005]
The Cost of Wal-Mart’s entry into a community can be significant

According to a 2003 estimate, the influx of big-box stores into San Diego would result in an annual decline in wages and benefits which could cost the area up to $221 million [San Diego Taxpayers Association (SDCTA), 2003]
Lower wages mean less money for communities

When an employer pays low wages to its employees, the employees have less money to spend on goods and services in the community, which in turn reduces the income and spending of others in the community. In other words a reduction in wages has a multiplier impact in the surrounding area.
For instance, in 1999, Southern California municipalities estimated that for every dollar decrease in wages in the southern California economy, $2.08 in spending was lost-- the $1 decrease plus another $1.08 in indirect multiplier impacts. ["The Impact of Big Box Grocers in Southern California” Dr. Marlon Boarnet and Dr. Randall Crane, 1999.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Wake Up WalMart

PDF] Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to ...File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
Wal-Mart, we apportioned a share of the subsidies to Wal-Mart. ..... the only practical way to begin identifying Wal-Mart subsidy deals and thereby ...
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Wal-Mart Billionaire Alice Walton: Is the Art Connoisseur Bilking Arkansas Out of Millions?For Immediate Release
Monday, May 23, 2005

Washington, D.C., May 23, 2005 – Today, one of the world’s wealthiest women, Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, unveiled plans for the new Walton museum Crystal Bridges.  The Bentonville, Arkansas museum will display Walton’s newly purchased painting “Kindred Spirits” by Asher B. Durand, which she bought for a record $35 million.  But amid growing concerns about Wal-Mart’s corporate ethics lurks a question about how, yet again, the Walton family may be using their jaw-dropping wealth to arrange sweetheart deals that benefit them and leave out others.  Wal-Mart Watch today calls upon Alice Walton to admit if she used a new Arkansas bill to avoid paying the requisite 6 percent sales tax for her acquisition, leaving Arkansans to lose out on the revenue.

The Background Behind Alice Walton’s Possible Multi-Million Dollar Sweetheart Deal

New Walton Painting Could Generate $3 Million in State and Local Taxes. According to the Arkansas Times, the $35 million spent by Alice Walton to purchase “Kindred Spirits” by Asher Durand could generate state and local sales tax of some $3 million.  And the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance reports that, regardless of the location of the purchase, the state where an owner takes physical possession of a painting – in this case, presumably Arkansas – is the state sales tax that would apply.  [Arkansas Times, 5/19/05; New York State Department of Taxation & Finance, phone report, 5/23/05]

Without Special Exemption, State Law Mandates Sales Tax on Art. Tim Leathers, the Arkansas revenue commissioner, said all the state’s museums, like other nonprofits, are subject to sales tax on items they purchase.  Even if they buy them in a state that exempts art from sales tax, they still have to pay the tax in Arkansas, he said.  [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 3/16/05]
But New Arkansas Legislation Exempts Walton Museum from Sales Tax. “An act passed this year by the Arkansas Legislature helped solidify plans for the new Walton museum. Arkansas Act 1865, sponsored by Rep. Horace Hardwick, R-Bentonville, provides sales and use tax exemptions to nonprofit museums for the building construction and art purchases. To qualify, the museum must open to the public before Jan. 1, 2013, cost more than $30 million to build and house more than $100 million worth of art.” The Walton Foundation museum is scheduled to open May 2009. [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 5/20/05]
Walton Family Widely Considered To Be Behind Exemption Legislation. Alice Walton and the Foundation lobbied for passage of a bill that exempts the Foundation from having to pay Arkansas’ 6 percent sales tax on the acquisition or sale of artwork. [Bill sponsor Rep. Horace] Hardwick wouldn’t identify the nonprofit organization mentioned in the bill, but sources who requested anonymity told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal that it’s the Walton Foundation and that Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, was behind the museum plan.  [Arkansas Business, 5/19/05; 3/14/05]
Special Treatment: Little Rock Arts Center Not Eligible for Walton Exemption. “The [sales tax exemption] law didn’t exempt the Walton museum by name, but was written in such a way toAPPLY TO IT AND NO OTHER.” For example, the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock has to pay sales tax on its acquisitions, and is not eligible for the exemption, because the legislation passed this year it only applies to museums opened between Jan. 1, 2005, and Jan. 1, 2013. [Arkansas Times, 5/19/05; Arkansas Business, 3/14/05]
Tax Law Secrecy Masks Tax Payments, But Waltons Could Choose to Disclose. The Arkansas Times reported, “Because of TAX LAW SECRECY, it’s likely Arkansans will never know IF [Alice Walton’s $35M purchase of the Durand] painting was TAXED or EVEN IF AN EFFORT WAS MADE TO COLLECT THE TAX. The Waltons COULD say IF they chose.” [Arkansas Times, 5/19/05, emphasis added] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~WMW

Taxing interstate commerce like this is nasty. I wish Alice luck in avoiding this overtaxation, the same luck to those using Amazon.com and eBay in trying to avoid unnecessary taxes on stuff purchased out-of-state. I hope you are not claiming that this tax matter is subsidy-related. If you do, you have no idea what a subsidy is. At issue is whether or not the government should forcibly take more of Alice Walton’s money. Not one cent of government money is being discussed.

As for the previous previous posts, you have yet to show any “hidden costs” beyond a $0 amount. It is not Wal-Mart’s fault if someone with low-skills with low-value earns the fair pay for that work at Wal-Mart.

The health care costs you name have nothing to do with WalMart. The lifestyle choices people make with the money they earn is their own matter. Walmart is only responsible for paying its employees what they earn. They are not responsible for giving employees unearned extras.

(A subsidy is a gift of government money to a company. The term only applies to actual subsidies. It does not apply to tax breaks, since it is not a “gift” to take less from someone).

According to a marketing executive, an Edelman executive providing media training to his firm said: [1]

Sometimes, you just have to stand up there and lie. Make the audience or the reporter believe that everything is ok. How many times have you heard a CEO stand up and say “No, I’m not leaving the company” and then - days later - he’s gone. Reporters understand that you “had” to do it and they won’t hold it against you in your next job when you deal with them again~~~~~~~Source Watch~~~~NOTE: The blanket denials in the face of reality are reminiscent of” realist in e.g.” Sounds much like the statement attributed to an Edelman Group associate by Sourcewatch. Amazing.

2004-07-15
Baytown, TX. Wal-Mart Gets Huge Tax Deal to Rent Distribution Center

Several weeks ago, Good Jobs First released a report on the myriad of ways that Wal-Mart has filled its beggar’s cup with corporate welfare, underwritten by local and state taxpayers, to help build distribution centers. Tax breaks of every size and shape--Wal-Mart feeds its empire from warehouses built with public money. This week, the Associated Press reports that Wal-Mart has taken advantage of something benignly called the “Permanent School Fund” to write down the cost of building a distribution center in Baytown, Texas. In this deal, the Permanent School Fund purchases the land for $80 million, and a distribution facility from the Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust for $2 million, and then Wal-Mart leases the facility for 30 to 40 years, and their rent payments replenish the fund. Neither the land nor building, which are owned by the Fund, can be taxed by any authority in Texas, such as city, county or school districts, because the Fund is a non-profit entity. Wal-Mart doesn’t have any performance goals it has to meet for investments or creating new jobs. The retailer just gets a very desirable rent. According to the AP, the Permanent School Fund was established in 1854 with a $2 million grant from the Texas Legislature. It has grown to $18.8 billion and in recent years has contributed $700 million to $800 million a year to public education. The fund invested almost exclusively in stocks and bonds until a legislative change in 2001 allowed it to explore other ways to make money, including real estate, oil and gas. Wal-Mart will pay rent of roughly $4.8 million a year for the first five years. Every five years, the payments will increase at a fixed rate of 10.4 percent. One Republican state senator was quoted as saying, “I’m concerned about all the wheeling and dealing that’s going on over here, so I do want to look at it. The obvious question is, do we want to be taking local property-tax revenue from local taxing entities so we can enhance the Permanent School Fund?” The School Land Board, which oversees the Permanent School Fund, said the state will get about $180 million in rent over the life of the lease. After that, Wal-Mart must buy back the building for what the state paid, or market value, whichever is higher. But critics wonder why Texas government is making any deal with a company that has more dead stores in Texas than in any other state in the country? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~WMW~~~~~~~~NOTE: Sure sounds like a subsidy to me.BTW, this was Tom Delay’s,Jack Abramoff buddy’s stomping grounds, back in 2004.

Nice description of a tax break, which has nothing to do with subsidies.

Do you call it a gift from a mugger if he steals your wallet but lets you keep your shoes? Of course not. It’s yours to begin with. Just like the money that might or might be taxed. The only money being discussed in the tax break belongs to Wal-Mart.

The article contains the following “Tax breaks of every size and shape--Wal-Mart feeds its empire from warehouses built with public money. “ Yes, there are tax breaks. But no public money has been discussed.

Can you show me one Walmart warehouse built with public money, as opposed to being built with the company’s own money (which possible due to a tax break they are keeping more of)? Just one.

So far the articles have detailed $0 of government money being spent on the company.

In this deal, the Permanent School Fund purchases the land for $80 million, and a distribution facility from the Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust for $2 million, and then Wal-Mart leases the facility for 30 to 40 years, and their rent payments replenish the fund. Neither the land nor building, which are owned by the Fund, can be taxed by any authority in Texas, such as city, county or school districts, because the Fund is a non-profit entity. Wal-Mart doesn’t have any performance goals it has to meet for investments or creating new jobs. The retailer just gets a very desirable rent.According to the AP, the Permanent School Fund was established in 1854 with a $2 million grant from the Texas Legislature. It has grown to $18.8 billion and in recent years has contributed $700 million to $800 million a year to public education.

The School Land Board, which oversees the Permanent School Fund, said the state will get about $180 million in rent over the life of the lease. After that, Wal-Mart must buy back the building for what the state paid, or market value, whichever is higher. ~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE:Sounds like government money to me.

realist,

“Yes, there are tax breaks. But no public money has been discussed.”

You have to understand, that some people think ALL money belongs to the Government and the government makes laws that allow you to keep some of their money, therefore, they believe that if someone gets a ‘tax break’, it is the government taking some of their money and GIVING it to that party, thus depriving taxpayers of some benefit from it!!  In their view, people should be glad that the government allows them to keep some of the government’s money and should get angry, when others get to keep more of the government’s money than they get to keep!! 

Also, they look at it, that if Wal-Mart get’s a dollar ‘tax-break’, that is one dollar out of THEIR (taxpayers) pocket, so, in essense, Wal-Mart is ‘stealing’ their money!!

I know it all sounds stupid, but, that’s the way they think!!

RDS: You are very correct. If ddrb makes $38,000 a year, does he believe that this $38,000 is a gift from the government, a welfare payment, a subsidy? If not, he is a hypocrite.

Did you notice that ddrb detailed a situation in which Walmart is giving $180 million to the government? Not only is there a complete lack of a government subsidy (government money going to Walmart), his own scenario has money going from Walmart to the government. The opposite of what he keeps saying happens.

@ddrb: “NOTE:Sounds like government money to me. “

Yes. Money going from Walmart to the government. The opposite of a government subsidy. And it is at least $180 million.

The state has bought the distribution center from WalMart. The state bought and paid $80 million for the land the center stands on. WalMart gets a cheap rent ,with no requirement to create jobs or provide trickle down to the community, and then gets the REIT off.[ This particular"deal" was extensively researched by a reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram named Jay Root.The article date is 7/11/04.]The Baytown are was being eyed by WalMart as early as ‘03, as an alternative to California ports and to bypass expensive land and organized labor woes.  This funding package was cobbled together , along with confidentiality agreements between public officials and the editor of the Baytown newspaper, who kept the deal under wraps, according to the news article. Even the Baytown School Board was kept out of the loop, because they could not offer WalMart tax breaks,according to then Baytown mayor. Now the timing of this is intriguing.This is “ Swiftboat Summer “of ‘04. That’s when John O’Neill and his ilk swiftboated John Kerry. Alice Walton was one of the biggest financial contributors to this movement.Well,this school fund never invested much in real estate until the new Governor of Texas,Rick Perry, took office.One of the other real estate deals,in the pipeline , by the School Fund was with the Carlyle Group .Well, Delay had just done his gerrymandering of Texas in October,06,some months before the Austin paper ran the story on this sweetheart deals. Fast forward to August,07,one month after the news article,during the highest heat of the Texas summer, Mac Cleland goes down to Crawford,Texas to deliver a letter to Bush,asking him to call off the Swiftboat dogs.Bush wouldn’t even come out of the house .But GW did send someone out there to the gate to deal with the unwelcome visitor.One of the White House press people? Crawford staff? Barney the First Dog? Nope. And here’s where it gets really interesting. Bush sends out none other Jerry Patterson, who is both Texas Land Commissioner and Chairman of the School Land Board,which oversees Permanent School Fund Real Estate Deals.

Corrections: That should say” fast forward to August,04,one month after the news article."The gerrymandering was in October,03.

@ddrb: “The state has bought the distribution center from WalMart. The state bought and paid $80 million for the land the center stands on”

So someone bought something from Walmart and got something for their money. Last time I knew, buying something has nothing to do with subsidies.

No.an entity bought something from WalMart,and WalMart is getting plenty for the entities money---for a long time. As one Texas lawmaker said,” WalMart worked the state of Texas over pretty good on this one”. Other lawmakers were flummoxed as to why such a sweetheart deal for a corporation that could well have paid its won way,or at least make more trickle down for the community. Well, those lobbyists who were friends and associates with Abramoff and Delay probably coulda had a little sumpi’n sumpin’ to do with it. Don’tcha think?

ddrb,

“No.an entity bought something from WalMart,and WalMart is getting plenty for the entities money---for a long time. As one Texas lawmaker said,” WalMart worked the state of Texas over pretty good on this one””

You said that ‘entity’ was the ‘state’!!  How did Wal-Mart ‘force’ the state to buy it?  Next, if one Texas lawmaker said Wal-Mart ‘worked the state over pretty good’, it either means that Texas lawmakers are really ‘stupid’ and don’t know what’s going on and don’t know what they are doing, or they ‘screwed’ themselves and are now trying to ‘pass the buck’ towards Wal-Mart so they won’t look like ‘idiots’ for making that deal!!

RDS: Why don’t you educate yourself and read the WHOLE story at the Fort Worth Star Telegram? Online archive,July 11,2004,by Jay Root,entitled “Critics say WalMart Got a Bargain in Texas."The Texas lawmakers were not nearly as stupid as your remarks sound on this issue..

ddrb,

“Why don’t you educate yourself and read the WHOLE story at the Fort Worth Star Telegram?”

Because I don’t really CARE about it, that’s why!!  I was only commenting about what YOU said about it!!  As far as I’m concerned, if the lawmakers make a ‘bad deal’, it’s their own fault!!

If I bought YOUR house and rented it back to you real cheap, is that YOUR fault or mine, if it turns out to be a ‘bad deal’ for me?

RDS: Well,RDS, you SHOULD care about the basis of your comments. Mainly because it is a poor reflection upon you, when you make little effort to no effort to research the subject matter at hand , before “shooting from the lip.”

ddrb,

Why should I care about the content of some conspiracy report YOU posted?  All I did, was respond to what YOU said!!  The basis of my comments, was responding to YOUR post, not the article!!

I neither have the time nor the desire to follow up on the volume of ‘cut and pastes’ you post, I have a life outside of this site and unlike you, I have a mate and family to spend time with!!  Just because you tend to want to twist everything to fit your view of things, doesn’t mean everyone is going to agree with you!!

As for the article in question, I didn’t have to read the full article, to see, that it is the government that makes the laws, therefore, they are the one’s that made a ‘bad deal’ and they then, are the one’s who have to take the blame for it!!

This one statement, explains it all: “The state has bought the distribution center from WalMart.”, it doesn’t say that Wal-Mart somehow ‘forced’ the state to buy the distribution center!!  The lawmakers could have said “Pass”!!

RDS: You have been posting here for FAR longer than I. Twice as long,and far more posts than I. According to your own admission,you were “kicked off” Wake Up WalMart.So ,don’t preach about spending time with a mate or family. This recent meme of attempting to infer I have no mate or no life is simply a strategy to personally attack me,with no basis in fact . Just like your commenting off another’s comments -its not rooted in fact,but rhetoric. Unlike you, I don’t drag my personal relationships onto the Internet. But what I find difficult to reconcile is why my personal life is of such interest to some here, when some here so clearly harbor such animosity.Why such personal interest in a person considered insignificant,as I am referred to frequently?

So ,don’t preach about spending time with a mate or family. This recent meme of attempting to infer I have no mate or no life is simply a strategy to personally attack me,with no basis in fact .

Here’s a question—how can you “personally attack” someone who only exists, here?  If I told my closest friends I “personally attacked ddrb on an anti-WM site”, I would most likely get laughed-at.

As for having a life/mate—well, do you, or don’t you?  You know the old saying - if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck (you being a loner, that is)…

Just like your commenting off another’s comments -its not rooted in fact,but rhetoric.

No, though RDS’ commentary may be of little interest to you people, he does speak from his own life experiences—when was the last time you, in your own words, said something factual??

Unlike you, I don’t drag my personal relationships onto the Internet.

Ahem - I believe it was your little buddies who dragged information about RDS, here…

But what I find difficult to reconcile is why my personal life is of such interest to some here, when some here so clearly harbor such animosity.Why such personal interest in a person considered insignificant,as I am referred to frequently?

Funny, I asked Mr. Screwed and Kenbo the exact same thing when they were “drilling” me, a while back (they said if I at least “localized” myself, it would give them some insight...).

As for “why you”, I believe it’s because people don’t believe you’re a real person (after all, having Walmart as a next door neighbor still sounds a little far-fetched to me).

Also, your evasiveness to Mr. Feinman’s requests to have you as a guest blogger at WotW only underscores that fact…

ddrb,

“According to your own admission,you were “kicked off” Wake Up WalMart”

I was ‘kicked off’ of Wake Up WalMart, because I talked against the UFCW union!!

“Unlike you, I don’t drag my personal relationships onto the Internet.”

Could that be, because you have no personal relationships other than with the Internet?

“But what I find difficult to reconcile is why my personal life is of such interest to some here,”

As did I, when YOU kept asking me questions about MY personal life!!  But, at least I was honest enough to answer your question, unlike YOU, who wouldn’t even answer ‘general’ questions, like what state you lived in, what type of work you did (if any) or even what age group you might be in (young, middle or old)!!

“Why such personal interest in a person considered insignificant,as I am referred to frequently?”

Our interest, has to do with trying to figure out, why you think like you do!!  Where, you got such far Left-Wing views of life!!  We understand SDV, because he lives in that ‘Wacky World’ called California, where there is a place called ‘Fantasy Land’ and ANYTHING and EVERYTHING (except Wal-Mart, I guess) is acceptable!!

RDS/(Someone/bbrd)/mary/realist etc. have all been outed by WalMart’s own admission and that of Edelman that WalMart/Edelman hires internet trolls, frauds, fakes and propagandists to try and defend WalMart’s dying reputation on these sites. You were caught long ago, it is pure dead horseshit chutzpah that makes you stooges think you have or ever had any credibility in the American internet dialogue. In Europe, what you do here propagandizing corporate sleaze on behalf of WalMart is illegal.

Walmartsycophantpsychophobia- The strange, obsessive and abnormal fear of WalMart being disliked by others. Especially on the internet by WalMart’s internet trolls, fakes and propaganda frauds.

SDV: Re: Inappropriate and inordinate obsession by the Wal-nutz about my personal life:----Headline-"Frauds Allege Fraud-Demand personal details of a life they contend doesn’t exist!”

Re: Inappropriate and inordinate obsession by the Wal-nutz about my personal life.

I guess she’s now going to add “internet rock star” to her resume…

Actually, she’s just the latest in a long list of nobodies trying to be a “somebody” in this thing called life.

RDS: My thought processes, as is my location are NONE of your business.Neither is my personal info. You have no right to ask, and I have no intention of telling. NYDB. Your motivation research would be better served studying the mob mentality that created the stampede.Oh, excuse me,I forgot,that’s already been quantified and implemented. That marketing motivator worked TOO well, in that case.Much more intriguing the mentality that resists WalMart’s marketing “allure”,right?And,the humiliation tecniques aren’t working either-except to be a humiliating reflection upon those desperate enough to employ them.

ddrb,

“My thought processes, as is my location are NONE of your business”

Then, why did you think MINE was YOURS?

“Neither is my personal info.”

I don’t think, asking ‘general’ information, like the STATE you live in, what TYPE of work you do, or your age GROUP, would be considered “Personal Information”!!  For all we know, you could be a 19 year old, working at a McDonalds in France (you use French quite often)!!

“Your motivation research would be better served studying the mob mentality that created the stampede.”

I already KNOW what that is, it’s called ‘Lack of respect for others’ and ‘Lack of personal responsibility’, fostered by the mentality YOU exibit in defending that behavior, by passing the blame off on the store and advocating ‘deep pocket’ lawsuits!!

“That marketing motivator worked TOO well, in that case.”

As the ‘marketing motivator’ was the SAME in ALL of Wal-Mart’s stores, how come there was only a problem in this one store?  The ‘marketing motivator’ wasn’t the problem, it was the shoppers “Me first” mentality at that one location, that was the problem!!  It also seems that people in ‘Big Cities’ exibit this behavior the most, all one has to do, is look at the people sitting in lines for 2 weeks, and being willing to PAY MORE, just to be one of the ‘FIRST’ to get an I-Phone!!

Crime takes a holiday all year at WalMart. Usually its the WalMart shoppers who are the victims, not the employees. How come nobody is talking about the “Happy Hunting” grounds[holiday and everday] better known as WalMart parking lots. Little to no security there,either.Lots of crimes like rapes,robberies,abductions,molestations, carjackings-mostly outside the store. Lots of security inside,but little outside.Wal-Mart Crime Report - Is your local Wal-Mart Safe?The Wal-Mart stores sampled had an average reported police incident rate of 269 incidents per store in 2004.
walmartcrimereport.com/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages
[PDF] Crime and Wal-Mart — “Is Wal-Mart Safe?”File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
relationship between incidents of crime and Wal-Mart stores raises concerns ... discussed the impact of having to respond to calls for service at Walmart ...
walmartcrimereport.com/report.pdf -

If you want to run your propaganda campaign on Crime, here are some REAL crime statistics, from none other than the Justice Dept. on your chosen ones city.

Maybe you can focus your blogging efforts over in Chicago. Think they will pay attention, to your, insignificant rant?

Chicago War Zone Information

Body count.
In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago , 221 killed in Iraq .

Sens. Barack Obama & Dick Durbin, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Gov. Rod Blogojevich, House leader Mike Madigan, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Mayor Richard Daley...our leadership in Illinois...all Democrats.

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago .

Of course they’re all blaming each other.

Can’t blame Republicans, there aren’t any!

State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country. Cook County ( Chicago ) sales tax 10.25% highest in country.

Chicago school system one of the worst in country.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois .

He’s gonna ‘fix’ Washington politics?

WalMart related crime is WalMart’s responsibilty,to the employees,shoppers and shareholders . Duty of care.Don’t YOU care about customer safety?These parking lots have been and still are combat zones,for years now. Changing the subject to smear the President elect does not address the issue of WalMart crime.You are entitled to your opinion of OUR President -elect Obama,but not the facts about the reality of HIGH incidence of WalMart crime on a daily basis,all year round,countrywide from coast to coast,and community to communit.  One terminology refers to WalMart,a “Crime Magnet.” The trampling death occured to an employee. Usually, the violence is toward the customer. But the magnetic attraction in both cases is WalMart.

I don’t think the thousands of shoppers[and WalMart associates] who have been robbed, abducted,killed,raped, carjacked,molested ,murdered while on WalMart propertities would consider MY concern about THEIR safety,an “insignificant rant”. If YOU do, then that says more about YOUR priorities than theirs or mine.But then agian your post pretty well illustrates your priority....and its politics,not people.

Man In Dress Fires Shots In Walmart
WESH.com - Winter Park,FL,USA
Orlando police found a car stolen by a crossdressing gunman who fired shots during a robbery at a Walmart. It happened at the Walmart Supercenter in ...
See all stories on this topic Top Cop: Wal-Mart May Be To Blame For Worker Death
WCBS-TV New York - NY,USA
Wal-Mart advertised the sale, announced supplies were limited and then—he says—did little to control the surge of people as they funnelled through
Bomb scare at Arlington Wal-Mart prompts evacuation
Dallas Morning News - Dallas,TX,USA
The Wal-Mart Supercenter in north Arlington was briefly evacuated Monday after someone called in a bomb threat. The call to the store was made around 12:30 ~~~~~~~ Some current WalMart Crime stories

The trampling death occured to an employee. Usually, the violence is toward the customer. But the magnetic attraction in both cases is WalMart.

Care to comment about the recent Toys “R” Us shooting?

Inquiring minds await…

Sydney Morning Herald Customers injured in crush suing Wal-Mart
CNN - 55 minutes ago
NEW YORK (CNN)—Two customers are suing Wal-Mart for negligence after being injured in a mad rush for post-Thanksgiving bargains that left one store ...

Pair accused of running over Delta Walmart employee
KJCT8.com, CO - 34 minutes ago
DELTA—A Delta Walmart employee is ran over and a witness nearly hit when police say a pair of shoplifters were attempting to flee the store with nearly ~~~~~~~~~~~~

ddrb,

“In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago” ~ SDR

I think the point, is more, that the crime rate in Chicage, happens, even though Wal-Mart has little presence there, how come?  It would seem, that Wal-Mart, is ‘safer’ than Chicago, as they have way LESS crime!!  Under your senerio, The City of Chicago should be blamed as being a ‘crime magnet’ and should be shut down!!

Tell me, if someone broke into your neighbors house and raped her, would you say that it was her fault, because: 1.) She didn’t have a ‘good’ enough security system and 2.) because her house became a crime magnet, drawing the rapist there?  Does not at any time, blame fall on the person who ‘committed’ the crime in your ‘little world’?

Then there is this whole ‘security’ thing!!  First it is said, “Where is Wal-Mart’s security” (in the trampling incident), then you post “Lots of security inside,but little outside.”, so, which is it?  Does Wal-Mart have too little ‘security’ or lots of ‘security?  And, if Wal-Mart’s ‘security’ stops a shoplifter, all we hear, is, ‘That poor shoplifter (the victim), was being mistreated by the ‘security people’, after all, Wal-Mart CAUSED him to ‘shoplift’, by paying low wages’!!

Tell me, if someone broke into your neighbors house and raped her, would you say that it was her fault, because: 1.) She didn’t have a ‘good’ enough security system and 2.) because her house became a crime magnet, drawing the rapist there? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE: How about if the home was in the immediate vicinity of a “crime magnet” business?

ddrb,

“How about if the home was in the immediate vicinity of a “crime magnet” business?”

Whatever, is it her fault, even then?  Do you always answer a question with another question, when you have NO answer?

You don’t deserve an answer. You are attempting to perpetrate false equivalencies.

ddrb,

“You don’t deserve an answer. You are attempting to perpetrate false equivalencies.”

Okay, so you HAVE no answer, predictable!!

As for false equivalencies, it is NOT, in both cases, the criminal, was NOT invited to come AND commit a crime!!  But, in one case, you think the criminal is at fault and in the other, Wal-Mart is at fault, not the criminal!!

Illinois Leads Nation in Wal-Mart Subsidies 06-05-2007

By a wide margin, Illinois leads the nation in public subsidies to Wal-Mart, according to new data from the nonprofit research group Good Jobs First.

Illinois has given or promised over $150 million in state and local subsidies to Wal-Mart or to developers of shopping centers anchored by a Wal-Mart store - far more than any other state, according to data released by Good Jobs First in a new online searchable database, www.walmartsubsidywatch.org.

After Illinois, the states with the most dollars going to Wal-Mart were Texas, Louisiana and Missouri, each with subsidies totalling between $90 million and $100 million, according to the data base.

Illinois also leads other states in deals concluded in the last three years, with $50 million promised in nine deals involving new Wal-Mart stores.

The Good Jobs First database updates a 2004 study by the group, which identified $1 billion in subsidies to Wal-Mart nationwide. In the last three years, at least $220 million in additional subsidies were granted.

One problem is the lack of consistent public disclosure of economic subsidies, said Philip Mattera, research director for Good Jobs First.

“Illinois has a relatively good disclosure system for the key subsidies given out at the state level,” he said. For subsidies from municipalities and other local entities, the group generally learned of deals from newspaper articles and followed up with local officials.

Subsidies include industrial revenue bonds, free land, infrastructure development, and abatements of property and sales taxes.

The largest subsidies in the state were for Wal-Mart supercenters in Country Club Hills - with property and sales tax rebates totalling $12.25 million - and Orland Hills, where $12 million in sales tax rebates have been promised for a supercenter that will replace an existing Wal-Mart.

Belleville is providing $9.9 million to a development with a Wal-Mart supercenter that will replace an existing Wal-Mart, which received a $7 million city subsidy for land acquisition and infrastructure improvement in 1994.

Similarly, Collinsville is providing $9.5 million for a development with a Wal-Mart supercenter that will replace a Wal-Mart store built in 1991 with financing from a $2.4 million IRB.

Public subsidies to Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers are “not good public policy,” Mattera said, since new big box stores “do not really stimulate economic growth but simply take business away from existing smaller retailers and threaten the jobs of their workers.”

Wal-Mart creates jobs with poverty-level wages and contributes to sprawl, he added. “Public money shouldn’t be used to encourage more of this.”

In addition to direct and indirect development subsidies, Wal-Mart employees in Illinois accounted for nearly $53 million in state and federal Medicaid spending, Good Jobs First estimates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE: In addition , Illinois has the status of being the home of WalMart’s Italian REIT.(!) Looks to me like the Illinois Democrats[SDR says there are NO Republicans in power there] have been pretty damn good to WalMart.Too good,IMHO .Goes to show you that no good deed goes unpunished,especially when dealing with WalMart. However,when President Obama [from Illinois ]signs The EFCA bill into law, it sure will feel like punishment for WalMart.

ddrb,

“Illinois has given or promised over $150 million in state and local subsidies to Wal-Mart or to developers of shopping centers anchored by a Wal-Mart store - far more than any other state”

Isn’t that the state Obama is from?  If the leaders of Illinois were ‘dumb’ enough to give or promise $150 million in subsidies to Wal-Mart, what can we expect from Barack?

“Public subsidies to Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers are “not good public policy,” Mattera said”

If that’s true, then why do the city leaders keep doing it, all over the country?  Are they all ‘stupid’?

“However,when President Obama [from Illinois ]signs The EFCA bill into law, it sure will feel like punishment for WalMart.”

That remains to be seen!!

So,RDS, you FINALLY admit that giving WalMart subsidies is a dumb decision. I agree. It’s WAY past time for local,state,and federal government to wise up and vote in combined reporting. Amputate WalMart’s welfare,pronto,to cauterize the hemorrhaging of taxpayer assets to this metastic ,wealthy corporation.