greed
Pronunciation: \ˈgrēd\
Function: noun
The excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of money, wealth, and power. It is generally considered a vice, and is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism.
As most of you may know, I am an avid Wal-Mart hater. I haven't shopped at one in years, and never will again. Upon learning this fact about me, most of you just laugh it off and use it as a reminder that you need to stop by your beloved, shitty Wal-mart to pick up something that you forgot to pick up when you were there earlier that day. Ass.
You may wonder how I could hate such a glorious place in which you can buy ground chuck, a blouse, and a shotgun all at the same place. The owners are greedy twats, that's how. They are also majorly contributing to the downfall of the American economy. Well, them and the lazy assholes that won't pay their bills because they won't get off their asses and get a job. :) They are also costing you more than what you pay for at the check out lane.
Below are some facts that I have gathered that will hope open your eyes to the greediness that is Wal-Mart:
- TENNESSEE: 9,617 WAL-MART Workers on TennCare
* "Wal-Mart, with about 25 percent of the company's 37,000 workers on TennCare, tops the list of businesses with employees on the expanded Medicaid program. Wal-Mart is the state's largest private employer."
* Source: Associated Press, "Study Shows Thousands of Wal-Mart Employees on TennCare," WKRN-TV Nashville, January 20, 2005.
- Federal Poverty Level Family of Four - $17,650
- Average Wal-Mart Hourly Sales Employee Wages - $13,861
- HELEN WALTON: $18.0 BILLION
- ALICE WALTON: 18.0 BILLION
- JOHN WALTON: 18.2 BILLION
- ROB WALTON: $18.3 BILLION
- JIM WALTON: $18.3 BILLION
Source: David Armstrong and Peter Newcomb, ed., "The 400 Richest Americans,", Forbes, September 24, 2004
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001 Federal Poverty Guidelines
* "On average, Wal-Mart sales clerks -- "associates" in company parlance -- pulled in $8.23 an hour, or $13,861 a year, in 2001, according to documents filed in a lawsuit pending against the company."
* Source: Anthony Bianco and Wendy Zellner, "Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?" Business Week, October 6, 2003. Primary source information on 2001 wage data is from the testimony of Dr. Richard Drogin, in Dukes v. WM.
- A WAL-MART Worker may donate money from their paycheck to the CRITICAL NEED FUND, a program to aid other employees in times of crisis, like a fire or tornado.
- In 2004, WAL-MART Employees gave OVER $5 MILLION to help fellow workers.
- The Walton Family gave $6,000
* Source: Form 990, Wal-Mart Associates in Critical Need Fund, 2004
* Source: Walton Family Foundation
- The WALTON FAMILY Has Given LESS THAN 1% of Their Wealth to Charity
- Bill Gates has given 58%
* Source: Business Week, "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists" [PDF file], November 29, 2004.
- Retail Forward, an industry consulting firm, estimates that for every Wal-Mart Supercenter that opens in the next five years, two supermarkets will close.
* Source: Retail Forward, "Wal-Mart Food: Big, and Getting Bigger," 2003
- According to a recent report issued by American Rights At Work ("Wal-Mart: Rolling Back Wages, Workers' Rights, and the American Dream"), at least 59 complaints have been issued by the National Labor Relations Board on the basis that Wal-Mart uses illegal surveillance techniques to monitor union activity inside and outside their stores
- $7,000 ANTI-UNION CAMERA PACKAGE per store
- $30,000 UNDERCOVER SPY VAN per store
- $100,000 24 hour ANTI-UNION HOTLINE
- $7,000,000 Rapid response team with CORPORATE JET
* Source: Data provided to the producers by Stan Fortune, former manager and 17-year employee of Wal-Mart
- Wal-Mart is facing a class-action lawsuit for discrimination against $1.6 million former and current female employees.
- WAL-MART Costs Taxpayers $1,557,000,000,00 to Support its Employees
* "The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year - about $2,103 per employee. Specifically, the low wages result in the following additional public costs being passed along to taxpayers:
- $36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
- $42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
- $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
- $100,000 a year for the additional Title I expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of 2 children.
- $108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state children's health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
- $9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance."
* The total figure is based on the average $420,750 per-store figure, multiplied by 3700 (the approximate number of stores currently in the United States).
* Source: Rep. George Miller / Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, "Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart", February 16, 2004.
These are facts, not theories, people. Just a few of them, too. Hopefully this blog has opened you eyes to the economy and tax payer fucker that is Wal-Mart, or it has made you so blind with rage that you cannot even see the keyboard to leave me a comment calling me a hateful bitch. :) My mission is accomplished either way. lol.
Yay! Wal-mart commercial spoofs for your viewing please....or maybe not.
