Reply #138: By Joel S. Hirschhorn

[seemslikeadream]

It's seems Hirschhorn was published at DU awhile back apparently he is an acceptable author here just in case one or two people were wondering


http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/03/09_walmart.html


Tackling the Tyranny of Wal-Mart

March 9, 2005
By Joel S. Hirschhorn

For its cancerous growth, Wal-Mart has exploited cheap foreign and domestic labor and is now a metaphor for the export of American jobs and prosperity to other nations. Some say Americans have a love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Maybe - but the more you know, the more you hate. Some bargains are not what they seem to be.

No other company has faced so much passionate grassroots opposition to its expansion across America. It has been painted as evil incarnate for its destruction of open space, exploitation of workers here and abroad, destruction of domestic manufacturing and its jobs, and ruination of small town America and small, locally owned businesses. Its huge imports have exported our prosperity and given China and other nations some control over our future. Its focus on providing low prices has shaped Wal-Mart's defense: we just give consumers what they want, don't blame us for being better at offering low prices than everyone else.

The logical way to challenge this defense is to invoke what economists call externalization of costs. Wal-Mart shifts health care and other costs to all taxpayers, who subsidize Wal-Mart and its customers, yet receive no benefits. Call it the Wal-Mart tax.

Consider these examples: in Iowa, for example, 845 Wal-Mart workers or members of their families are on Medicaid. In Connecticut, 1,028 Wal-Mart employees are in the state's medical care assistance program, or 11.3 percent of its workers in the state. In Alabama, Wal-Mart employees had 3,864 children on Medicaid. In Georgia, Wal-Mart employees had 10,261 children receiving state medical care assistance. In Tennessee, Wal-Mart had 9,617 employees receiving state health care assistance, nearly 25 percent of the company's entire workforce in the state. Both state and federal taxpayer money is being spent to assist Wal-Mart employees and their families.