I know I am too stupid to think otherwise, but I love Walmart.
Posted by Bruce Humphrey on Apr 6, 2004 at 8:54 PM
This article isn’t even worth using to clean the toilet. I wish the author could answer the following questions : 1) Why can’t lower income people have access to goods at lower prices 2) Why aren’t inner city people entitled to choice as more affleuent people are ? 3) If Wal-Mart is so horrible why was Hillary Clinton on their board of Directors ? 4) Why is there always hate and envy for those that have by those that have not ? 5) When are we going to realize that America is the land of opportunity which is why time and time again recent immigrants run rings around the poor whining ‘inner city disinfranchised’ who have been here for generations. 6) When are those in the inner city going to realize that they are constantly manipulated by the ‘poverty pimps’ i.e. Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson, etc. who need them to justify their existence ? 7) It’s really pitiful to see others exploit the system we have at our disposal and choose to whine incessantly and let others who see what’s possible seize the day and the dollar. Minorities will always have a ‘minority’ of the $$ until they realize there’s no virtue or value in crying about a glass that’s half full. Drink the water that’s there and then buy the well…..
Posted by Mike on Apr 6, 2004 at 8:54 PM
A more innacurate and disingenouous tirade by the defeders of a ridiculously failed school system (funded at $350 billion according to the confused authors) is difficult to image. Their exists one word for the authors of this story: Denial
Posted by Bill on Apr 6, 2004 at 8:57 PM
If the Walton heirs wish to use part of their fortune to improve and upgrade the utterly failed US school system, I say Bring it On!
If all we get for $350 Billion is a pitiful school system, why is the left so worried about $75 million spent on school choice.
Why are the iron fisted rulers of public schools, the teachers union, so hell bent to prevent america’s youth from getting a decent education.
Posted by Fred Barth on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:04 PM
What a ridiculous crock of class warfare. I guess you don’t care if a single mom trying to stretch a buck, or a welfare family trying to make ends meet, gets the most for their money. Get out into the real world instead of your big city ivory tower. I guess you wouldn’t care either if another 1 million + people were unemployed either…
Posted by dave flaat on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:04 PM
Sounds like a left wing idiot wrote this piece. I am not fond of Wal-Mart but I am less fond of people who believe like this anti business author.
Posted by Walt Brown on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:07 PM
This passionate article is so over the top as to make the motivation of the writers suspect. Whereas I was previously unconcerned about the Waltons and their enterprise, now I intend to research to learn what manner of influence they REALLY wield.
Posted by Dennis on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:08 PM
“As the Democratic Socialists of America put it: ....”
This might be the single most biased article I have ever come across. This reads like a modern “Communist Manifesto”.
Posted by Craig Reynolds on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:19 PM
You liberials make me sick, i suppose you had rather have the Clintonites in office so we would not only be morally defunct but clueless also. Youre support of the nea and public education is rampant with wasted monies and you are jealous of free enterprise ..........if it makes someone else rich. you sound like jealous communists more than concerned citizens!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Posted by vince on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:21 PM
I worked at Wal-Mart in college, it was miserable, the corporation gives not a damn about anything but its own profit. The best was when they expected us to be all excited about coming in at 5am the morning after Thanksgiving because ‘we’re gonna help set a profit record today!’ Not that I would expect anyone on the right to care, as they were home enjoying the day off with their families, that is until they chose to go to Wal-Mart and gorge on the fruits of exploitation. But yeah I was supposed to be excited that my lack of wage was contributing to a nice fattening for the Waltons. My best friend when I worked there had been a loyal, hard-working associate for nearly six years when I quit. You know how much he made after six years? Just over 10 dollars an hour! What a joke. I can see why the right would love sending their kids to private schools, why would they want their children to have to be around the ‘scum of the earth’ that can be found working in places like Wal-Mart? I’ve seen the way you people behave at Wank-Mart, the way you look at the ‘associates’ or the poor/foreigners/elderly and the things you say: “god I hate having to come here and deal with ‘these people’, don’t look at them, sweetie, don’t look at them’.
The ‘right’ makes me sick.
Posted by jackrabbitslim on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:27 PM
Remarkable. I read these comments after the absolutely accurate article and wonder, “How much did Wal-Mart spend to orchestrate this symphony of cynicism and hate?”
There are a lot of sick people in this culture, people who have been kicked around as kids, who no longer have the stomach to stand up for what we all know is right. They identify abuse with love.
Instead, they sling slander and invective, sloganeer, tell everyone else why our own eyes are not to be believed: that Wal-Mart leaves a swatch of destruction everywhere it goes!
Forget all the cant about competition and the American Way. What’s revealed here is how destroyed the commonweal, the public sphere of dialogue, already is. I wish never to run into the mean people who speak against the authors but more importantly, against the American people in these comments—but I know I will. They hide their sickness and pose as normal, everyday Americans. I doubt they live next door, but probably they do live across the street.
What has become of us?
Posted by Bob Jacobson on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:31 PM
nyah nyah nyah…...go back to where you came from, lefties.
Posted by John on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:31 PM
Great story! Walmart not wanted in California. Please stay out.
Posted by Big Rick on Apr 6, 2004 at 9:33 PM
The underlying problem and the reason this is a problem is that the magnitude of this corporation and the profitibility of this company and the business success that they are experiencing is being done without the greedy corrupt labor unions. unions
Posted by alan chadwick on Apr 7, 2004 at 5:49 AM
In response to Mr. Copple’s posting (copy follows) It demonstrates not the IQ of the Waltons, but lack of IQ of Mr Copple, who somehow thinks all Christians are stupid. Further more, there is no free public education. Its a huge failing bureaucacy aimed at making teachers rich. If we had a voucher program we wouldn’t be building new schools every year at the taxpayers expense. I’m already paying more ($7500 per year & growing for as long as I live) for primary education than college will ever cost for my children. ————————————————————————Mr. Copple’s posting: Why don’t Sam’s children use their wealth to try to change the world by purchasing airtime, billboard space, mag&newspaper; pages? I think the answer is that they are stupid, insulated, and of course, chri$tian.
Posted by: michael copple on 3.31.04 | 10:49 pm from DC
Posted by Tom moses on Apr 7, 2004 at 6:35 AM
Wow…... for a while i thought i was the only one taking a personal stand at wal mart…... im not black, nor a union member, but i do believe in america and the principles that are supposed to guide her. I have not shopped at a wal mart for 2 years. this is my personal boycott, but i urge others to do the same. Quit using the excuse of “there’s just some things that i have to get from wal-mart”. Its time for americans to stand up and take back our government and our economy…... wal mart couldt exist if it wasnt for american money filling the tills…...If we truly care about the future of this experiment we call democracy then we need to take and stand and close our wallets to the wal marts of the world…...
Posted by J.D. Bailey on Apr 7, 2004 at 6:48 AM
Yes, workers of the world unite. Throw off the chains of oppression created by the Walmarts/Republicans/Rich Upper Class/Military Industrial Complex/Energy Companies who want nothing better to do than to keep the poor and non-whites oppressed (after all, that’s what my trilateral commission membership card says we are supposed to do).
We could throw out the rich and the George Bush’s and let the labor unions and the workers control society. Oh wait, that’s what happened in the old Soviet Union (and look how fast that fell apart).
I don’t particularly care for Walmart and how they seem to dominate certain local economies, but get a grip (and I’m sure that none of you who are so against school vouchers have your children in private schools).
Posted by David Watkins on Apr 7, 2004 at 8:25 AM
be it the dems, the repubs, the eduation system or the walton’s, suffice to say, nothing will ever change. no one and i mean no one on this planet will ever get to experience the “good ol’ days” as some may or may not have known. who is honestly to blame? it’s none of the above but all of us who make up everything as parts of the whole. collectively, no matter which side of the fence anyone is on be they affluent or not, devout or not, intelligent, passionate, disciplined, or not, the bottom line is that it’s every man for himself in these times. wally world merely exemplifies our collective “me me me” consciousness and that my friend’s is just zee way it be… p
(i’m just as guilty too…)
(besides, what’s 20 billion going to do other than pass from one pocket to the next? mohammed, abraham, buddha and jesus were all penniless… go figure.)
Posted by p on Apr 7, 2004 at 8:41 AM
I am a Democrat. I am a liberal. I too, despise Walmart and what it has done to small businesses across the country. I don’t shop there. Nevertheless, this is a poorly written article with unsubstantiated ad hominim attacks like, “If evil could be branded, its emblem would be the Wal-Mart logo.” This kind of statement de-ligitimizes the article, which on the whole, brings up some good stuff. Better journalism please.
Posted by William Sciambi on Apr 7, 2004 at 8:44 AM
Do you mean to say that corporate America is expecting something for those large donations of money the politicans require to pay for air time?
Is it possible that the coroprations have identified their markets and are acting according to the nature of greed?
Is it safe to say that trusts control government, so there is no trust in government?
If Corporations exist exclusively to exchange money for less expensive goods and services, then government providing conninvance to business is ethical because it cheapens both government and business?
A monopoly exists when a corporation controls 25% or more of any one market. Exceeding that limit will cause a forceful divesting for the good of the consumer.
No further legislation should become law until ratified by a majority vote from the people.
we have the technology. Congressmen are expensive, tempermental, and unpredictable.
I guess it’s time to make the corporations own up.
I really don’t think that venting exclusively at Wally World is going to help, but it’s a start.
Posted by Leon floyd on Apr 7, 2004 at 9:25 AM
Truly amazing the depth and breadth and scope of this writers ignorance.
For a few paragrapghs I was breathless - waiting for the ironic twist. And then it dawned on me.
This loon was serious.
Genetic markers… global destructive force? About the only thing he left out was little green men and alien abduction.
It is truly amazing that anyone would publish such drivel. To anyone believing such vitriol no response of mine would dissuade, so none will be given. I would suggest an elementary textbook on economics - ANY text - for a lesson on how the real world operates.
The lunatic left cannot and is not winning the battle of ideas and so it resorts to villifying its opponents.
Bravo! Truly an excellent display of Jeffersonian democracy and civic discourse.
And yes, Virginia. THAT is sarcasm.
Posted by Chris on Apr 7, 2004 at 10:23 AM
“If evil could be branded, its emblem would be the Wal-Mart logo. ” How many murders have been commited by Wal-Mart.
Over 100 Million murders have been this century by communists, or “progressives” as you like to call yourselves. You are opposed to school vouchers because you want to keep blacks in poverty. Your socialism is Evil. Why don’t you quit promoting your failed socialism, and do something productive. Start a business, for example.
Posted by W. Veitschegger on Apr 7, 2004 at 12:01 PM
It is so disturbing to hear such news. The world is changing around us, and we need to stand up for what is right, so many of us are afraid to stand up to the big, rich, and powerful. It is time to stand up for what is right and our rights, because our rights are being slipped away from us each day…........
Posted by Sade on Apr 7, 2004 at 5:42 PM
If you had to take a time and a place where the 20th-century (as a distinct historical epoch) began in America, you could do a lot worse than 90 years ago in Highland Park, Michigan.
It was there, in 1913, that Henry Ford opened his model-T plant and soon announced that he’d pay his workers a stunning five dollars at day, on the revolutionary theory that the men who built cars should make enough money to buy them.
The nation’s largest employer, with 3,200 U.S. outlets and sales revenue of 245 billion last year (which, if War-Mart were a nation, would rank it between Belgian and Sweden as the world’s 19th largest economy) doesn’t pay its workers-excuse me, “associates” enough to buy decent cars, let alone homes. According to a study by Forbes, Wal-Mart employees earn an average hourly wage of $7.50 and, annually, a princely $18,000.
Just as Ford, GM and the UAW once drove up prices for workers who were nowhere near auto factories, so Wal-Mart drives down wages for workers who never set foot there. Controlling as it does so much of the low-end retail market, Wal-Mart has, with great success, pressured suppliers to cut their labor costs. No other American company has done as much to destroy what’s left of the U.S. clothing and textile industry or been so loyal a friend to the dankest sweatshops of the developing world. And unless American unions can find the political leverage to block Wal-Mart’s expansion into non-Southern Metropolitan arias, the company poses a huge threat to the millions or so unionized clerks who work at the nation’s major supermarket chains.
The article went on to say:
The relation of union power to the mass prosperity is, in a word, causal. Anyone who doubts that should go to the only American city today where there’s a boom in housing construction for the working class: Las Vegas. The MGM-Grand, the Bellagio and Caesars Palace are the Ford and GM there, and a quite brilliant
hotel workers union, which has won the right to represent the workers in all the strip hotels, is the latter day UAW.
And the desert rings with hammering and sawing as home’s go up for the only low-end, service sector workers in the Wal-Mart economy who have won the living standards to sustain the American dream.
Posted by Robert Del Castillo on Apr 7, 2004 at 8:25 PM
Good god what unbelievable morons. Destroy the public school system with vouchers? They are already doing that with condoms and brain dead educational standards—not to mention the complete lack of moral standards. Oppose the Bush administration. Far better to oppose the liberal left with its ejaculate first and think later agenda
Posted by sean oreilly on Apr 7, 2004 at 10:45 PM
The authors need to read How to Manage Your DICK: Redirect Sexual Energy and Discover Your More spiritually Enlightened, Evolved Self. George Soros is so smart he’s dumb.
Posted by sjo on Apr 7, 2004 at 10:48 PM
I think there must be a cheaper solution. Only five of them? Perhaps a family trip to Myanmar and $100,000 cash can clear up the problem with five flashes of light.
Posted by Jimboy on Apr 8, 2004 at 4:52 AM
I’d guess left winger socialist like you probably don’t shop at Wal-Mart then!?
Posted by BRAX WRIGHT on Apr 8, 2004 at 6:34 AM
I grew up in a public school system in the upper midwest. To put it plain and simple, we were brainwashed into being good little Americans. We were taught that sports came way ahead of intelligence. We were taught lies in Civics classes and History courses.
So it is senseless to argue over public edu vs. private edu. My point is that no education system will be any good unless it is based on truth. And we won’t get truth from the self-interest private schools, and we won’t get truth from the Rep or Dem political establishments.
We need to go back to the roots and build a new education system from scratch.
Posted by mutineer on Apr 9, 2004 at 7:59 AM
This is a marvellous article that only enhances the tremendous respect I have for the Black Commentator. You don’t have to be black to appreciate the fact that blacks often show far greater insight into the nature and character of the real America than all but a handful of whites. Let’s hope that African Americans finally see someone value from their longstanding support for the Democratic party this year.
Posted by Carl Wernerhoff on Apr 10, 2004 at 12:51 AM
The best thing I’ve seen so far on all of these silly postings were the last two!
Posted by Brian Siefke on Apr 10, 2004 at 2:38 AM
Although the amount of money the Walton family has available to dedicate to the campaign for vouchers, I don’t believe that the American public will ever fall for the voucher arguments. This is especially true because of the number of scandals that are coming to light about the abuse of public funds in voucher programs and charter schools. On the one hand, we have the push for more “accountability” from public schools, but voucher proponents are obligated to argue for no accountability because vouchers go to private schools that cannot be regulated by the public. In addition, we must keep in mind that the privatization of public education is a double-edged sword. Conservatives are using the public schools to keep society under control and to transmit “traditional” values and beliefs. If public education were to be privatized, then conservatives would lose control over society. Private schools, using public funding, would be free to teach any values or beliefs they chose, which might be contrary to the objectives of conservatives for the society. An excellent example is bilingual education. Here in Mexico, every middle and upper class family who can afford it has their children enrolled in a private bilingual school. I suspect that if these opportunities were available to Latino and Anglo parents alike in states like California and Arizona, bilingual schools would be created to meet the demand. How would all those conservatives who worked so hard for English-only (Proposition 227 in CA and 203 in AZ) feel about their tax dollars going to give their neighbors kids a bilingual education? One of the great dangers of giving people freedom is that they often use it to make choices others don’t like. The conservatives aren’t stupid. They will eventually figure out that there is a huge downside for them in the voucher movement. Meanwhile, the rest of us should be thinking about the benefits of freedom within our public schools and work to repeal No Child Left Behind and throw off the shackles of federal control over our neighborhood schools.
Posted by Jill Kerper Mora on Apr 10, 2004 at 5:46 PM
Based on many of the reader comments on this story, it is clear what the main problem with American society is; most people are stupid. You right wing idiots are the bane of us all. Nothing but blind stupidity. The rich and titled must react with glee when hearing or reading some of the supportive “thoughts” spewed out by you ignorant troglodytes. Be sure to vote Bush in the next election you morons! Another 4 years of an idiot, immoral, lying bastard. But hey he is a “real man” right?
Posted by Alan on Apr 12, 2004 at 9:58 AM
Go Alan!
(But watch out, they’ll probably label you a left-wing something or other to distract anyone from actually discussing this topic!)
Those people are really paranoid, eh? I think it’s funny.
Anyway, I’m interested to see how the people who think for themselves feel about home schooling. No one has really mentioned that here and some people feel that the final responsibility for education falls on parents.
Posted by Brian Siefke on Apr 13, 2004 at 2:26 AM
EVERY WORD IS THE TOTAL TRUTH.
THE REAL EVIL BEHIND BUSH…
AMONG MANY.
Posted by sandy cole on Apr 13, 2004 at 11:45 AM
Our local Wal-Mart, at Valley View Mall is the local hang out for all the drug dealers. Since our city of Roanoke cracked down on that activity downtown, it has moved to Wal-Marts parking lot. The local management try to stay on top of it. But the activity continues. I hardly ever see a security guard actually walking the lot doing what he is employed to do. Usually he gossiping with other employees or customers. Maybe he’s a crack addict.
Posted by Mark on Apr 14, 2004 at 7:33 AM
suscribe
Posted by Charles w Bergman on Apr 14, 2004 at 1:35 PM
What are other recommended chains to shop?
Posted by Debbie on Apr 14, 2004 at 3:11 PM
What Americans need to remember is that the middle-class is a creation of government. The Free Market is a hoax. The wonders of the free market will be that a few people will live like aristocrats, and the majority will live like indentured servants.
People should not be fooled. The call for a free market system is nothing new, and every time it is implemented the few take advantage and the rest suffer.
Political right wing radicals are selling the middle-class on an idea that will in the end eliminate them. It is a con job, by self-proclaimed aristocrats, and everybody else exists to serve them.
It is an anti-American tactic for those who have the advantage to take the advantage or even the possibility of advantage away from others. This too, is a cynical plan conceived by heartless men and women who believe that somehow they will benefit in a world torn apart by revolution.
Their sheer arrogance is astounding to behold.
Posted by gc wall on Apr 14, 2004 at 10:22 PM
The simple solution to the Walmart situation is for people to stop buying at these stores. Boycott Walmart.
It’s time this family / corporation stopped making obscene profits while taking advantage of its employees and the US taxpayers.
Posted by Diane Taylor on Apr 14, 2004 at 10:24 PM
It ‘s difficult for the working poor not to shop at Wal-Marts. It’s just as difficult for the main stream media to gamble their advertising profits by telling it like it is. One of the results of this media failure is…That son of a Bush…appointed president by the corporate leg of the Military-Industrial-Government complex.
Posted by David Wolter on Apr 17, 2004 at 8:02 AM
greetings,
first off i would like to state my name is not an offensive jest…i am white…i was surfing one night and i ran across this article….i must say…it does make a lot of sense…but did you ever stop to think that maybe its not just blacks there trying to screw?....i feel in my opinion (being a 1 year employee of walmart) that there out to get anyone and everyone they can fuck over and or take over. thank you thats all i had to say.
kat
Posted by tHEbLACKkAT on Apr 18, 2004 at 1:00 AM
the only reason that WalMart is so sucessful is because the very people that this article describes flock like sheep to the very store that is attempting to hold them back and do the other things described—-A national boycott,if sucessfull, could do a lot of damage-
Posted by gpkc on May 2, 2004 at 6:25 AM
SAVE 53% OFFTHE NEWSSTAND PRICE!
Reader Comments
I know I am too stupid to think otherwise, but I love Walmart.
This article isn’t even worth using to clean the toilet. I wish the author could answer the following questions : 1) Why can’t lower income people have access to goods at lower prices 2) Why aren’t inner city people entitled to choice as more affleuent people are ? 3) If Wal-Mart is so horrible why was Hillary Clinton on their board of Directors ? 4) Why is there always hate and envy for those that have by those that have not ? 5) When are we going to realize that America is the land of opportunity which is why time and time again recent immigrants run rings around the poor whining ‘inner city disinfranchised’ who have been here for generations. 6) When are those in the inner city going to realize that they are constantly manipulated by the ‘poverty pimps’ i.e. Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson, etc. who need them to justify their existence ? 7) It’s really pitiful to see others exploit the system we have at our disposal and choose to whine incessantly and let others who see what’s possible seize the day and the dollar. Minorities will always have a ‘minority’ of the $$ until they realize there’s no virtue or value in crying about a glass that’s half full. Drink the water that’s there and then buy the well…..
A more innacurate and disingenouous tirade by the defeders of a ridiculously failed school system (funded at $350 billion according to the confused authors) is difficult to image. Their exists one word for the authors of this story: Denial
If the Walton heirs wish to use part of their fortune to improve and upgrade the utterly failed US school system, I say Bring it On!
If all we get for $350 Billion is a pitiful school system, why is the left so worried about $75 million spent on school choice.
Why are the iron fisted rulers of public schools, the teachers union, so hell bent to prevent america’s youth from getting a decent education.
What a ridiculous crock of class warfare. I guess you don’t care if a single mom trying to stretch a buck, or a welfare family trying to make ends meet, gets the most for their money. Get out into the real world instead of your big city ivory tower. I guess you wouldn’t care either if another 1 million + people were unemployed either…
Sounds like a left wing idiot wrote this piece. I am not fond of Wal-Mart but I am less fond of people who believe like this anti business author.
This passionate article is so over the top as to make the motivation of the writers suspect. Whereas I was previously unconcerned about the Waltons and their enterprise, now I intend to research to learn what manner of influence they REALLY wield.
“As the Democratic Socialists of America put it: ....”
This might be the single most biased article I have ever come across. This reads like a modern “Communist Manifesto”.
You liberials make me sick, i suppose you had rather have the Clintonites in office so we would not only be morally defunct but clueless also. Youre support of the nea and public education is rampant with wasted monies and you are jealous of free enterprise ..........if it makes someone else rich. you sound like jealous communists more than concerned citizens!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I worked at Wal-Mart in college, it was miserable, the corporation gives not a damn about anything but its own profit. The best was when they expected us to be all excited about coming in at 5am the morning after Thanksgiving because ‘we’re gonna help set a profit record today!’ Not that I would expect anyone on the right to care, as they were home enjoying the day off with their families, that is until they chose to go to Wal-Mart and gorge on the fruits of exploitation. But yeah I was supposed to be excited that my lack of wage was contributing to a nice fattening for the Waltons. My best friend when I worked there had been a loyal, hard-working associate for nearly six years when I quit. You know how much he made after six years? Just over 10 dollars an hour! What a joke. I can see why the right would love sending their kids to private schools, why would they want their children to have to be around the ‘scum of the earth’ that can be found working in places like Wal-Mart? I’ve seen the way you people behave at Wank-Mart, the way you look at the ‘associates’ or the poor/foreigners/elderly and the things you say: “god I hate having to come here and deal with ‘these people’, don’t look at them, sweetie, don’t look at them’.
The ‘right’ makes me sick.
Remarkable. I read these comments after the absolutely accurate article and wonder, “How much did Wal-Mart spend to orchestrate this symphony of cynicism and hate?”
There are a lot of sick people in this culture, people who have been kicked around as kids, who no longer have the stomach to stand up for what we all know is right. They identify abuse with love.
Instead, they sling slander and invective, sloganeer, tell everyone else why our own eyes are not to be believed: that Wal-Mart leaves a swatch of destruction everywhere it goes!
Forget all the cant about competition and the American Way. What’s revealed here is how destroyed the commonweal, the public sphere of dialogue, already is. I wish never to run into the mean people who speak against the authors but more importantly, against the American people in these comments—but I know I will. They hide their sickness and pose as normal, everyday Americans. I doubt they live next door, but probably they do live across the street.
What has become of us?
nyah nyah nyah…...go back to where you came from, lefties.
Great story! Walmart not wanted in California. Please stay out.
The underlying problem and the reason this is a problem is that the magnitude of this corporation and the profitibility of this company and the business success that they are experiencing is being done without the greedy corrupt labor unions. unions
In response to Mr. Copple’s posting (copy follows) It demonstrates not the IQ of the Waltons, but lack of IQ of Mr Copple, who somehow thinks all Christians are stupid. Further more, there is no free public education. Its a huge failing bureaucacy aimed at making teachers rich. If we had a voucher program we wouldn’t be building new schools every year at the taxpayers expense. I’m already paying more ($7500 per year & growing for as long as I live) for primary education than college will ever cost for my children. ————————————————————————Mr. Copple’s posting: Why don’t Sam’s children use their wealth to try to change the world by purchasing airtime, billboard space, mag&newspaper; pages? I think the answer is that they are stupid, insulated, and of course, chri$tian.
Posted by: michael copple on 3.31.04 | 10:49 pm from DC
Wow…... for a while i thought i was the only one taking a personal stand at wal mart…... im not black, nor a union member, but i do believe in america and the principles that are supposed to guide her. I have not shopped at a wal mart for 2 years. this is my personal boycott, but i urge others to do the same. Quit using the excuse of “there’s just some things that i have to get from wal-mart”. Its time for americans to stand up and take back our government and our economy…... wal mart couldt exist if it wasnt for american money filling the tills…...If we truly care about the future of this experiment we call democracy then we need to take and stand and close our wallets to the wal marts of the world…...
Yes, workers of the world unite. Throw off the chains of oppression created by the Walmarts/Republicans/Rich Upper Class/Military Industrial Complex/Energy Companies who want nothing better to do than to keep the poor and non-whites oppressed (after all, that’s what my trilateral commission membership card says we are supposed to do).
We could throw out the rich and the George Bush’s and let the labor unions and the workers control society. Oh wait, that’s what happened in the old Soviet Union (and look how fast that fell apart).
I don’t particularly care for Walmart and how they seem to dominate certain local economies, but get a grip (and I’m sure that none of you who are so against school vouchers have your children in private schools).
be it the dems, the repubs, the eduation system or the walton’s, suffice to say, nothing will ever change. no one and i mean no one on this planet will ever get to experience the “good ol’ days” as some may or may not have known. who is honestly to blame? it’s none of the above but all of us who make up everything as parts of the whole. collectively, no matter which side of the fence anyone is on be they affluent or not, devout or not, intelligent, passionate, disciplined, or not, the bottom line is that it’s every man for himself in these times. wally world merely exemplifies our collective “me me me” consciousness and that my friend’s is just zee way it be… p
(i’m just as guilty too…)
(besides, what’s 20 billion going to do other than pass from one pocket to the next? mohammed, abraham, buddha and jesus were all penniless… go figure.)
I am a Democrat. I am a liberal. I too, despise Walmart and what it has done to small businesses across the country. I don’t shop there. Nevertheless, this is a poorly written article with unsubstantiated ad hominim attacks like, “If evil could be branded, its emblem would be the Wal-Mart logo.” This kind of statement de-ligitimizes the article, which on the whole, brings up some good stuff. Better journalism please.
Do you mean to say that corporate America is expecting something for those large donations of money the politicans require to pay for air time?
Is it possible that the coroprations have identified their markets and are acting according to the nature of greed?
Is it safe to say that trusts control government, so there is no trust in government?
If Corporations exist exclusively to exchange money for less expensive goods and services, then government providing conninvance to business is ethical because it cheapens both government and business?
A monopoly exists when a corporation controls 25% or more of any one market. Exceeding that limit will cause a forceful divesting for the good of the consumer.
No further legislation should become law until ratified by a majority vote from the people.
we have the technology. Congressmen are expensive, tempermental, and unpredictable.
I guess it’s time to make the corporations own up.
I really don’t think that venting exclusively at Wally World is going to help, but it’s a start.
Truly amazing the depth and breadth and scope of this writers ignorance.
For a few paragrapghs I was breathless - waiting for the ironic twist. And then it dawned on me.
This loon was serious.
Genetic markers… global destructive force? About the only thing he left out was little green men and alien abduction.
It is truly amazing that anyone would publish such drivel. To anyone believing such vitriol no response of mine would dissuade, so none will be given. I would suggest an elementary textbook on economics - ANY text - for a lesson on how the real world operates.
The lunatic left cannot and is not winning the battle of ideas and so it resorts to villifying its opponents.
Bravo! Truly an excellent display of Jeffersonian democracy and civic discourse.
And yes, Virginia. THAT is sarcasm.
“If evil could be branded, its emblem would be the Wal-Mart logo. ” How many murders have been commited by Wal-Mart.
Over 100 Million murders have been this century by communists, or “progressives” as you like to call yourselves. You are opposed to school vouchers because you want to keep blacks in poverty. Your socialism is Evil. Why don’t you quit promoting your failed socialism, and do something productive. Start a business, for example.
It is so disturbing to hear such news. The world is changing around us, and we need to stand up for what is right, so many of us are afraid to stand up to the big, rich, and powerful. It is time to stand up for what is right and our rights, because our rights are being slipped away from us each day…........
If you had to take a time and a place where the 20th-century (as a distinct historical epoch) began in America, you could do a lot worse than 90 years ago in Highland Park, Michigan.
It was there, in 1913, that Henry Ford opened his model-T plant and soon announced that he’d pay his workers a stunning five dollars at day, on the revolutionary theory that the men who built cars should make enough money to buy them.
The nation’s largest employer, with 3,200 U.S. outlets and sales revenue of 245 billion last year (which, if War-Mart were a nation, would rank it between Belgian and Sweden as the world’s 19th largest economy) doesn’t pay its workers-excuse me, “associates” enough to buy decent cars, let alone homes. According to a study by Forbes, Wal-Mart employees earn an average hourly wage of $7.50 and, annually, a princely $18,000.
Just as Ford, GM and the UAW once drove up prices for workers who were nowhere near auto factories, so Wal-Mart drives down wages for workers who never set foot there. Controlling as it does so much of the low-end retail market, Wal-Mart has, with great success, pressured suppliers to cut their labor costs. No other American company has done as much to destroy what’s left of the U.S. clothing and textile industry or been so loyal a friend to the dankest sweatshops of the developing world. And unless American unions can find the political leverage to block Wal-Mart’s expansion into non-Southern Metropolitan arias, the company poses a huge threat to the millions or so unionized clerks who work at the nation’s major supermarket chains.
The article went on to say:
The relation of union power to the mass prosperity is, in a word, causal. Anyone who doubts that should go to the only American city today where there’s a boom in housing construction for the working class: Las Vegas. The MGM-Grand, the Bellagio and Caesars Palace are the Ford and GM there, and a quite brilliant
hotel workers union, which has won the right to represent the workers in all the strip hotels, is the latter day UAW.
And the desert rings with hammering and sawing as home’s go up for the only low-end, service sector workers in the Wal-Mart economy who have won the living standards to sustain the American dream.
Good god what unbelievable morons. Destroy the public school system with vouchers? They are already doing that with condoms and brain dead educational standards—not to mention the complete lack of moral standards. Oppose the Bush administration. Far better to oppose the liberal left with its ejaculate first and think later agenda
The authors need to read How to Manage Your DICK: Redirect Sexual Energy and Discover Your More spiritually Enlightened, Evolved Self. George Soros is so smart he’s dumb.
I think there must be a cheaper solution. Only five of them? Perhaps a family trip to Myanmar and $100,000 cash can clear up the problem with five flashes of light.
I’d guess left winger socialist like you probably don’t shop at Wal-Mart then!?
I grew up in a public school system in the upper midwest. To put it plain and simple, we were brainwashed into being good little Americans. We were taught that sports came way ahead of intelligence. We were taught lies in Civics classes and History courses.
So it is senseless to argue over public edu vs. private edu. My point is that no education system will be any good unless it is based on truth. And we won’t get truth from the self-interest private schools, and we won’t get truth from the Rep or Dem political establishments.
We need to go back to the roots and build a new education system from scratch.
This is a marvellous article that only enhances the tremendous respect I have for the Black Commentator. You don’t have to be black to appreciate the fact that blacks often show far greater insight into the nature and character of the real America than all but a handful of whites. Let’s hope that African Americans finally see someone value from their longstanding support for the Democratic party this year.
The best thing I’ve seen so far on all of these silly postings were the last two!
Although the amount of money the Walton family has available to dedicate to the campaign for vouchers, I don’t believe that the American public will ever fall for the voucher arguments. This is especially true because of the number of scandals that are coming to light about the abuse of public funds in voucher programs and charter schools. On the one hand, we have the push for more “accountability” from public schools, but voucher proponents are obligated to argue for no accountability because vouchers go to private schools that cannot be regulated by the public. In addition, we must keep in mind that the privatization of public education is a double-edged sword. Conservatives are using the public schools to keep society under control and to transmit “traditional” values and beliefs. If public education were to be privatized, then conservatives would lose control over society. Private schools, using public funding, would be free to teach any values or beliefs they chose, which might be contrary to the objectives of conservatives for the society. An excellent example is bilingual education. Here in Mexico, every middle and upper class family who can afford it has their children enrolled in a private bilingual school. I suspect that if these opportunities were available to Latino and Anglo parents alike in states like California and Arizona, bilingual schools would be created to meet the demand. How would all those conservatives who worked so hard for English-only (Proposition 227 in CA and 203 in AZ) feel about their tax dollars going to give their neighbors kids a bilingual education? One of the great dangers of giving people freedom is that they often use it to make choices others don’t like. The conservatives aren’t stupid. They will eventually figure out that there is a huge downside for them in the voucher movement. Meanwhile, the rest of us should be thinking about the benefits of freedom within our public schools and work to repeal No Child Left Behind and throw off the shackles of federal control over our neighborhood schools.
Based on many of the reader comments on this story, it is clear what the main problem with American society is; most people are stupid. You right wing idiots are the bane of us all. Nothing but blind stupidity. The rich and titled must react with glee when hearing or reading some of the supportive “thoughts” spewed out by you ignorant troglodytes. Be sure to vote Bush in the next election you morons! Another 4 years of an idiot, immoral, lying bastard. But hey he is a “real man” right?
Go Alan!
(But watch out, they’ll probably label you a left-wing something or other to distract anyone from actually discussing this topic!)
Those people are really paranoid, eh? I think it’s funny.
Anyway, I’m interested to see how the people who think for themselves feel about home schooling. No one has really mentioned that here and some people feel that the final responsibility for education falls on parents.
EVERY WORD IS THE TOTAL TRUTH.
THE REAL EVIL BEHIND BUSH…
AMONG MANY.
Our local Wal-Mart, at Valley View Mall is the local hang out for all the drug dealers. Since our city of Roanoke cracked down on that activity downtown, it has moved to Wal-Marts parking lot. The local management try to stay on top of it. But the activity continues. I hardly ever see a security guard actually walking the lot doing what he is employed to do. Usually he gossiping with other employees or customers. Maybe he’s a crack addict.
suscribe
What are other recommended chains to shop?
What Americans need to remember is that the middle-class is a creation of government. The Free Market is a hoax. The wonders of the free market will be that a few people will live like aristocrats, and the majority will live like indentured servants.
People should not be fooled. The call for a free market system is nothing new, and every time it is implemented the few take advantage and the rest suffer.
Political right wing radicals are selling the middle-class on an idea that will in the end eliminate them. It is a con job, by self-proclaimed aristocrats, and everybody else exists to serve them.
It is an anti-American tactic for those who have the advantage to take the advantage or even the possibility of advantage away from others. This too, is a cynical plan conceived by heartless men and women who believe that somehow they will benefit in a world torn apart by revolution.
Their sheer arrogance is astounding to behold.
The simple solution to the Walmart situation is for people to stop buying at these stores. Boycott Walmart.
It’s time this family / corporation stopped making obscene profits while taking advantage of its employees and the US taxpayers.
It ‘s difficult for the working poor not to shop at Wal-Marts. It’s just as difficult for the main stream media to gamble their advertising profits by telling it like it is. One of the results of this media failure is…That son of a Bush…appointed president by the corporate leg of the Military-Industrial-Government complex.
greetings,
first off i would like to state my name is not an offensive jest…i am white…i was surfing one night and i ran across this article….i must say…it does make a lot of sense…but did you ever stop to think that maybe its not just blacks there trying to screw?....i feel in my opinion (being a 1 year employee of walmart) that there out to get anyone and everyone they can fuck over and or take over. thank you thats all i had to say.
kat
the only reason that WalMart is so sucessful is because the very people that this article describes flock like sheep to the very store that is attempting to hold them back and do the other things described—-A national boycott,if sucessfull, could do a lot of damage-
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