Walmart costs tax payers 1,557,000,000.00 to support its employees...

[QUOTE="_R34LiTY_"]

For as much money as Wal-Mart makes, you'd figure they offer more than just minimum wage for most of their employees

chathuranga

That's why I said you'd figure they would after all the money they make. They allegedly employ a lot of "shady" practices to end up netting a bigger profit than the previous year, that it would just seem right to want to offer your employees a lil more incentive for getting the job done right and toss em a few extra cents and a lil coverage. Even if it's something like Cobra, I'm sure most of it's emplyees would be appreciative.

[QUOTE="hoola"]

If the government didn't give that money away then Walmart wouldn't cost tax payers anything.

Guybrush_3

and people would either have to work way more or live off of ramen... Seems pretty crappy for the worlds "richest" nation.

let us not forget that many wal mart employees also shop at wal mart for many of their necessities as they don't have much to spend and they're already there right? so basically a large chunk of that paycheck goes to the company that gave it to you. yeah... thats awesome.

[QUOTE="iowastate"][QUOTE="EntropyWins"]

...because they refuse to offer them decent wages and benefits. Thus all these employees are forced to go on government assistance. In other words, that buck or two you are saving at walmart is just being taken out of your tax payer money anyway to pay walmart's employees what walmart will not pay.

What is your opinion on walmart, and are the size of these major corporations a big problem in American society?

Do you think the government should limit their size and break some of them up? I think so.

In my opinion, it should be within the government's role to protect citizens from depending on these juggernaut corporations. I think we missed a good oppourtunity to reform with this whole "too big to fail" fiasco because Obama was too worried about health care reform.

I like walmart the way it is, I'll pay for it.

I work at a sandwich shop as an adult and am clearly not making enough money. The government needs to step in and tell them to pay me at least $50,000 a year, because working as a sandwich artist just isn't cutting it for me.

Although part of the problem lies on Wal-Mart's part, think about what you said first. The people who work there are just as much of a problem as the business itself.

Saturos3091

Ok...what?

Let's take this internationally for a second, do you realize how great it is to be able to "move up" from these jobs (McDonald's, Wal-Mart)? Some country's never allow employee's to promote, etc. At least here you can work hard and get better positions; individuals who complain about their pay should be questioning their level of incompetence in context to their current duties and whether they have reached their level or not.

To all the people claiming Walmart jobs are for teenagers and convicts only,

Regardless of what demographic you consider walmart jobs for, the simple facts say otherwise. Teenagers working part time are not applying for government aid and food stamps, and while certainly x convicts might be, that does not account for the fact that walmart has more people on welfare or other government program than any other employer in the USA.

The fact is that many people are trying to support families and themselves on a Walmart income and it is obviously not enough. Walmart is exploiting these people. There are not enough middle management, white-collar jobs to support the "unskilled" workforce that Walmart and the like are exploiting even if they all were able to somehow set the rest of their lives aside to go to school and whatnot.Also, finding another job is not very easy when Walmart itself has done a good job of eradicating all their competition through their low prices, which are low because they are good at exploiting people. It is a vicious cycle.

I understand that many of you do not know what it feels like to be trapped at the mercy of a juggernaut like walmart without much hope of being able to get out, but it is not as easy as many of you like to think. It sickens me to see a billion dollar company enrich itself off the broken backs of an exploited workforce. A lot of you seem to be saying is that they deserve to be exploited because they did not or were not able to get a solid college education or find a decent job.

Thank you for reading.

Something like 80% of their employees don't have health insurance, and a huge number of them are on welfare because they pay slave wages. Meanwhile the corporate overlords at Walmart live like kings. It's a typical example of how corporations are putting a huge drain on tax payers because they treat their employees like dirt.

cmdrmonkey45

That's pretty much how all retail stores work. The corporation gets all the money, doesn't have to do anything and gets paid well. The workers work like slaves given only $7.25 an hour with no chance for a raise. Rheiken

[QUOTE="Rheiken"]That's pretty much how all retail stores work. The corporation gets all the money, doesn't have to do anything and gets paid well. The workers work like slaves given only $7.25 an hour with no chance for a raise. surrealnumber5

[QUOTE="surrealnumber5"][QUOTE="Rheiken"]That's pretty much how all retail stores work. The corporation gets all the money, doesn't have to do anything and gets paid well. The workers work like slaves given only $7.25 an hour with no chance for a raise. CwlHeddwyn

[QUOTE="UT_Wrestler"]Wait, you're complaining about how unskilled entry-level jobs pay minimum wage? Bagging groceries and running a cash register aren't jobs that are meant to support a family, they're just entry-level jobs for high-school kids and people going to school to work toward getting higher-paying jobs, whether or not with wal-mart.EntropyWins

[QUOTE="AdamPA1006"]

Its an unskilled entry job they dont deserve to get full benefits and amazing pay. If the government forces them to pay their employees more, then they will hire less people to save the money. Therefore a lot of people are left jobless......

EntropyWins

You'd rather them be unemployed due to the higher wage minimums?

Anyway, all of my retail experience, although mind-numbingly boring, was quite simple and easy. I can't say that minimum wage was inappropriate.

[QUOTE="EntropyWins"]

[QUOTE="AdamPA1006"]

Its an unskilled entry job they dont deserve to get full benefits and amazing pay. If the government forces them to pay their employees more, then they will hire less people to save the money. Therefore a lot of people are left jobless......

You'd rather them be unemployed due to the higher wage minimums?

Anyway, all of my retail experience, although mind-numbingly boring, was quite simple and easy. I can't say that minimum wage was inappropriate.

coolbeans90

Well they did choose to work at Wal Mart. I don't know anoybody who's expecting to make 6 figures working for them as a cashier. ^__^ If they wanted benefits they could try to find a job elsewhere, otherwise they really can't complain about not getting them. Wal Mart pays at minimum wage so it hires the most amount of people. If it paid higher wages, fewer people would have jobs. Pick your poison.

Really, I don't like how Wal Mart is so big and powerful, but they are a business and paying minimum wage isn't a crime at all for the kind of work the people are doing. The jobs they offer are almost entirely unskilled, so anyone 18 or older regardless of training can be accepted. It isn't a crime, and people should know better than to expect to be able to make big money from working there unless they're in management, mostly because they aren't offering jobs that would be deserving of that much anyway.

And apparently Wal-Mart has an exorbitantly high 3.59% profit margin!

Link

And apparently Wal-Mart has an exorbitantly high 3.59% profit margin!

Link

Anyway, all of my retail experience, although mind-numbingly boring, was quite simple and easy. I can't say that minimum wage was inappropriate.

coolbeans90

I'm not saying your personal experience isn't important or is wrong, but in general I don't find personal experience of just a couple individuals to be a very reliable indicator when it comes to public policy. The problem is that there's so much variation in individual experience.

Though it may very well be that retail work doesn't deserve more than minimum wage. Not sure myself because I know virtually nothing on the subject.

If some people had their way, we would go back to the world portrayed in The Jungle.

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

Anyway, all of my retail experience, although mind-numbingly boring, was quite simple and easy. I can't say that minimum wage was inappropriate.

I'm not saying your personal experience isn't important or is wrong, but in general I don't find personal experience of just a couple individuals to be a very reliable indicator when it comes to public policy. The problem is that there's so much variation in individual experience.

Though it may very well be that retail work doesn't deserve more than minimum wage. Not sure myself because I know virtually nothing on the subject.

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

Anyway, all of my retail experience, although mind-numbingly boring, was quite simple and easy. I can't say that minimum wage was inappropriate.

chessmaster1989

I'm not saying your personal experience isn't important or is wrong, but in general I don't find personal experience of just a couple individuals to be a very reliable indicator when it comes to public policy. The problem is that there's so much variation in individual experience.

Though it may very well be that retail work doesn't deserve more than minimum wage. Not sure myself because I know virtually nothing on the subject.

While my anecdotal tales probably aren't a universally reliable metric of the difficulty of retail, frankly, I've seen little contradicting my pre-existing notions on the matter. (and plenty reaffirming them) Furthermore, most entry-level retail work that I've heard of pays above minimum wage. (I've actually never made as little as minimum wage)

EDIT 1: Grammar

EDIT 2: It might also be worth taking into consideration the effects of raising the minimum wage on the unemployed. (specifically in areas of labor which the minimum wage is designed to help)

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

[QUOTE="EntropyWins"] So people with entry level positions don't deserve to be treated like decent human beings?

UT_Wrestler

You'd rather them be unemployed due to the higher wage minimums?

Well, that's not necessarily true. If we assume stable prices, employment will only shift if a) the minimum wage is above the market equilibrium; or b) labor demand is not perfectly (or highly) inelastic. If employment doesn't shift (or doesn't shift much) in response to wage changes, then the losses simply come from the profit margin.

As I said above, I don't know much about this specific industry, though I wouldn't be surprised if Walmart had a fairly inelastic labor demand curve, or at least fairly inelastic within the general range of wages we're talking about (the argument for this being that they have a fairly stable profit margin and would not want to shut down stores unless needed). Given that the minimum wage increases wouldn't be significant, I think there's a reasonable argument to be made that a minimum wage increase of relatively small magnitude would have negligible affects on employment.

Just a thought without any empirical evidence to back up my ideas.

[QUOTE="UT_Wrestler"][QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

You'd rather them be unemployed due to the higher wage minimums?

chessmaster1989

Well, that's not necessarily true. If we assume stable prices, employment will only shift if a) the minimum wage is above the market equilibrium; or b) labor demand is not perfectly (or highly) inelastic. If employment doesn't shift (or doesn't shift much) in response to wage changes, then the losses simply come from the profit margin.

As I said above, I don't know much about this specific industry, though I wouldn't be surprised if Walmart had a fairly inelastic labor demand curve, or at least fairly inelastic within the general range of wages we're talking about (the argument for this being that they have a fairly stable profit margin and would not want to shut down stores unless needed). Given that the minimum wage increases wouldn't be significant, I think there's a reasonable argument to be made that a minimum wage increase of relatively small magnitude would have negligible affects on employment.

Just a thought without any empirical evidence to back up my ideas.

Well, if the minimum wage wasn't above the market equilibrium, then, what is the point of the minimum wage again?
And regarding elasticity, I think there could be the case that they would cut back employee hours. They don't necessarily need to shut stores down. They could change hours of operation. (most Wal-Marts that I am aware of are open 24/7) furthermore they could use fewer employees to run the store. This could be accomplished for example by using fewer cashiers, automate certain tasks, etc. (see automated cash registers)

EDIT: No reliable empirical data, just a hypothetical.