Mike Rowe Supports Walmart In New Initiative And The Haters Go Wild

[Fred78]

Don't ever think a business owner is gonna give you something he doesn't have to, be it wages working conditions or what ever.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Don't ever think a business owner is gonna give you something he doesn't have to, be it wages working conditions or what ever.

Technically he doesn't "have" to give anyone anything, he could just close up shop and go Galt.

 

[SERparacord]

I don't believe in their sincerity.

If this really works, then I'll be perfectly happy to reverse my longtime position on Wal-mart. As of now, I don't shop Wal-Mart because I don't enjoy my hard earned money going to communists.

Then you must not shop any where. Impossible to shop any place and not find Chinese goods.

 

[Voodoo574]

Walmart is to blame for none of this. They can't purchase American-made products that don't exist.

We need to properly place 100% of the blame on government interference.

• OSHA
• Legislative support for Unions
• FDA
• Outrageous taxes
• EPA

The list goes on and on.

Ya thats right. Who needs a 40 hour work week, or reasonable expectations of safety in the work place, or the ability to provide a decent living for ones family, or healthcare, or basic human rights in the workplace. You are a fool to think that Unions are a cause of loss of profit in America. Or that us "Union Boys" believe the crap that the Democratic party slings, or for that matter the crap the Republicans spew forth. Is it unreasonable for a man to expect a living wage or reasonable conditions to work in? That is all we wish for. To see this country stand tall and proud as it once did. To live the American dream and have that house and be able to take time off work to spend with family. Or have healthcare to take their children to the doctor. We just want fair treatment for a fair days work.

 

[steveh_131]

Ya thats right. Who needs a 40 hour work week, or reasonable expectations of safety in the work place, or the ability to provide a decent living for ones family, or healthcare, or basic human rights in the workplace. You are a fool to think that Unions are a cause of loss of profit in America. Or that us "Union Boys" believe the crap that the Democratic party slings, or for that matter the crap the Republicans spew forth. Is it unreasonable for a man to expect a living wage or reasonable conditions to work in? That is all we wish for. To see this country stand tall and proud as it once did. To live the American dream and have that house and be able to take time off work to spend with family. Or have healthcare to take their children to the doctor. We just want fair treatment for a fair days work.

It is reasonable to want it. It is not reasonable to feel entitled to it.

Working hard to advance yourself and reach those goals is the American dream. Using a union backed by government force to extort those things is not the American dream.

 

[remauto1187]

It is reasonable to want it. It is not reasonable to feel entitled to it.

Working hard to advance yourself and reach those goals is the American dream. Using a union backed by government force to extort those things is not the American dream.

Extort? Its not extortion when you have to force a company to do the right thing because they wont do it on their own. Prime example....You know how many people are still walking around after 40yrs ago they were told asbestos was perfectly safe to breathe in ? I give you a clue...not alot of them and many that are still alive are laying in the hospital or at home dying from it. I still to this day have to fight my employer over asbestos in some of our installations...and I work for a freakin federal agency. Im the unit union rep AND the President of the Indiana Chapter. Ill stick with my brothers and sisters to keep it safe instead of relying on pinhead managers that push pencils at a desk and dont care about anything except the "numbers". You call it extortion....I call it survival.

 

[Ruffnek]

I shop at Wal Mart for the convenience.I do not like Wal Mart one bit.

When I worked there,we were treated as sub-humans and,for over a year,I worked jobs that were between 1 and 3 pay grades above mine.Nobody lower than an assistant manager could become full-time and therefore were not able to get insurance.

The most annoying thing was a company policy that stated a person working 40hrs/wk for more than 'X' consecutive weeks (we'll say 4 for the example) was eligible for full-time benefits.They would schedule us 40hrs/wk for 3 straight weeks and week 4 would be...get this...39.5 hours!

Everyone I knew hated it.Most have moved on but those with considerable time in there fall into 1 of 3 categories.
1)Not caring/wanting to move upward
2)Doing the job post-retirement
3)Holding Wal Mart as a second job


As for the union argument:
I work as a custodian for IU Building Services.I do not pay union dues and am therefore not a member of AFSCME.However,the union has gotten us more fair treatment,though it is still a bit lackluster when dealing with management,and anyone is allowed a union representative in the case of trouble with management(write-ups,grievences,etc.) which I can appreciate.Being only 20,I haven't dealt with union jobs that much and don't really understand unions all to well.They seem sort of like Communism to me,great on paper but not in practice.

 

[jamil]

Ya thats right. Who needs a 40 hour work week, or reasonable expectations of safety in the work place, or the ability to provide a decent living for ones family, or healthcare, or basic human rights in the workplace. You are a fool to think that Unions are a cause of loss of profit in America. Or that us "Union Boys" believe the crap that the Democratic party slings, or for that matter the crap the Republicans spew forth. Is it unreasonable for a man to expect a living wage or reasonable conditions to work in? That is all we wish for. To see this country stand tall and proud as it once did. To live the American dream and have that house and be able to take time off work to spend with family. Or have healthcare to take their children to the doctor. We just want fair treatment for a fair days work.

Employers don't exist to provide living wages or healthcare or any benefits at all. Those are all compensation for the value that employees produce. If you want those things you should provide the value equal to those things. If you want a living wage you should produce the value that is worth a living wage.

It is reasonable to want it. It is not reasonable to feel entitled to it.

Working hard to advance yourself and reach those goals is the American dream. Using a union backed by government force to extort those things is not the American dream.

Truer words are rare on INGO.

Extort? Its not extortion when you have to force a company to do the right thing because they wont do it on their own. Prime example....You know how many people are still walking around after 40yrs ago they were told asbestos was perfectly safe to breathe in ? I give you a clue...not alot of them and many that are still alive are laying in the hospital or at home dying from it. I still to this day have to fight my employer over asbestos in some of our installations...and I work for a freakin federal agency. Im the unit union rep AND the President of the Indiana Chapter. Ill stick with my brothers and sisters to keep it safe instead of relying on pinhead managers that push pencils at a desk and dont care about anything except the "numbers". You call it extortion....I call it survival.

Ah, the old pinhead "management" argument. If you're forcing or threatening then that is exactly extortion. You may think it's justified, but it is extortion.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Ah, the old pinhead "management" argument. If you're forcing or threatening then that is exactly extortion. You may think it's justified, but it is extortion.

I'm part-owner of a small business and I'm a big fan of giving business the freedom to do what it does best.

But, one of my all-time favorite conservative fallacies is the notion that we don't really need any kind of worker safety or environmental control rules for any business. If you're under the age of fifty, then you've grown up under a big soft blanket of protection provided by those kinds of rules and regulations, so it might be easy to assume worker safety and environmental control just happens by itself. But if you really want to see how things work, I can take you to a town in Poland, near a lead smelting plant, where the children share a shocking number of similar birth defects, and where it's really not a good idea to eat locally-produced vegetables.

 

[Smokepole]

I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I agree with mrjarrell, but he's right on the money with this.

Wal-mart doesn't "underpay" their employees. Their pay is comparable to other warehouse outlets.

Wal-mart doesn't price gouge that I've ever seen. Why do you suppose the damned stores are always full of people? It's not because they don't have anywhere else to go shopping! And have you figured out that there isn't a Wal-mart anywhere near Keystone at the Crossing? People who have bucks to burn don't shop the bargains at Wal-mart, but there are plenty of folks who do.

Are you pissed because Wal-mart stores are ubiquitous? Wish we'd had them in rural Indiana when I was stuck there during summer vacations when I was a kid.

Do you think they're running off "mom and pop" stores? Sorry about that. So are Discount Tire, Target, COSTCO, the Tire Barn, and many other retail outlets. We aren't the area-restricted population we were when the "mom and pop" stores were plentiful and didn't have a bunch of competition.

Manufacturing jobs have left this country because the economic climate and the tax structure makes it more financially responsible to move manufacturing to where costs are less. Yeah, it's unpatriotic and it's not a great strategic move, but it's the way our governments have laid out the ground rules. Make the manufacturing climate more promising back here and manufacturing jobs will return. That's not Wal-mart's fault, nor is it their problem. Their business plan is to provide merchandise at low prices by buying it in volume - any retailer with the economic clout to do the same will have the same success.

So transfer your ire to the governments who are exacerbating the problems in the manufacturing community in this country, rather than venting it on retailers who are trying to make a profit on millions of sales to people like you and me.

Agree with most of your post. As you intimated, the problem with the manufacturing climate here is mostly due to the tax and regulation (especially EPA) and ObamaCare is making this even worse. The U.S. has the highest marginal tax rate in the industrialized world. And second highest (I think) corporate tax rate. Canada for instance has lowered it's corporate rate to 15% 4 or 5 years ago. And they weren't as high as the U.S. when they lowered it. Many other countries have lowered their corp. tax rate since the beginning of the world recession. China for instance completely suspended their Capital Gains tax, which is an good way to encourage corp. expansion.

People shouldn't blame the individual companies for buying from foreign sources. Blame the Gov't. They are the ones that created the environment that makes it more economically necessary to move their manufacturing overseas and to create whole divisions overseas so that they can park their money in places where they pay a lower (many times significantly) tax rate. Example: a couple of years ago there was a big flap when it became known that GE paid ZERO U.S. tax on their profits because they kept it overseas. And GE's CEO was Obama's top economic adviser and has been from the beginning. Anyone see an issue here? If there was a little common sense applied here, the U.S. would still be a manufacturing power and American products would be as ubiquitous as they were 50 years ago as well as economical and high quality. But alas.

When your Gov't creates an environment that makes it more cost effective to build factories in other countries and completely produce your products there, or to ship all of the parts to the factory from all over the world (including the U.S.) for assembly and then shipping the finished product BACK to the U.S. for sale, there truly is a problem. Logistics alone to do this can be a nightmare. The companies are just trying to stay competitive, keep their tax bite as low as possible stay in business and keep their share holders happy.

About the only place I disagree with your post is on there not being a Walmart anywhere near Keystone at the Crossing. There is one just a mile up the road at 75th and Keystone. 5 minutes from parking lot to parking lot. DOH! But a for hitting the nail.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

I love Walmart, and I go there all the time. And I love them neither more, nor less for the bold statement that they made, because Walmart isn't a person, it's a thing. Walmart is a corporation, a thing. Sure it was conceived by a person, built by people, and today is made up of many many people. But it's still a thing, and it doesn't have feelings or intentions like a person has. It does one thing, and exists for one purpose, to turn a profit and to make money. I'm good with that, and so is everyone who ever does business with them. The initiative to buy more American products was a calculated plan towards that one purpose, and I'm good with that too, but I'm aware enough to know that it's nothing more and nothing less.

If Walmart was more concerned with the lives and times of American blue collar workers than with it's one true purpose, then it would cease to be what it is. Sure, most of us (yes, even some liberals) would rather that Walmart be concerned both with American workers and with making a profit, but in truth, we all shopped at Walmart just as much during the times when Walmart was asking manufacturers to move operations to China, because in the end, what we love most about Walmart is that in it's process of succeeding in it's true purpose, it provided good stuff at really low prices, no matter where (or how) the stuff is made. I don't expect any corporation to have a heart, a soul, or a conscience any more than I expect my dog to answer me back when I talk to her. I can't even tell you that I'll stop shopping at Walmart in future years if they don't (or can't) deliver on their promise, because I know that, in the end, if they have good stuff at really low prices, I'll be shopping there.

 

[steveh_131]

Extort? Its not extortion when you have to force a company to do the right thing because they wont do it on their own. Prime example....You know how many people are still walking around after 40yrs ago they were told asbestos was perfectly safe to breathe in ? I give you a clue...not alot of them and many that are still alive are laying in the hospital or at home dying from it. I still to this day have to fight my employer over asbestos in some of our installations...and I work for a freakin federal agency. Im the unit union rep AND the President of the Indiana Chapter. Ill stick with my brothers and sisters to keep it safe instead of relying on pinhead managers that push pencils at a desk and dont care about anything except the "numbers". You call it extortion....I call it survival.

If your place of employment is unsafe by your standards then you have every right to seek employment elsewhere.

That is the free market. That is the American dream. Unions are extortion and government enabled redistribution of wealth.

Eta : Unions are a legitimate free market force. Unfortunately they have lobbied for government regulations that gave them far more leverage than the free market would allow. Their use of government force is my complaint.

 

[steveh_131]

I'm part-owner of a small business and I'm a big fan of giving business the freedom to do what it does best.

But, one of my all-time favorite conservative fallacies is the notion that we don't really need any kind of worker safety or environmental control rules for any business. If you're under the age of fifty, then you've grown up under a big soft blanket of protection provided by those kinds of rules and regulations, so it might be easy to assume worker safety and environmental control just happens by itself. But if you really want to see how things work, I can take you to a town in Poland, near a lead smelting plant, where the children share a shocking number of similar birth defects, and where it's really not a good idea to eat locally-produced vegetables.

How can this company still exist in the face of a town wide class action lawsuit that should have bankrupted them if they have contaminated all this property?

I'd like to discuss this example further but I would need more information. I suspect that corruption is the problem, not a lack of regulation.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

How can this company still exist in the face of a town wide class action lawsuit that should have bankrupted them if they have contaminated all this property?

All I would say is that I would rather be the one who lives in a town with healthy children and a thrifty, well regulated industry and enjoy those benefits than to be the one with a disfigured child, a bankrupted industry, and a chunk of cash from a class action settlement.

 

[Ungie]

I wish every town was like it used to be in the US where you have a factory that hired the people from the town. In my town we have 3 large factories not one of them is used to make anything. We need jobs and the training to make people more employable. I can't remember how great I felt when I got my first job and cashed my first paycheck. I hope walmart come through and really does put their money where their mouth is.

 

[remauto1187]

If your place of employment is unsafe by your standards then you have every right to seek employment elsewhere.

That is the free market. That is the American dream. Unions are extortion and government enabled redistribution of wealth.

Eta : Unions are a legitimate free market force. Unfortunately they have lobbied for government regulations that gave them far more leverage than the free market would allow. Their use of government force is my complaint.

Maybe you had better read my post AGAIN. I work for a FEDERAL AGENCY. I am in a FEDERAL UNION. There are many FEDERAL UNIONS. I DONT work for a for profit business such as Walmart. "My place of employment" is unsafe by FEDERAL standards and I HAVE EVERY RIGHT to make it safe for ALL EMPLOYEES including myself. I am responsible for safety of the National Airspace System along with 1000's of others. If you you have flown out of Indianapolis to the west, Your pilot used my equipment that I am responsible for to Navigate! So how much exactly is that worth to you? (to pay me)? Over 50% of my electronics classes are engineering level classes. I am on call 24/7 and respond to the scene within 30mins. How much is that worth to you? Finally, would you be happy if your wife/kids/parents/siblings had to work in areas with asbestos because their employer was too lazy, didnt want to spend the $ to correct it? What would be your attitude if it was proven their employers' reckless disregard for life was the reason they were laying in bed at home dying of cancer from asbestos? You might want to try walking in another mans shoes before you form your "opinions".....and thats exactly what it is, your opinion BUT my rights!

 

[steveh_131]

All I would say is that I would rather be the one who lives in a town with healthy children and a thrifty, well regulated industry and enjoy those benefits than to be the one with a disfigured child, a bankrupted industry, and a chunk of cash from a class action settlement.

A rather emotional argument.

I'd rather have a living child than one killed with a gun and a criminal in jail. Unfortunately the government can't provide a gun free environment and only oppresses people when it tries.

Proper civil and criminal charges should apply. Regulation attempts ultimately fail and drive away industry.

 

[jamil]

I'm part-owner of a small business and I'm a big fan of giving business the freedom to do what it does best.

But, one of my all-time favorite conservative fallacies is the notion that we don't really need any kind of worker safety or environmental control rules for any business. If you're under the age of fifty, then you've grown up under a big soft blanket of protection provided by those kinds of rules and regulations, so it might be easy to assume worker safety and environmental control just happens by itself. But if you really want to see how things work, I can take you to a town in Poland, near a lead smelting plant, where the children share a shocking number of similar birth defects, and where it's really not a good idea to eat locally-produced vegetables.

I think you think I'm saying more than I'm saying.

I'm not under 50. I've lived long enough to see that some things have improved over the years and some things are worse and some things haven't changed at all.

I am a free market capitalist and an individualist. However I'm not a purist. I do think we need some regulation but only to prevent manipulating the market. That's different from having laws that prevent companies from violating the rights of workers. We have such laws for individuals; I see no reason not to believe they should extend to corporations as well.

As far as environmental control, same thing. It should be no more or no less legal for companies to do what the smelting plant did in Poland than individuals. But to get that we don't need armies of regulators to do to every industry what the EPA is doing to coal.

 

[steveh_131]

Maybe you had better read my post AGAIN. I work for a FEDERAL AGENCY. I am in a FEDERAL UNION. There are many FEDERAL UNIONS. I DONT work for a for profit business such as Walmart. "My place of employment" is unsafe by FEDERAL standards and I HAVE EVERY RIGHT to make it safe for ALL EMPLOYEES including myself. I am responsible for safety of the National Airspace System along with 1000's of others. If you you have flown out of Indianapolis to the west, Your pilot used my equipment that I am responsible for to Navigate! So how much exactly is that worth to you? (to pay me)? Over 50% of my electronics classes are engineering level classes. I am on call 24/7 and respond to the scene within 30mins. How much is that worth to you? Finally, would you be happy if your wife/kids/parents/siblings had to work in areas with asbestos because their employer was too lazy, didnt want to spend the $ to correct it? What would be your attitude if it was proven their employers' reckless disregard for life was the reason they were laying in bed at home dying of cancer from asbestos? You might want to try walking in another mans shoes before you form your "opinions".....and thats exactly what it is, your opinion BUT my rights!

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Gotcha.

Let's not confuse this with capitalism.

 

[jamil]

Maybe you had better read my post AGAIN. I work for a FEDERAL AGENCY. I am in a FEDERAL UNION. There are many FEDERAL UNIONS. I DONT work for a for profit business such as Walmart. "My place of employment" is unsafe by FEDERAL standards and I HAVE EVERY RIGHT to make it safe for ALL EMPLOYEES including myself. I am responsible for safety of the National Airspace System along with 1000's of others. If you you have flown out of Indianapolis to the west, Your pilot used my equipment that I am responsible for to Navigate! So how much exactly is that worth to you? (to pay me)? Over 50% of my electronics classes are engineering level classes. I am on call 24/7 and respond to the scene within 30mins. How much is that worth to you? Finally, would you be happy if your wife/kids/parents/siblings had to work in areas with asbestos because their employer was too lazy, didnt want to spend the $ to correct it? What would be your attitude if it was proven their employers' reckless disregard for life was the reason they were laying in bed at home dying of cancer from asbestos? You might want to try walking in another mans shoes before you form your "opinions".....and thats exactly what it is, your opinion BUT my rights!

There should be no unions representing government [STRIKE]employers[/STRIKE]employees. What's good for the union is rarely good for American tax payers. It's basically their job to **** us.