Quote:
Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon
Right, this is exactly what I was wondering. I've noticed in the past that Wal-Mart is almost like a old-time company store. They set the standard for low wages in the area, then people go pick up their walmart paychecks, have no choice but to line up at wal-mart to buy all their stuff for the week, load it up on their Wal-mart credit card with their 5% employee discount, and support the very institution that's in part keeping them impoverished with substandard wages.
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Oh here we go:
Quote:
Neither paper estimated the impact of Wal-Mart on real wages. Presumably the workers
in the retail sector and more broadly also benefit from the lower prices that follow the entry of a
Wal-Mart. The nominal wage effects in both papers have to be compared to the 7 to 13 percent
retail price effect in the long run found by Basker or the reduction in the broader CPI found by
Global Insight. Taken together, the evidence appears to suggest that, even for retail workers, the
benefits of lower prices could outweigh any potential cost of lower wages – potentially leading
to higher real wages even in the retail sector.
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The increased purchasing power the poor get from Walmart's low prices outweigh the alleged reduction in wages. The poor benefit disproportionately because they spend a higher % of their income on food.
And if you're a liberal like me, you shouldn't worry about "corporate welfare" and the government paying benefits for the poor instead of Walmart. This way the poor get cheap stuff and the government will compensate for their low wages through Medicare. Double bonus for the poor.
Hence Bayh and Richardson were wrong to protest, but at least they're not complete Walmart bashers.
Biden and Edwards, go stick it (I know Edwards is gone but I wanna stick it to him one more time).
Obama-Walmart '08