The Democrats Are To Blame For The Plight Of Hourly Employees

[sandorski]

This is not the result of the ACA, it is the result of an Immoral Corporate culture that has been treating their Employees like shit since the demise of the Unions in the 80's.

 

[Spungo]

Walmart and McDonalds never had unions. Millions of people being cut down from 40 to 29 is 100% caused by Obamacare. This will likely cost the democrats the next election.

 

[IGBT]

it's the liberal "make em all equally miserable" program. And it's only just begun. Next stop?? Energy. They will make energy miserably expensive which means some of you will be shivering like a chihuahua in the dark. Elections Have Consequences.

 

[shady28]

If walmart can afford to may its workers $50 an hour, why not?

How much money did walmart make in profit last year?

http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Wal-Mart_(WMT)/Data/Gross_Profit/2012/Q1

For 2012 - $119.95 billion.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/wal-mart-company-statistics/

2 million employees.

So what is 119 billion divided by 2 million?

I'm sorry but your post reveals a huge amount of ignorance.

Gross profit is not what they made. That's their earnings before taxes and expenses. I

Go here :

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=WMT+Income+Statement&annual


Scroll to the bottom. Net applicable to shareholders is what is true 'profit'. That just under 17 billion.

The major holders of WMT include Vanguard, State Street, and Berkshire Hathaway. If you look at who invests in those - well hell, open up your 401k or your pension fund information and just look.

You would basically be taking from retirement funds to give those raises. And yes, some rich independent investors too, not to mention some not so rich ones.

And BTW, if you took all 17 billion in profit and divided it up to all of the WMT employees, it would be $8000 / yr each. That comes out to about $3.84 / hr on a 40 hr work week / 52 wks a year. And the company would be absolutely worthless at that point. The shareholders would simply sell its assets.

 

[fskimospy]

it's the liberal "make em all equally miserable" program. And it's only just begun. Next stop?? Energy. They will make energy miserably expensive which means some of you will be shivering like a chihuahua in the dark. Elections Have Consequences.

Is this due to the eco-KOOKS? I would like to learn more.

 

[Jhhnn]

And you don't think it has anything to do with a new law that is specifically designed to limit most people to 29 hours per week?

Engage in false attribution often? Specifically designed? Really?

 

[Jhhnn]

OK, I'll play along, the conversion to a part-time economy has been underway for a decade. Did Obamacare exacerbate the problem? If not, how so?

If you claim that it has, the burden of proof is yours.

Truth is, the % of part time employees has actually fallen with the passage of the ACA after exploding in the great repub policy induced crash of '08-

http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/commentaries/Full-Time-vs-Part-Time-Employment.php

I'm not claiming correlation as causation, but you sure as Hell can't when even the numbers are against you.

 

[sandorski]

Walmart and McDonalds never had unions. Millions of people being cut down from 40 to 29 is 100% caused by Obamacare. This will likely cost the democrats the next election.

1) Moot. Walmart and McDonalds used to be insignificant Job providers. They are now very significant, replacing millions of once well paying Jobs with Jobs at or barely above Minimum Wage.

2) BS

3) Live the fantasy, I suppose.

 

[IGBT]

well.. according to mizzZZzz Boxer.. the obama economy is screwing you's guys:January 7, 2014

Dear Friend:

Today, I spoke on the Senate floor about the need to extend emergency federal jobless benefits, which expired December 28. There are people out there that are at their wits' end – holding their lives together, not knowing if they can pay the rent, not knowing if they can go to the grocery store, not knowing if they will be homeless, and not knowing what the future holds. The least we can do in this chamber is stand up and fight for them.

More than 1.3 million jobless Americans – including 222,000 Californians – are counting on Congress to do the right thing and continue this critical assistance to help struggling families get back on their feet. To watch my speech, please click here.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

 

[OverVolt]

Walmart and McDonalds never had unions. Millions of people being cut down from 40 to 29 is 100% caused by Obamacare. This will likely cost the democrats the next election.

People who voted for this stuff to begin with aren't the best when it comes to cause and effect.

 

[Jadow]

You to learn the differences between Gross Profit, operating profit, and net income(net profit). Wal-mart's net income is 17 billion, which is more representative the true bottom line. If they converted all net income to extra income to the 2.1 million employees, it would be just over $8000/employee or roughly a $4/hr raise.

if they did that, who would be left owning wmt stock? id dump my shares. that profit it why businesses exist? if they existed to break even and pay people more, why would people bother owning them or starting their own business?

 

[ivwshane]

Again, did the ACA help or harm the situation?

It appears to have done neither. That won't stop you from parroting the propaganda you lap up without a single bit of fact checking, will it?

 

[Victorian Gray]

Ultimately, the Republicans are to blame for standing in the way of single-payer socialized medicine. Also, it should be noted that Obamacare is the Republican plan for health care. It's the plan the Republicans introduced and supported long before it was called Obamacare or before anyone had ever heard of Obama.

Should the minimum hour requirement be set to 8 hours/week to prevent employers from circumventing the mandate?

Small correction, single payer isn't socialized medicine, it's socialized medical insurance.

 

[compuwiz1]

well.. according to mizzZZzz Boxer.. the obama economy is screwing you's guys:January 7, 2014

Dear Friend:

Today, I spoke on the Senate floor about the need to extend emergency federal jobless benefits, which expired December 28. There are people out there that are at their wits' end – holding their lives together, not knowing if they can pay the rent, not knowing if they can go to the grocery store, not knowing if they will be homeless, and not knowing what the future holds. The least we can do in this chamber is stand up and fight for them.

More than 1.3 million jobless Americans – including 222,000 Californians – are counting on Congress to do the right thing and continue this critical assistance to help struggling families get back on their feet. To watch my speech, please click here.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

No more enabling. Cause people to go to work. Extension of benefits just buys food and diapers....until next time it's time to buy food and diapers. How does it help get people off their asses?

 

[Genx87]

If my math is right, which it is usually wrong,

119 billion profit divided by 2 million employees = $50,000 for each employee above and beyond what they are currently making.

So walmart can afford to pay its employees almost 50K a year more than what they are being paid right now.

Lets just half that and say $25k more a year, which should leave walmart with a nice profit of 59.5 billion.

In other words, walmart could probably double its current wages with no real impact on the bottom line.

You have obviously never run a business.

 

[MagickMan]

The only reason Walmart's prices are as low as they are is because most of what they sell in there, besides food, is cheap Chinese made shit. So you want higher wages and even higher prices for the cheap Chinese made shit? Want more outsourcing?

If Walmart were to go away, it would not affect me one iota. I don't shop there, with the exception of buying an occasional music cd or bargain bin dvd. I pay more to avoid feeling like I'm in a foreign country and try to support my local businesses where ever I can.

Amen, I've not darkened the door of a Walmart in a decade, and don't plan on ever doing so in the future. If you want to fix this country, help support its industry, not China's.

 

[1prophet]

This is not the result of the ACA, it is the result of an Immoral Corporate culture that has been treating their Employees like shit since the demise of the Unions in the 80's.

And who back stabbed the unions when it came to free trade agreements and also betrayed them when it came to union busting illegal immigration?

 

[sandorski]

And who back stabbed the unions when it came to free trade agreements and also betrayed them when it came to union busting illegal immigration?

The damage was done by the time Free Trade was an issue.

 

[OverVolt]

This is not the result of the ACA, it is the result of an Immoral Corporate culture that has been treating their Employees like shit since the demise of the Unions in the 80's.

...and the ACA is helping them along.

What happened to the democrats and their facts/statistics sheesh. The effect so far is taking on less full time employees, thats just terrific for the economy good job! Less people have health insurance in 2014 than they did in 2013 etc.

 

[Jhhnn]

Walmart and McDonalds never had unions. Millions of people being cut down from 40 to 29 is 100% caused by Obamacare. This will likely cost the democrats the next election.

What millions of people are you talking about? The OP's linked fluff piece sure as Hell makes no mention of "millions".

Is that your best Chicken Little routine? Really?

Per my previous link, the prevalence of part time work has actually gone down since the passage of the ACA, so WTF do you think you're talking about, anyway?

 

[Jhhnn]

...and the ACA is helping them along.

What happened to the democrats and their facts/statistics sheesh. The effect so far is taking on less full time employees, thats just terrific for the economy good job! Less people have health insurance in 2014 than they did in 2013 etc.

And you have links to support that? Or is that just an affirmation of faith?

 

[glenn1]

Amen, I've not darkened the door of a Walmart in a decade, and don't plan on ever doing so in the future. If you want to fix this country, help support its industry, not China's.

Maybe you differ from me, but I want the best product period and won't buy something inferior just because it was nominally made in a particular place. Why the hell would I buy a shitty "American" car like a Chrysler that was actually built in Mexico just to appease some UAW asshole in Detroit when I can have a far better car like a Toyota Camry that was built in Ohio? Personally I don't give a shit if the car was built on Mars. Indeed, for the vast majority of products I'd daresay the value proposition of having it built in the U.S. rather than somewhere else is essentially zero - are you really going to argue that a T-shirt made in Birmingham, AL is better quality than one made in Bangaladesh? If not, you think I should pay a significantly higher price for what - just to ensure someone here in the U.S. doesn't need to update their skills beyond those sufficient for a job that can literally be done by a 3rd world worker with a 2nd grade education?

Here's a true way to fix the country and its industry - demand they make better quality products and leave making super-low quality 99cent store shit to the Chinese.

 

[berzerker60]

if they did that, who would be left owning wmt stock? id dump my shares. that profit it why businesses exist? if they existed to break even and pay people more, why would people bother owning them or starting their own business?

People own lots of businesses with small or no profits, including Amazon. People would bother owning and starting businesses because the owners and managers still get huge salaries at successful businesses. Also, loads of co-ops exist around the country that still work towards profit, the profit just goes to the employees rather than random investors. There's nothing necessary or particularly desirable about businesses chasing maximized shareholder value, which is in fact a terrible, terrible trend.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevede...reholder-value-the-dumbest-idea-in-the-world/

Maybe you differ from me, but I want the best product period and won't buy something inferior just because it was nominally made in a particular place. Why the hell would I buy a shitty "American" car like a Chrysler that was actually built in Mexico just to appease some UAW asshole in Detroit when I can have a far better car like a Toyota Camry that was built in Ohio? Personally I don't give a shit if the car was built on Mars. Indeed, for the vast majority of products I'd daresay the value proposition of having it built in the U.S. rather than somewhere else is essentially zero - are you really going to argue that a T-shirt made in Birmingham, AL is better quality than one made in Bangaladesh? If not, you think I should pay a significantly higher price for what - just to ensure someone here in the U.S. doesn't need to update their skills beyond those sufficient for a job that can literally be done by a 3rd world worker with a 2nd grade education?

Here's a true way to fix the country and its industry - demand they make better quality products and leave making super-low quality 99cent store shit to the Chinese.

You want the best...so you go to Walmart?

 

[drebo]

How much can the company afford to pay?

If walamrt can afford to pay its workers $50 an hour, that sounds great to me.

Wages are not about what the company can afford to pay.

Wages are about the value a prospective employee will bring to the company and what that employee is willing to do it for.

No one is forcing people to work for Walmart.

 

[berzerker60]

Wages are not about what the company can afford to pay.

Wages are about the value a prospective employee will bring to the company and what that employee is willing to do it for.

No one is forcing people to work for Walmart.

Wages can be either thing. There's no One True Way to Run a Business. There are businesses that care about their employees, either as potential customers (ie the famous anecdote of why Ford paid his employees so much more than the market rate), because they value retention and image of doing 'good' (Google, Costco), because they're structured that way (co-ops and credit unions), or because they have strong unions (UPS, and notice how they're still competitive despite having a strong union and decent wages!). It's simply false that paying about the bare minimum to find acceptable employees will bankrupt you, and at that point personal judgment takes over. In my judgment, it's immoral to make profits while paying your employees so little they rely on welfare and food stamps to get by. You're free to disagree, but don't pretend it's just naive idealism to imagine higher than market-minimum wages when they exist in lots of places.