AN ALTERNET EDITORIAL: WAL-MART CAN HIDE, BUT IT CAN'T RUN
by Don Hazen
AlterNet
Robert Greenwald's upcoming documentary about Wal-Mart's predatory practices is part of an unprecedented progressive media campaign.
Wal-Mart has taken advantage of the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina to try to distract the public from the myriad controversies that have plagued it recently. The extent of Wal-Mart's sins includes lawsuits about discrimination, union busting, worker anger over backlogs of unpaid overtime, and health care and compensation policies that send many of its employees to welfare and food stamps.
It's true that Wal-Mart stepped up to the plate to help the hundreds of thousands of victims of Katrina; the Walton family has reportedly contributed $25 million to the cause. But with everyone in the immediate family right at the top of Forbes' 500, it's not the biggest stretch to their wallets. In fact, a recent report from the National Center for Responsive Philanthropy faults the family with the largest personal fortune in the world for a "rather low level of philanthropic giving," and judges the purpose of their giving to be "primarily self-interested."
Wal-Mart reportedly spends $4 million a day on public relations to obscure its corporate irresponsibility and position it as an American company that truly cares. But even $4 million a day can't hide the vicious business model of the largest corporation on the planet. With 1.4 million employees (larger than GM, Ford, GE and IBM combined), Wal-Mart's $258 billion in annual revenues make up 2 percent of the U.S. G.D.P.
In spite of its financial largesse, or maybe because of it, Wal-Mart constantly plays the miser. A congressional report in 2004 found that a typical 200-employee Wal-Mart store cost federal taxpayers $420,000 for children's health care, tax credits and deductions for low-income families. That equals about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee, or an annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million employees in America. What that boils down to is that Americans subsidize Wal-Mart so that its stockholders can continue to reap huge profits.
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2 comments:
I just found out from a friend of mine who works in L&I that the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries pulled Wal-mart's ability to be self insured as they were not managing their workers' claims appropriately. They were warned a multitude of times but still did not comply so their right to be self insured was pulled and now Labor and Industries manages their claims.
Not surprising Susanne--thanks for the additional info.
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