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NYC Libtard Councilpeople To Walmart : Stop Giving Money To Charities!

Posted by khalling 10 years, 5 months ago to Politics
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What is the liberal obsession with Walmart?! Poor people don ' t shop at Whole Foods or buy their clothing at Macy's you stupid idiots! Your war against Walmart is a war against them! But who cares as long as they can hinder a successful capitalistic model that benefits the lower socio economic sector of the US-who the libtards swear they're championing!
SOURCE URL: http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelschaus/2014/06/07/nyc-liberals-demand-that-walmart-stop-helping-poor-people-n1848757/page/2


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  • Posted by Temlakos 10 years, 5 months ago
    At last the truth comes out. They don't want to admit that private charity even takes place, or that anyone but government has the power *or the inclination* to help other people who, for whatever reason, cannot help themselves by themselves.
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  • Posted by lrbeggs 10 years, 5 months ago
    Success and achievement are anathema. All affluence must be destroyed. THE GOVERNMENT must care for us all and be the ultimate power. No one is better than anyone else. Producers are evil...Anyone making money is evil.
    EQUALITY FOR ALL in the gutter.
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    • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 5 months ago
      My father used to tell me about something his grade school teacher said in the 30s. This is from ancient memory, so bear with me...

      He said his teacher got up in front of the class to address the issue of standard-of-living differences between whites and blacks. Why, I have no idea.

      The movie "Knight and Day" reminded me of what she did next. In that movie, Tom Cruise holds his hand at head level to Cameron Diaz and says, "your odds of survival with me", then lowers it to knee level and says, "without me".

      The teacher held her hand up high and said, "we're up here". Then she held her other hand down low and said, "And they're down here". Then she said, "you can't (or "you can't easily") bring them up to here (she raised the lower hand level with the upper hand), but you can lower us down to there (she then dropped both hands).

      It's always been easier to destroy a high level of prosperity among a subset of people, than to "redistribute" prosperity to the whole set.

      The high level of prosperity among the subset acts as incentive for free people to join that subset; government can only create artificial barriers that affect some and not others. If, on the other hand, you let the free market decide, the level of prosperity of most will increase, more will join the higher and higher subsets, and justice will prevail (in that you can earn your way to the maximum level of prosperity your physical, mental, and emotional makeup allow). Think of it as evolution in action.

      "
      "Now," he went on. drawing on his cigar, "out here,
      you've got problems from the bottom up, instead. Y'all
      understand, you've got an unusual rulin' class here. A
      full third of the population, and visible. Then the CD
      sends you Earth's barbarians. And what do you do? You
      give them a chance. You give them no excuses. None.
      You make it plain, their failures are their own fault, and
      you rub it in by making the rewards of success visible
      and believable.

      "That worked fine so long as you didn't get over-
      whelmed. Lots of them made good, you've achieved a
      remarkable and admirable social mobility. But a lot
      just don't make good. Too many generations of failure,
      too long away from even suspecting what citizenship
      is. They see you as rich slavemasters, and they get told
      all they got to do is take what's coming to them. Okay,
      you can handle that if you don't lose your nerve, but
      nobody ever said it was going to be easy."
      "
      - Pournelle, Stirling, "Prince of Sparta"

      I have never understood the victim mentality. I may be a failure, but at least I admit my failure; I don't pretend I'm a victim of some innocent bystanders' nonexistent malice, thus inflating my importance and denigrating their characters.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 5 months ago
    The liberal obsession is strange. I have some issues with Wal-Mart. They do use their size and influence to get some James Taggert type deals. It would seem to fit well with the Liberal agenda. I think the union thing is just pandering. I believe Wal-Mart gives more money to Republicans.
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 5 months ago
      They use their power as a large customer to get the best deals, which they then provide to their own customers.

      I've been working with a significant WalMart supplier for the past 5 years or so, on and off. WM is relentless in pursuing lower costs. And have been quite innovative in achieving those savings, including pushing their suppliers to improve.
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      • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 5 months ago
        I am fine with those deals. I don't like the special tax breaks they get. I have often wondered about the real story behind our trade agreement with China. Bill Clinton hails from Arkansas and he signs a trade agreement that Wal Mart seemed ready to take advantage of before anyone else. I may be a conspiracy theorist but something seemed strange.
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        • Posted by Robbie53024 10 years, 5 months ago
          Strange? That powerful/wealthy people/companies have the ear of politicians? That politicians provide those powerful/wealthy/people/companies preferential treatment? As was said most famously, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"
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          • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 5 months ago
            Isn't that a problem?
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            • Posted by $ CBJ 10 years, 5 months ago
              Yes it is, and one that Objectivists tend to ignore. We want an impartial legal system that recognizes and defends individual rights, yet we have little to offer in the way of proposed reforms to counter the outsized influence (for good or for ill) that wealthy people and institutions exert over the content of our laws, the judges that interpret them, and the politicians and bureaucrats that enforce them.
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              • Posted by RGrimes1987 10 years, 4 months ago
                The only problem is you cannot really do anything about it. You will almost always have people trying to exert their influence over someone else no matter what kind of system you have in place.
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                • Posted by $ CBJ 10 years, 4 months ago
                  True, but the strength and scope of their influence depends in part on the legal and cultural mechanisms that are in place. For example, outright bribery of public officials is already outlawed, as it should be. Other legal safeguards, such as increased transparency, could also be implemented in a manner that does not violate anyone's rights.
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        • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 5 months ago
          Hilary was appointed to the Board of Walmart, I think it was 1986-1992, while Bill was governor of Arkansas. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/pol...

          I love to hear about businesses that succeed and people who get rich on their own merit, but Walmart isn't one. I'm actually not sure that one can exist today, with government the way it is.
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          • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 4 months ago
            I agree the gov't has huge problems, BUT it's wrong to say NO ONE is out there building wealth honestly by serving their customers and creating value for them. Many people are out here doing a good honest job for clients in spite of the gov't. The gov't doesn't make you cheat on taxes or hire illegals. They don't make things easy, but I reject it when people say they simply cannot succeed b/c of the gov't or they must adopt dishonest practices b/c of the gov't.
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            • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 4 months ago
              I didn't and I never would claim that "no one" is honestly successful, but the higher ranks of modern society are composed of crooks from everything I've seen and heard and experienced. I'd personally never dream of cheating a customer or client but, then again, small businesses like mine are not likely to ever appear on the Forbes 500.
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              • Posted by CircuitGuy 10 years, 4 months ago
                Yes. Forbes 500 isn't all it's cracked up to be. If you own and control a significant share of your business, that's better than owning a tiny fraction of a huge company. And maybe you will grow your company and keep much of the equity in your hands.
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          • Posted by RGrimes1987 10 years, 4 months ago
            It would be really hard since most businesses have to take advantage of any incentives, tax breaks, even favors or breaking the law by hiring illegal help to make it in today's economy. Its ridiculous!
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            • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 4 months ago
              I agree, it's next to impossible for a business or individual to achieve big success today without "playing the game," which amounts to fraud. I think the only real solution is anarchy (getting rid of government). Getting rid of the free market wouldn't work, and the U.S. was an experiment in minarchism which shows where that route leads. I can't see how trying the same strategy again (a "constitutionally limited government") would lead to any different result. What could be changed to make a better outcome more likely?
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              • Posted by 10 years, 4 months ago
                ah, and here we go. anarchists in our midst. Without enforcement of property rights, each individual would spend the majority of his productive time protecting what he builds. Physically and intellectually. there is a moral argument to be made for a Constitutionally limited governmet to keep us from fiefdoms and city states which is highly inefficient and slows the advancement of technology, which is the main determiner in wealth increase for a nation. Objectivism refutes anarchy on a moral basis. This is a site promoting Ayn Rand's ideas
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        • Posted by gwilhelm56 10 years, 5 months ago
          I've been running business for decades... PLEASE, for once and always... TELL ME WHAT these "SPECIAL TAX BREAKS" are ... I must have missed that memo at the last Right Wing Conspirators Meeting.
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          • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 5 months ago
            We had a Wal Mart open near us a few years ago. They were exempt from paying property taxes for five years. It was said that was needed to attract them to the area. They got additional exemptions from paying local taxes because it cost more to develop the location than they estimated. These are examples of what is publicly known. I should say that Wal Mart isn't special in this regard. A friend of mine spoke to the Pittsburgh mayor a number of years ago. He had offered a restaurant a three exemption from city taxes if they would open a location downtown. He pointed out that this was unfair to the existing restaurants but he didn't understand.
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    • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
      I assumed you would have issues with Walmart. Can you point out crony deals? I am not aware of specific issues. I realize they can come into a community and leverage tax credits etc-which I am firmly against. Morality aside, companies taking advantage of those deals are the first companies to pull up stakes and leave the town, whereas local businesses are in it for the long haul high and dry
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      • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 5 months ago
        A few years back a Super Wal Mart opened near where my brother lives. In PA if you pay to have a highway study done you can pay the Department of Transportation to put a traffic light and turn lane into your lot. Wal Mart paid all those fees and then got an equal reduction in property taxes to offset the cost. That means all the businesses around them paid for a turn lane going into Wal Mart. I have sold products over the years that manufactures change in some way so they can sell it cheaper to Wal Mart. I don't mind that but the manufactures put the cheaper item in the same bag, bottle or package. The consumer thinks they are getting the same product. I find that deceitful. Even an educated consumer has trouble knowing the difference.
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        • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
          I remember all the hoops my town jumped through to bring in a Cosco. They (we) paid for a turn -in off a frontage road. Of course discounting the crony arrangement of the highway company hired to put it in, there were additional huge tax incentives given that last for years and the positioning of the access penned in some small businesses next to the Cosco basically diverting the driveby and the little businesses either dried up or were forced to relocate. In capitalism, someone new to the community is sensitive to their neighbors because they need to portray good will to all of their customers. But if city governments give them preferential treatment they begin to expect it and even act as a bully. The one thing I 'll say about Walnart, they usually work against a huge negative resistence in most of the communities they go in, As this article indicates. I used to avoid Walmart. I prefer to pay more for quality and service. But I have also purchased some quality items there and gotten a higher level of service at times (in one case that comes to mind it was sporting goods) so ....
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          • Posted by richrobinson 10 years, 5 months ago
            There is actually a nationwide union backed group that educates people on how to fight Wal Mart when they try to open in your community. When they tried to build up the street from us a group called Communities First sprang up to fight them. They seemed surprised that I would not openly support them. It was just a bunch of green weenies. Wal Mart needed a number of variances to build and I was told that at the hearing no objections were heard and the paperwork granting the variances was filled out ahead of time. I spoke out against that. The property had an old State mental hospital on it (Dixmont). Previous developers avoided the site because the State had left behind Medical Waste that was costly to remove. Late one night the State legislators changed the laws concerning the removal of these items. That change cut many thousands of dollars off the development cost. I spoke out against that. In the end it was not built. We made national news when the site slid and blocked a 4 lane highway and railroad tracks. The variances that were given should never have been allowed. The site was known to be unstable but big money talks.
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      • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 5 months ago
        They also use the Japanese tactic of taking a loss at one location to drive competition away, which they can survive because of the income from their thousands of other locations.

        "I assumed you would have issues with Walmart."

        I certainly do... ahem. :)
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        • Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 10 years, 4 months ago
          That goes with economies of scale, which is consistent with (most of) the principles espoused here. If I'm a larger business, I can lose money in one portion of my P & L and overall still be profitable.

          And as for favoritism, I have heard the same complaint about the company I work with getting "unfair tax breaks". Those who make the argument seem to forget that those deals usually occur during a planned expansion where businesses are making the best decision for the shareholders on where to locate the expansion. They also forget that those expansions generally mean more workers being hired, which contributes to the tax base. Something the statists require more of by the moment. So on one hand they complain about "unfair tax breaks" while very quietly enjoying the benefits of the expansions those tax breaks bring.
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          • Posted by 10 years, 4 months ago
            many of those models fail. The fortune 500 trolls for best business breaks, takes advantage, hires-then lays-off, pulls up stakes and leaves town. Often the startup-who gets no tax break, fuels the local economy and does not lay-off-UNLESS hit by regulations, major financial event-oh-like their patents were just revoked due to a Supreme Court ruling that was onsensical. Look at HP and its expansions into communities, its subsequent lay-offs, and leaving town without paying its bills. Intel, etc. it's a grifter mentality
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            • Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 10 years, 4 months ago
              I work at Intel, and in Hillsboro, OR we just made a multi-billion dollar fab expansion (typical fab is $5B these days) for limited production (made in USA) and next-generation process development, and hired a few hundred people to run it all.

              I could be mistaken, but I don't recall Intel leaving town without paying bills.
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              • Posted by 10 years, 4 months ago
                they did it in Colorado Springs, 2003-04. This is well known. Their justification was they were so important, they did not have to play by everyone else's rules. Do not get me wrong. I am a die hard capitalist. I loathe cronies
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                • Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 10 years, 4 months ago
                  I'd forgotten about the Colorado Springs fab honestly... we bought the fab from Rockwell expecting the strong market to continue, but that was in 2001 and the market tanked and this expansion as well as a couple others were nixed. Intel was not the only company to abandon plans for expansion during that era, and in fact were in better stead than other semiconductor companies during this time. To play devil's advocate a bit, if Intel hadn't bought the fab then Rockwell likely would have shut it down and the result would have been the same.

                  I am also a die-hard capitalist, and don't condone it if the company left debt behind as you suggest (I do not know the details of the shutdown). But large company or small company, we need to remember that jobs created means tax revenue for the city/county/state it operates within. I believe in a set of rules that applies to all regardless of their size. Just as I believe that we all ought to pay a fixed percentage of our income in the form of taxes (no exemptions) and abolish the IRS.
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  • Posted by deanhcross 10 years, 5 months ago
    Ayn Rand stated that the question isn't "What should be done about the poor?", but rather "Should anything be done about the poor?".

    The answer is, "If you wish to help them, no one should stop you."

    The Collectivists do not like this, of course, because they need their redistribution of wealth to be the only source of help for the poor to maintain their power structure.
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  • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years, 5 months ago
    Its interesting that you mention Whole foods in your commentary. They were featured in another post where "Minority Activists" shut down whole foods efforts to open a store in a poor neighborhood in Washington, fearing it would gentrify the neighborhood bringing "whitey" in and causing property values to rise thereby causing black folks to move out...and I guess become more oppressed. It is interesting the liberal mindset, I guess they assume that since poor people frequent Wal-Mart and rich people frequent whole foods, a store locating in an area will bring in the respective population. They obviously do not understand the function of the "Invisible Hand". IE: If you build it the WILL NOT COME, rather it gets built because there is a demand perceived by the corporation that is investing its capital. IE: It is built BEACUSE THEY [the customers] ARE ALREADY THERE
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    • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
      I am not against Whole Foods in any way...well, I disagree with the CEO's concept of "conscious Capitalism" what the bloody hell?!
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      • Posted by evlwhtguy 10 years, 5 months ago
        With whole foods, the CEO could actually just be mouthing the liberal platitudes that he thinks his customer base wants to hear. Probably not...but that could actually be the case.
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        • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
          he wrote a book:
          http://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Capitali...
          I see it as pure marketing NOT pure thinking-there's a whole movement...
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          • Posted by Kittyhawk 10 years, 5 months ago
            Interesting. The first review of the book opines that the CEO's philosophy is in opposition to Ayn Rand's advocacy of "selfishness" and "greed," and Milton Friedman's view that a business' only goal should be to maximize profits for shareholders. I haven't read the book, but I'm inclined to think it's a false dichotomy. I don't think either Rand or Friedman was in favor of defrauding or knowingly harming customers, as long as you profit. (Well, maybe Friedman was on the latter, based on his defense of car companies that knew some passengers would be killed.) And I don't think Mackey is advocating sacrificing one's profits for the customers' well-being; it says he left a co-op he'd co-founded because his partner was anti-market. I think it makes good business sense to consider whether your customers and employees are well-treated and satisfied, as well as worrying about finances. I don't know if Mackey goes beyond that, but it doesn't seem in itself inimical to Objectivism
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  • Posted by woodlema 10 years, 5 months ago
    Ok let me first start by saying I have no problem with Walmart taking advantage of what the "GOVERNMENT" provide in process for a person or business to "get their way". Want that to stop GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY, and STOP FREEKING over-regulating everything on the planet to meet your liberal crackpot mindset.

    Having said that, my problem with Walmart is in how customers are treated, in particular Sam's Club. And by the way, if Walmart donates millions to help the poor, what brain-dead moronic imbecilic twit would have a problem with that, sheesh. Any how, I wrote this letter to the CEO of SAM's.Walmart and others, and have not stepped back into a Walmart or SAM's since:

    "Let me begin by saying, I have been a SAM's club member since 1990, and this is 2013. That means for 23 years, I have been a customer of "Wal-Mart" and "SAM's" club.

    Over the years I have watched this establishment's formerly great customer service deteriorate steadily. Sat. June 29, 2013, the decline of the service standard I used to love, finally hit bottom, to the point where I will no longer step foot in either Wal-Mart or SAM's Club.

    I understand I am only one customer. SAM's Club and Wal-Mart are so large they really do not care about me as a customer, which is fine. Sam Walton said, "There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." Well as Donald Trump is so famously known for saying... "YOU'RE FIRED!!!"

    Back to Saturday June 29, 2013. My wife and I went into SAM's Club for a usual shopping effort. We filled out shopping cart with the usual stockpile of necessities, plus the impulse purchases we usually fall prey to. After hour two hour roam through the aisles, we made our way to the front of the store to check-out. I notices three excessively long lines with cashiers working feverishly to check everyone out. There were also approximately eight to ten rather empty lines.

    As I looked closer, since my last visit, SAM's Club had retrofitted the majority of the checkout lines with "Self-Checkout" machines.

    Let me say this. "IF I WANTED TO BE A CASHIER I WOULD HAVE PUT IN AN APPLICATION AND APPLIED TO BE ONE!!! There is nothing at all wrong with being a cashier, I spent numerous summers as a cashier and bagger at a grocery store, however; IF I HAVE TO DO SOMEONE ELSE'S JOB I WANT A STINKING DISCOUNT ON WHAT I BUY!!!"

    This was the last straw in the splendid 23 year display of steadily declining customer service. The SAM's Club motto seems to have changed from the heyday of Sam Walton who also was quoted as saying, "We let folks know we're interested in them and that they're vital to us. cause they are." to, "If you ignore the customer long enough eventually they will just go away." meaning they are a nuisance and annoyance. Well my wife and my family just went away. "Mission Accomplished."


    This was part of my letter to them. If you have issues with Walmart and them "using" Government, maybe the problem is not Walmart maybe the problem is GOVERNMENT!!! The more Government intervention, the more problems, then the Government tries to regulate to fix the problems they created in the first place, and this continues until the eventual collapse the system under the weight of regulation, laws, and government intervention from STUPID bureaucrats who's only goal in life is to collect a paycheck and create enough paperwork to justify their worthless existence.

    Want a perfect definition of Government bureaucrats: Need look no further than the Vogons in the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
    Guide Description:

    Vogons, i.e. Government Bureaucrats are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy. Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders - signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. The best way to get a drink out of a Vogon is to stick your finger down his throat, and the best way to irritate him is to feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. On no account should you allow a Vogon to read poetry at you.
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    • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
      wood, you are lit up! You walked with your business. Best way for you to personally send a message. I actually like self check-out. I am faster and more efficient than most checkers I deal with. Occasionally, I get a fabulous one. I would say the odds are 1 in 20. For instance, sometimes, if they are great, they can say things like, ma'am these paper towels are buy 3 get one free-and nodd to the bagger who runs quickly to to get the fourth one. things like that are great customer service.
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      • Posted by woodlema 10 years, 5 months ago
        Oh, so YOU were the ONE person using the 8 checkout lines while the rest of us who DON'T want do someone else's job are stuck in a line that takes an hour to get through.

        Oh by the way, You mentioned the system telling you those are three for one, so I assume then that you leave the self-checkout go back to the store pickup 2 more then get back in the end of the line and HOPE against all odds that the self-checkout actually works and you don't have to wait for some manager to get their hands out of their pockets to come assist.

        How about this for a strategy:

        You LOOK AT THE ONLINE WEBSITE and see what their sales are BEFORE you go. Maybe prepare your shopping first, then shop and get out...

        Personally I go to the store buy what I plan for and leave. I know what I am spending before I get there, with a 15% cash buffer in case I see something I forgot. I am not wasteful, but from a cost benefit perspective, wasting my time going back into the store, leaving the checkout line, or checking out then going back and checking out a second time sure does seem like an inefficient way to shop.

        I also do not like doing somebody else's job and receiving no personal benefit like a discount on the items I buy as a "THANKS" for doing it yourself from the multi-billion dollar corporation and saving them HR, Salary, benefit, employee management, theft and so on.

        But I, if you prefer doing it yourself, that is what freedom is all about, and more power to you.

        I quit because it is obvious that in 8 lines with nobody using them , and 3 lines with an hour wait it was very obvious that the vast majority of people do NOT want to check themselves out, and I refuse to be herded by Walmart of Sam's club into what THEY dictate I should do.

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      • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 5 months ago
        If you knew how harried and sick of moronic customers the employees at Wal-mart get by the end of their shifts, you'd be shocked at even 1 in 20 being civil. Myself, I give excellent customer support, in spite of wanting to throttle some customers because cutting their throats would be too quick... (that's sarcasm, Wal-mart....)

        Example: the other night, I'm on my hands and knees tearing up old, filthy rotted tile that had been under cash registers we'd removed (which we'll probably put back in 3 months... go figger) and replacing them with new.

        The night before, in the same area, I hadn't needed to cordon it off, because A) there wasn't much traffic and B) what traffic there was was smart enough to take the features and other displays I'd arranged around the area as a "do not enter" message.

        Ah, but I did not reckon on the 5th...
        I had just gathered my supplies and started to tear up the old tiles, when I noticed people squeezing around and past the barricades to cross the area I was working on, saving themselves perhaps a tenth of a second.

        I had taken up three tile, with the old glue still sticky on the concrete beneath, when a customer walked between me and a feature/barricade, stepping squarely into the gluey square I'd just uncovered, three inches from my fingers. His comment? "Oops".

        Multiply that stupidity by 20 to get an idea what the cashiers and customer service reps have to deal with.

        Another night I was working near the entrance, and a customer comes into the store and up to me and the security guard and asks, "Where do you keep the duct tape?"

        So I told him, "Next to the MacGyver DVDs..." (no, I didn't, but I was sooo tempted...)

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    • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 5 months ago
      "Walmart donates millions to help the poor, what brain-dead moronic imbecilic twit would have a problem with that, sheesh. "

      I'd be that brain-dead, moronic imbecilic twit.
      See, if Wal-mart donates millions to the poor, that comes out of their profit. Which cuts into my bonuses.

      It also drives their prices up for those of us who work for a living.

      A lot of us who actually work for Wal-mart, btw... we're poor. We're just not welfare parasites. Well, some of us are *partial* welfare parasites.

      Instead of paying millions to help "the poor", they could help the poor right in their own stores with merit pay.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 5 months ago
    It is opposition for the sake of opposition. They cannot let anyone off who defies them. In my varied career, I had a small mail order firm which employed 18 people including me. They wanted to unionize. After seeing the terms of compliance, I closed up the firm and went on to make money at a different endeavor. Not so easy with Wal-Mart, but in my fantasy, they do just that. The Waltons, I imagine, don't need the money, nor the aggravation. What a panic and economic disaster just the threat of that would cause!
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  • Posted by jimslag 10 years, 5 months ago
    Their letter is showing that they really are about control. If WalMart is giving to charities, then the lower classes are not relying on the government handouts that they dole out to the masses. Therefore if they can convince WalMart to quit, the masses will be more reliant on them.
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    • Posted by woodlema 10 years, 5 months ago
      Liberals are all about taking from you and me at the point of a gun, (IRS), and giving to people. More government. When the private sector is generous then they cannot justify government programs which are the hallmark of liberalism, which is NOT liberal or liberating at all but more in line with totalitarianism and communism where "they" the arrogant self proclaimed educated elitists believe they should RULE over you dictating to YOU how YOU should live your life.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years, 5 months ago
    The destruction of capitalism is more important than the lower socioeconomic sector to them. Besides, their votes are already bought and paid for. It is time to repay their union buddies.
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  • Posted by one4Rush 10 years, 5 months ago
    Everyone gains shopping at Walmart. All my lower rich friends do after they find out they are saving their own money. The myths about Walmart keep the snob libs out until after midnight. LOL
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    • Posted by Hiraghm 10 years, 5 months ago
      But it doesn't keep the crazies or welfare parasites out (though they do get thicker after midnight).

      Wednesday at midnight was the 5th. Surprise, the store actually got busier rather than emptier as usual. Same thing happened on the 1st.

      Food stamps... gotta love 'em. I just wish a higher quality of people used them.
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  • Posted by gwilhelm56 10 years, 5 months ago
    I am an actor. Having been "Outed" as a Conservative, I don't work much, but that's for another day.
    While living in Arkansas, I was cast in a Musical called "The Fantasticks", and our main SPONSOR was ... WALMART. Herein is an account of how this Mean, Horrible Corporation Treated my small Community theatre Group.

    They provided a check for Performance "Rights" (which are not Cheap.) ANYTHING we needed for props, costumes, etc... The local WALMART stores were opened to us to basically HELP ourselves.

    During casting, 2 members of our cast were employees at Walmart. (In NW Arkansas, you cannot throw a penny in the air without hitting a Walmart Employee.) Said employees were PAID by WM as if they were "on the Clock".

    After a Successful run of the show, WM was paid for their sponsorship (repay advance for rights, etc). The money PAID to the WM employees was Matched by Walmart as a DONATION to our Theatre Company.
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  • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 10 years, 5 months ago
    "Libtard" means nothing. I know what you think you mean: liberals are retarded. That does, of course, insult those who really are mentally retarded, making them a standard for ridicule. We have people here in the Gulch, and friends elsewhere, whose children are only best described as "special" in many ways.
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    • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
      Oh brother.
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      • Posted by $ MikeMarotta 10 years, 5 months ago
        Since you seem resistant on the point, allow me to offer the fact that labels such as "libtard" and calling the President "BO" or "Oh-bah-ma" or "Tyrant-in-Chief" achieve nothing. They are an idiotic self-amusement of writers who lack true erudition.

        Long ago on another board entirely, we had a writer who pushed the word "flametard" to refer to those who made fun of him. He invited the ridicule in many ways, some of them purposefully provocative, but too often not. For example, though possessing a master's degree in journalism, he did not know that Cyrillic is an alphabet: he thought that it was a language. And he called other people stupid... You once accused me of being "ignorant about science" though you never heard of epigenetics.

        Maybe "libtard" can come to mean a libertarian who is too stupid to understand Objectivism. (That should really advance the cause around here...) Or perhaps we could restrict it to mimes: ad lib artists in leotards. It could be transmogrified to tiblards: people with big thighs. Oh, we could call you "Kale: Ah, the Spinach Girl."

        I can just see the next Presidential press conference. "Mr. President, how do you respond to the criticism that your administration tramples on our Constitutional rights?" ... "I would say that I am rubber and you are glue and whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you! Next question."

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        • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
          that would be a step up from the polite and erudite lying to our faces.
          It is a small, humorous release. However, labels such as this one have been found to be quite effective. Your criticism is noted and I'm pretty sure if the admin found it inappropriate it would not have made the Daily Digest.
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  • Posted by gwilhelm56 10 years, 5 months ago
    Looking at these comments ...
    WELCOME, WESLEY MOUCH ... to Galt's Gulch!
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    • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
      How so g?
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      • Posted by gwilhelm56 10 years, 5 months ago
        All this WHINING about Walmart , specifically, and corporations in general.... and a lot of regurgitating of Liberal talking points,.. especially the "SPECIAL TAX BREAKS" sounds just like MOUCH. Yes, my local WALMART got a break on their Property taxes. What they paid to the county in SALES TAX revenue MORE than Made up the Difference. TEXAS has been using this to a GREAT Advantage, in sucking Businesses out of California and New York.
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        • Posted by $ CBJ 10 years, 5 months ago
          Actually, the special tax breaks themselves sound more like Mouch. Granting or withholding special privileges for their friends and enemies was one of the chief means by which government thugs sought to increase their power over the economy in Atlas Shrugged.

          If I were running a small business and paying a higher property tax rate than the politically connected big business down the street, I would be tempted to pay only the same tax rate as the bigger store, and file a discrimination lawsuit if the government attempted to collect more. Such a suit would probably fail, given today's court system, but the publicity would help undermine the public's faith in getting a fair deal from their local government.
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        • Posted by 10 years, 5 months ago
          I am not against Walmart. I am against crony deals. Often they backfire. For instance, Intel came into Colorado Springs. The lure they put out was 100s of high skilled jobs and revenues. They demanded huge concessions from the city, tax deals being only one. They did indeed come in, refused to pay 100s of subcontractors and although did the hiring, within a year and a half laid most of them off, pulled up stakes and built in another city willing to be a sucker. This is also HPs M.O. Large multinationals rely on cozy relationships with govt that start-ups do not enjoy. Fact: 93% of all net new jobs are created by start-ups. Notice the cities do not scramble to give them tax breaks. I see reasoned criticisms here-not whining.
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          • Posted by gwilhelm56 10 years, 5 months ago
            It does not matter, if the Partnership of Government and Business is by Force or Agreement ... it is still FASCISM!!! What you are describing with Intel is not business, it's THEFT...nothing more or less.
            When I see the words "Special Tax Breaks", it takes me back to OCCUPY and those scum and my brain reels from the collective stupidity of that crowd. by using "Their terms" we sound like them.
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            • Posted by $ CBJ 10 years, 5 months ago
              How does "special tax breaks" become their slogan just because they happen to use it? The term was being used, by liberals and libertarians and others, way before the Occupy movement even existed. Do you have a better choice of words for the concept that "special tax breaks" denotes?
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