And what,
you ask, was he doing?
Only asking
two questions: did they support higher wages for Wal-Mart workers? If so, would
they pay 15% of what they had spent at the store today? He promised to give the
money to the workers at the end of the afternoon. Oh, and good try—saying you
had no cash! He took plastic.
Understandably,
he didn’t get many people to donate….
Well, he
comes right out and says it—we love those low prices, but most of us have no
idea how tricky the retail business is. The iPad you bought at Wal-Mart? The
company didn’t make a dime on it. In fact, Wal-Mart and everybody else makes no
money on electronics; for Black Friday, they’re bleeding money, and people in
the stores are begging customers to buy the cables, the stands, the insurance
for the gadgets. That’s where the money is.
Think
that’s bad? Wal-Mart is also the leading grocer in the USA, and that business
is even worse. You’ve got perishables, for one thing, and the margin is
miniscule. So despite the huge sales, the actual profit is—comparatively—small.
So I believe Schiff when he says:
A raise to
a $15 hourly minimum would increase its $26 billion annual payroll of hourly
workers by 50%, or $13 billion per year. This is approximately 80% of the
company’s total operating profit of $16 billion. Taking those increases from
profits would devastate the company’s finances, place it a serious disadvantage
to its competitors, and force a dramatic restructuring.
So what is
it that Wal-Mart does that is a red cape to so many liberal bulls? Sure, they
pay miserably, but guess what? The supermarket next to me pays just as little,
and has just as many part-timers, if not more. And I used to ask people who
hated Wal-Mart which job they’d prefer: Wal-Mart or McDonalds? Trust me, not a
lot of people chose McDonalds.
Still don’t
think that Wal-Mart arouses deep passions? Here’s what Schiff wrote about the
reaction from the Left.
The reaction I
have seen online leads me to believe that the left wing of the political
spectrum is home to some of the most intolerant, hypocritical, vindictive, and
judgmental people in the country.
In the comments on my Facebook and YouTube pages I have been called some
of the most vulgar names imaginable.
I, and all members of my family, have been wished slow and painful
deaths, with some even inferring that they would be willing to hasten the
process themselves. Others did not
think I should actually forfeit my life, just my liberty, as they thought I
should be thrown in jail. Many on the religious left have even offered
prayers that my soul could find a special place in hell where my torment could
surpass the anguish of the commonly damned.
The insults
were not limited to me, but extended to woman who appeared in the video with
me. She did not utter a single word, but merely stood by my side holding a
sign. Yet many made extremely rude comments about her physical
appearance. I thought liberals didn’t do that?
People
often charge that Wal-Mart drives everybody out of business, an argument I find
a little strange. Look, guys, this is business, remember? This is about
competing for customers, who are driven by (mostly) price, service, and very
marginally loyalty. And competition means there winners and losers—and what
happens when you lose in business?
Is it the
fact that Wal-Mart is and was an essentially southern company? Is that what’s
bugging all the (mostly) northern liberals?
It’s true
that Wal-Mart is rigidly, adamantly anti-union. And also true that at the first
hint that employees are organizing, management calls a hotline, and a TEAM
flies out to the store. At that point, the manager loses all control—the
anti-union is calling the shots. And yes, as a former part of management at
Wal-Mart, I had to go through the famous training on what to say—and not to
say—to non-management employees.
It’s also
true that this morning’s edition of The New York Times had an article about the Local 1 of the stagehand union. Here’s the
headline:
Hey, Stars,
Be Nice to the Stagehands. You Might Need a Loan.
Here’s a
quote from the article:
Five
stagehands at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center were each paid more
in total compensation in 2011 than the highest-paid dancer at New York City
Ballet, filings showed. And, in 2010, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” paid its
stagehands a total of $138,000 a week, while the principals and members of the
ensemble earned slightly less than $100,000 put together, according to
documents submitted to the state attorney general’s office.
Look—there’s
something screwy when a stagehand can earn than the highest paid dancer at City
Ballet.
So what is
it about Wal-Mart that we hate? Let’s be honest: too many of us are living
lives completely dedicated to possessions, to consuming, to have more and more
for which we have to work harder and harder at jobs we hate. We’ve become
junkies.
And
Wal-Mart?
Our
pushers.
