Want to see the real welfare queen?

[Whovian]

“The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year – about $2,103 per employee. Specifically, the low wages result in the following additional public costs being passed along to taxpayers:

$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
$42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
$100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of 2 children.
$108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children’s health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
$9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance.”

from http://underthemountainbunker.com/2012/02/25/walmart-costs-taxpayers-1557000000-the-conservative-circle-of-life/

Also see
http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/2004/Wal-Mart-Labor-Record16feb04.htm

[hrmjustin]

1. K&R!

[Tikki]

2. K&R

Tikki

[ProudProgressiveNow]

3. +1000 nt

[annabanana]

4. Boy Howdy.. ain't it the truth! . . . n/t

[freshwest]

12. +1

[littlemissmartypants]

5. They should come with a warning label...

"We are not your Mama, John Boy." and here is the new picture of Walton's Mountain...

[Terra Alta]

24. the Waltons are living high on the hog

while many of the people who work for them are struggling to get by. They could all afford to lose a couple billion so their associates can make ends meet.

[dotymed]

67. It is sickening that we

subsidize wal-mart employees because their greedy owners are able to get by with paying them shit wages. Actually, we are paying the walton family billion$ to pay people slave wages, just in a round-a-bout way.
The 1% are leeches on society...they get their blood any way they can.

[tabasco]

6. Greedy fucking pigs.

Walmart must be destroyed.

[Terra Alta]

25. not destroyed, just unionized, and made to treat their associates fairly.

I'm thankful I work at a pretty good store, with a decent manager who actually cares about his associates. Many Wal-mart associates aren't so lucky, and certainly the people at the very top, such as the Waltons, Mike Duke, etc. need to be knocked down a peg or two.

[tabasco]

39. In other words,

destroyed and replaced with something better.

[WillyT]

7. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[Matariki]

8. I wish the graphic used a photo of a member of the Walton family

instead of some poor Wal-Mart worker, or stock photo actress.

[Whovian]

10. You're right. Isn't my graphic but it's still effective.

[DhhD]

63. A picture of the Waltons with a title about real corporate welfare provided by taxpayers would be

very good also. Maybe a double tile.

[99Forever]

9. K&R

[BlueinOhio]

11. Forgot another cost

Wal-Mart gets $1,000,000.00 per store reimbursement for merchandise losses.

[freshwest]

13. From the government? Got a link to show how they get this?

It seems that $1M per store would be in their own corporate insurance policy, and not involve government at all.

A link to that data will show what a poor citizen WalMart really is.

[BlueinOhio]

69. You would have to read the tax code

[freshwest]

71. In every community? Is this the case where you live, that you have that figure?

If you heard this somewhere that can't be sourced, fine. I just want to use it in arguments on this, and 'every store and a million 'will get me shot down. Some places I post on the net will delete any claims not written as anecdotal, if they are not linked.

[mtasselin]

34. SCCIALISM

This is the truest form of SOCIALISM in the world

[pmdsyr32]

14. scumbag

we need to push our congress to stop this waste of our money

[xtraxritical]

15. Sure, there's still almost as many Republicons in Congress as before the election.

Hopefully the RepubliCONs will fup even more for 2014.

[Dakota Flint]

20. Spreading these types of messages can only help...

get rid of these greed poisoned obstructionists in both the House and Senate.

[libdem4life]

16. This is what the union should be blastsing...over and over and over. Put it on picket signs.

Facebook. Tweets. "Here's why to celebrate Small Business Saturday." It's not partisan...it's not "labor propaganda"...it's not fair.

[livingonearth]

17. But, but...they're job creators!?

I'm not putting up the sarcasm sign. I know you all know what I mean.

[Angry Dragon]

18. kick

[ErikJ]

19. While the 4 Waltons are worth $110 billion.

Why are we subsidizing them?

[TeamPooka]

21. k+r!

[Terra Alta]

22. I work for Wal-mart and know of several co-workers who are on some type of government assistance.

I know several others who have tried to get EBT or other types of government assistance but are told they make too much money, at Wal-mart of all places, yet they are still struggling to make ends meet. Wal-mart really needs to pay their associates a living wage. I've been working for them for quite a while and I do well but I worry about some of my co-workers who are struggling, especially the ones with young children.

[HopeHoops]

23. K&R - fuck WalMart - buy local.

[calikid]

26. kickity kick & recity reck n/t

[Thinkingabout]

27. This is a part of corporate welfare the GOP does not want to talk about.

I shop at Walmart and have family members working there. It I'd wrong for corporations to pay so low and then encourage their employees to seek government assistance when they make big profits. WalMart, stop living off of the tax payers.

[Whovian]

29. They are the ultimate cons in our day and age.

They have armies of lawyers to exploit every legal loophole for the advancement of profit and their own gain rather than any concern for their employees.

[ReRe]

28. Absofuckinlutely!

K&R

The biggest corporate Welfare Queen of all time. Dayaaaamm! DU... if we could...we would go to DC and kick some proverbial rear-ends and get this country straightened out in one day. Talk about devil-in-the-details.... right there's some serious details!

[Initech]

35. Yup the biggest welfare queens of them all- Walmart and big oil.

If we could get rid of their subsidies we could make a huge dent in the budget.

[benld74]

30. Walmart does absolutely NOTHING for its Employees. NOTHING

[progressoid]

31. FuckinA

[luv_mykatz]

32. I love how DU puts the truth out there.

Thank you for posting this information.

Am forwarding to my facebook page.

[George II]

33. Here in Connecticut...

...Walmart actually conducts TRAINING CLASSES for employees on how to get benefits from the state (which they don't give to their employees)

[Iwillnevergiveup]

36. "Associate"

This term that Walmart uses to identify its' employees has always bothered me. If you're an "associate" in a law firm or p.r. firm or newspaper/magazine outlet, or justice or medical office or in sales....you sure as hell ain't making minimum wage with no benefits. An "associate" in any other work place has a say and a stake in the overall business and are traditionally compensated. Walmart workers are either clerks, cashiers, stockers, security, door-greeters or low-level managers, period. Talk about putting lipstick on a pig. Shameful and disgraceful.

K&R

[maddiemom]

50. Great point!

Calling underpaid employees "associates" is supposed to lend dignity to their jobs. Just another one of the clever semantic games. (like "job creators&quot that right winger PTB have been using to fool us average suckers. At last, it seems, we're catching on.

[Volaris]

57. Yeah I 've always hated that particular "customer service" term...

I guess it reads better on a nametag than "corporate's bitch"...and the only reason ANYONE needs a nametag is so the ALWAYS RIGHT customer knows exactly who to try and get fired if you don't go out of your way to be their bootlicker.

[valerief]

37. Kick

[banned from Kos]

38. I hate Wal-Mart too but $1.5 billion is far less than the US taxes it pays

http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AWMT&fstype=ii&ei=mRRxUOiwHIOwkAXYpgE

[aquart]

68. Don't get upset until it's a TOTAL liability?

Parasite Walmart should not be ANY kind of liability. Nor should any corporation. After all, THEY built it.

[mcgarry50]

40. fuck walmart

[mountain grammy]

41. Conservatives don't understand the term "working poor"

"anyone who wants to work can work, and succeed." The great American lie.. 2 full time minimum wage jobs won't even yeild $2000/month after taxes.. yes, Mittens, you know, taxes! the ones paid by the worthless 47%

[Brigid]

42. Now *that's* socialism.

A definite K & R.

[IrishAle]

43. We call Walmart by another title

We call Walmart - The Local Chinese Trade Embassy here. I've even convinced two of my teabagger ultra conservative brothers to stop trading with them and to support local or at the very least regional retail stores.

[Fumesucker]

44. K&R

[aaaaaa5a]

45. K&R

[LynneSin]

46. And yet each one of those Walton heirs are worth a couple billion ....

EACH!!!!!!

Something isn't right that the Walton heirs live high on the hog while hundred of thousand s of their employees struggle.

And it's not like people want to work for Walmart. It's not something we put in our high yearbooks as our dream job. But Walmart has destroyed the middle class in order to sell cheap crap made in china to the masses.

[TexasBushwhacker]

48. A couple billion? Try $26 Billion EACH - Their combined wealth is more than the bottom 40% of the US

[TexasBushwhacker]

47. The source is a 2004 study, the figure now is $2.66 Billion per year

I don't see food stamps or Medicaid mentioned in the study, plus the cost of uninsured emergency room visits or state and county health programs for low income people. If Walmart was struggling I could understand, maybe, but they aren't. They never have been.

[SoapBox]

49. Thanks a lot, BullyMart!

[dchill]

51. K & R

[Liberal_in_LA]

52. wow

[Milliesmom]

53. My Thanksgiving: A Turkey Sandwich at Walmart

I did not spend Thanksgiving evening with my wife and my five children. I spent it, instead, handing out turkey sandwiches to workers in Walmart. And showing my support for one brave soul who walked off the job in protest against exploitation.

Walmart "associates" make an average of just more than $10 an hour. That means that if they manage to get a full 40 hours a week -- and many don't -- they get paid $1,700 a month, before taxes. Somehow, that is supposed to pay for their food, shelter, clothing and medical care, and that of their children. Quite a trick.

In state after state, the largest group of Medicaid recipients is Walmart employees. I'm sure that the same thing is true of food stamp recipients. Each Walmart "associate" costs the taxpayers an average of more than $1,000 in public assistance.
Read more at.........

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/walmart-black-friday-_b_2185675.html

[amuse bouche]

54. Greed kills

the people

[beac]

55. More proof that Walmart's "low prices" cost us all, even those of us that

never set foot in one.

Thanks for the thread and the links.

[rks306]

56. Bastards

What me cost the government money? Truely the Walmart family could afford to pay their employees better and give them better benefits. If I win the NC lottery $425 million I would not become a republican.

[Beartracks]

58. Amazing biz plan: privatize profits, socialize expenses.

And by "amazing" I mean < >amazing</ >

======================

[Victor_c3]

59. I'm happy to find this

I was making the argument a few days ago that we subsidize the low wages that Walmart pays its employees with our tax dollars and benefits. Now I actually have some numbers and facts to back that up with.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want Walmart employees (or other people in need) to get assistance that they need, but I'd rather see them get paid $12 an hour instead of $8.08 (the average pay a Walmart employee receives) and maybe not need as much help.

The difference between two parents working 40 hours a week at $8 an hour and two parents working that same amount at $12 an hour is $32k a year and $48k a year - almost a livable income (You won't make it too far on $48k a year living outside of NYC).

I don't know what it would mean to the prices of cheap goods that we are accustomed to, but I wonder how much a move to increase minimum wage that drastically would impact our economy.

[unhappycamper]

60. And don't forget the elephant in the room:

[MichaelMcGuire]

61. Learn from a master

[tomp]

62. beautiful. that's the way to look at these things.

so how many billions are they making per year, and what would it cost them to eliminate this unnecessary burden on the system?

[Coyotl]

64. Here is another one, opulently supported by millions of taxpayers

[UCmeNdc]

65. K&R

[niyad]

66. k and r--thanks for the info, and links--this needs to go on fb, and be spread as far as possible.

[yardwork]

70. Why aren't the Republicans talking about this? Sucking on the government teat!