Having once worked as an AFDC/Food Stamp Eligibility Specialist, I know that the people who have to have government help would love to be able to end that help. Just applying for that help (which must be done periodically) is a humiliating experience. They go through this government-imposed humiliation because they must -- not because they want to.
The real moochers are the corporations and businesses that pay their workers so small a salary they they must ask for government help -- and then avoid paying the taxes on the extra profit they get from abusing their workers. The real "welfare queens" are the Wall Street executives who continue to give themselves six and seven figure bonuses after being bailed out by the middle class taxpayers.
But the people who shop there love the low prices, which are in no small part due to those low wages. What is the trade off between the benefit of the low prices to those who cannot afford to buy at higher prices, and the low wage jobs as opposed to no jobs if Walmart does not exist, which it could not do it it were not offering the low prices that it does?
ReplyDeleteIf I had been out of work for 27 months and Walmart offered me a job, I would take it, and I probably would not complain about the pay rate. At the same time, if I'm a part-time waitress with a baby and need as many doapers as possible with the $4.27 I have left, I would not go to Macy's, I would head to Walmart, and I would love their pricing structure.
It's easy for us, with our established pensions or middle class wage jobs, to criticize Walmart, but people living on the edge of starvation have a very different view. They live in a different world. The landscapers who hang out at Home Depot's parking lot looking for day work love Walmart.
Jayhawk, you bring up some very important points, and I agree with most of what you are saying. There are a few parts to this that I guess I do not understand. The fact that most workers who earn $20,600.00 or less do not have to pay income tax sounds fair, however they are still paying payroll and sales tax and most receive some sort of federal assistance like Ted said, whether it be food stamps or another government program, which in the long run costs the average tax payer more, not the large corporations or businesses who are responsible for this problem by not paying higher wages or providing decent health care. While those who earn more than a certain amount (i.e. millionaires perhaps) do not have to pay payroll tax because they do not work and they have many ways to lower their taxes through donations and tax incentives, not to mention keeping their fortunes in financial institutions in other countries. I wish I had an answer for this problem. Obviously the Walton family has created an incredible hamster's wheel for the lower income families of this nation, while at the same time making millions of dollars off of their situation. As a fortunate member of the middle class,( subject to change at any moment, as I fully realize) I feel all I can do is not propagate this cycle and try to support local merchants and those companies who are able stay and manufacture goods made here in the USA. I would appreciate any thoughts on this, thank you.
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