Friday, 25th August, 2006
Wal-Mart
What is up with this whole Wal-Mart ordeal? In case you haven't been following the story, a group of prominent Democrats are attacking Wal-Mart's treatment of its employees. In particular, they are criticizing Wal-Mart's low wage and benefit structure, as well as their relatively weak health care package. In retaliation, Wal-Mart is issuing "voter education guides" to a portion of its employees, which describes these attacks as untrue and calls for employees to speak out against politicians that are "attacking their company".
Now I'm going to ignore Wal-Mart's retaliation efforts, because although I personally don't believe what they are doing is right, I also don't think that's the real issue at hand. I think the Democrats are playing this issue entirely the wrong way. They are focusing on the details and losing sight of the big picture. What they should be doing is focusing on why Wal-Mart is paying low wages and providing a below average health care plan. Just as an example, in 2004, Wal-Mart paid more in health care costs for its employees than it did in taxes. As a result of the rapidly increasing costs of health care plans, they decided to reduce health care benefits for their employees. Is this bad for employees? Of course. But the blame is not solely on Wal-Mart. The blame is on the failure of the current health care system in this country.
That is the type of issue the Democrats should be focusing on, not attacking a single company. Are there things that Wal-Mart can do to take better care of their employees? Of course there are. After all, Wal-Mart isn't exactly hurting for money. But their goal, like any other company, is to make money, and they'll do whatever they reasonably can to accomplish that goal. That is why we're seeing jobs shipped overseas, seeing health care benefits slashed, and seeing more and more workers making poverty-level wages. But again, the blame is not solely on the company for that. If the Democrats took a step back and looked at the big picture, they would see that.