During the presidential elections, I heard Obama say some pretty rough things about Wal Mart. While I despise all CEOs and detest corporate america, I love me some Wal Mart. If Wal Mart did what Barack wants, none of us who depend on the place to be able to afford to live week to week, and even get a few extras, would have anywhere to go to buy quality items at an affordable price.
Wal Mart doesn't treat its employees any worse than other, similar companies, and it treats them better than most. Yes, its unfair wages. But ya know what? Everywhere is. And Wal Mart employees do not have to work as hard as those working in factories (for one instance). They also work in air conditioning. My son just got laid off from a job working in the hot sun all day, recycling nasty metals such as greasy car parts and filthy aluminum cans. He worked a quarter over minimum wage, and that was before the latest raise took place so he was working for lower than today's wage, at, I think it was, $6.85 an hour. And his boss told everyone they could earn a little extra by working Saturday under the table for cash, which meant no overtime pay. The trick to this was that they HAD to work the overtime for straight pay or get fired. This is one example of thousands of such jobs that Americans have to settle for since there aren't enough good jobs to go around.
Let's look at how Burger KIng, McDonalds, any of the Dollar Stores, etc etc treat their employees. I imagine Goldsmiths and Macy's and Nordstrom, etc pay much better and probably have better benefits. But here's the news flash for Obama and all like him. There may be no discernable difference to you people in paying $8 for a shirt and paying $80, but to MOST Americans there certainly is. Add up minimum wage Mr President and all you who think as he does. I know you were raised in a poor upper class Hawaiian neighborhood, with your poor grandmother working her fingers to the bone as the Vice President of a bank, living in those Hawaiian slums, but I still don't think you get it at all.
Sir, I believe that you ( and those like you ) are a rich spoiled brat(s) with high ideals and no common sense nor practical experience, and you do not need to judge or decide anything for us average Americans sitting in your Million Dollar surroundings with your Million Dollar friends and your Million Dollar ideas. Jump down here and REALLY look around, and REALLY listen to US, we ignorant people, we who LIVE IT. If you will look around and see without prejudice (not bigotry or racism for those who think so: prejudice = "pre" or "before" and "judice" which is judgement, judging people ahead of time, before you have had a chance to make an honest appraisal, due to whatever reasons, whether they be race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, financial bracket, the job they work, the color of their eyes, whether they wear jeans or slacks, Old Navy or Gap, whatever causes people to unfairly pre-judge other people), you just may find some very intelligent and informed people, many who are superior in intellect to some of those you work with in Washington or live near in your exclusive neighborhoods. Some people have one or many varied reasons that their superior intellects didn't drive them to the top in life, and one of the reasons for some of us is that we couldn't force ourselves to lie cheat steal etc and generally do whatever we had to in order to get to the top. IE we are not psychopaths without regard or feeling for our fellow human beings.
But I stray from my point. Wal Mart. We depend upon it. They do what you call for, they also raise prices to cover costs, then what do all the Wal Mart shoppers do?
Here is what I think, Mr President: you do not care. Just as you don't really care about fairness for Wal Mart workers or any other hourly waged people. You, and all powerful politicians, clearly say anything you think you should in order to get elected. Its a joke that anyone believes otherwise of you or any other Pol. But, just to be crystal clear about Wal Mart and this situation (since I came across some info that made me think back to this and become offended all over again) here is a tad or so of info I want to get out for the people to judge themselves:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has received accolades twice in a month for its commitment to diversity. Hispanic Business magazine named Wal-Mart among the "Top 50 Companies for Hispanics 2006," highlighting its multicultural workforce, its increasing relationships with minority suppliers and its support of education initiatives that help Hispanics. Latin Business magazine also included Wal-Mart in its "Corporate Diversity Honor Roll 2006," in recognition for its supplier development program, its efforts to help small businesses access capital and its philanthropic efforts.
http://www.globalgiants.com/archives/000220.html for the entire story.
(This is the article that threw me back upon this jagged point from the past in the first place - ok so its a bit dramatic but I get sorta very angry at all this, especially at rich vs poor in general and the way they continually affect us negatively, as you will see if you look at the larger picture over the last century as the rich got richer and the poor AND the middle class got poorer, and they create themselves more and more cushy corporate positions and resorts to vacation from all the stress of letting their inferiors do all their work for them...OH POOH, I'm not gonna start another rant here. Wal Mart, I remind myself...) From BODY + SOUL magazine:
COMPANIES GOING GREENER: The Big Guns
Commending a behemoth chain store for going green may seem incongruous, but Walmart's efforts demonstrate the power of scale. Since 2005, America's second largest corporation has pledged $500 million PER YEAR [my emphasis] toward reducing the footprint of its 7,800 stores and improving energy and fuel efficiency.
[If you'll look back to reports made right after Obama took office, you will see a few about how he has the thermometer in the oval office turned up to hothouse temps - see photos of him working with jacket off , a new precedent by the way, and shirt sleeves rolled up. While, you recall, he was telling us how WE must sacrifice. But of course he is the Messiah and doesn't have to hold HIMSELF to the same standards as the rest of us. If you recall, he doesn't pay his own electric bill there - taxpayers do that. Careful Mr President, or even those of us who are not Republicans will start to think you are a bit of an overbearing hypocrite, among other apt labels such as you have been called by those who see thru the act and the hype. I don't give a shit what color anyone is, you don't get a free pass from EVERYONE due to the race issue. I am not and never have been racist and I dont have any white guilt and so I can, with clear conscience, call em like i see em, based on actions, and words, and not on anything so superficial as skin color - as ridiculous as judging harshly or, in your case, giving you free pass after free pass, due to eye color or how many freckles one has. So I don't wanna hear anything about that from anyone. We ain't talking about anything here except people talking and acting certain ways, no matter how they do or don't look, so don't even say it, your comment will be erased as the racist trash it is, whether pro or against black, white, Hispanic, or striped people. You get my point i hope, cuz this is the last I'll say about it, cuz its absolutely ridiculous that skin color has ANYTHING to do with elections or anything else in 2009, and let me assure you, since I'm white and other white people can talk in front of me freely, that the only thing 80% of white people say about race that is negative is that they, WE, are gettin real tired of being called racist when we are NOT. As for the 20% who ARE racist, I can't help those fools, and you'll get AT LEAST 20% of ANY race that is racist against others not of their own race (am I saying the word "race" enough? I'm ranting and not trying to put words together well, just trying to keep up with my RACING thoughts ha aha hahahah) You'll find at least 20% of any group of people based on any TYPE of grouping who will hate others who are not like them, in several, if not all ways. Let's us deal with the majority since we can severely outnumber the idiots who judge others based on anything other than words and actions, and they have no real power anyhow, K? That's all I got to say on the matter of race and I don't wanna hear nothing else about it, and since its my blog I won't hear nothing else, I'll delete like mad. BACK to walmart)]
{article continued from above:} It's [walmart] already improved the efficiency of its 7,200 truck doestic fleet by more than 25% by incorporating hybrid technology, among other measures, and it ais to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% in the next 3 years (much better than the goals set by the US itself, and better than those set by the Kyoto Treaty that the United Nations set forth in the 1990s, and which the US declined to sign saying it was too much to expect businesses to spend, in short, cuz the psychopaths that control the Big Money in America must have enough so that all the generations of them that ever exist couldn't spend it if they tried, or else they'll just cut jobs, oh here i go again off on another tangent in another direction. WALMART: from "20% in the next 3 years...)
Perhaps more important, the company is making sustainability AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE to the AVERAGE CONSUMER (again my emphasis, and I will point out that, again, this is something our government and other companies and organizations have failed to do: they tell us we must save, reduce, reuse, recycle, buy all the products we CANNOT AFFORD. They don't get it, we don't have ANY extra money to spend, and many of these products they want us to buy actually have much lower production costs, yet they charge much more for the energy efficient product, increasing their profits exponentially, pressuring us to buy them, and not understanding that we CANNOT. Wal Mart does understand, as you will see if you read this, and if you go there and really notice; compare their prices with those of Obama-and-Pelosi-approved companies, etc etc). In 2007, Walmart sold 137 million compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) [15 to me since I could finally afford them, due to their lower prices - yes they cost more but they will save you that much on your 1st energy bill, not to mention that these bulbs last for YEARS. I have a hard to reach bulb that I dreaded changing, and haven't had to since I installed this bulb. I also have a light that I need to burn constantly, and it has been on for 4 months without a break and is still burning. I know they seem dim but that's just when you first turn em on, give em a minute and they brighten. '] preventing 25 MILLION TONS of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and making "companct fluorescent" a household term. [No exaggeration there - most people didn't think about them much, and many had no idea what they were, despite all the gov't urges for us to buy them, until WALMART made them affordable and informed its customers about these bulbs, what they are, and what they do. Walmart succeeded where the White House and Congress failed.] Walmart has also pushed to drive excess waste out of the supply chain [ you hear em - PUSHED for it, and succeeded, again, where officials failed]. Its decision to STOCK ONLY CONCENTRATED, EFFICIENTLY PACKAGED LAUNDRY DETERGENTS could save more than 400 MILLION GALLONS OF WATER, 95 MILLION POUNDS OF PLASTIC RESIN, AND 520,000 GALLONS OF GASOLINE {from trucks delivering more per load, thus less trucks needed to deliver the same amount of product} within 3YEARS. {again, and always most likely, my emphasis - which by the way I get to do without being rude. The way I see it, and the way I have written my blogging rules, is that in texts or emails, etc, all cap is yelling; but in articles and blogs all caps means the same as it always has meant in articles, books, etc - it calls attention to and emphasizes...why would I yell at everyone, especially when some of them by chance alone must agree with part or all of what I say? I think the rules for writing shouldn't change just because of SMS, email and IM - I already mourn the loss of proper English, spelling and such. I'll have to do an opinion piece on that as well - I've seen, for example, very very nice games, professional games sold on Big Fish and such, with words spelled incorrectly. I know I've likely messed up a few times in this blog but it was either a typo (in case of spelling) or I'm just being lazy and too fast as applies to sentence structure and such. But I mean much much worse language usage than this. Much. Saddens me. WALMART. Dang my undiagnosed ADHD is really actin up today boy howdy.}
[Finally, the end of the article that was actually short, had I not commented so much"]
Among the company's recent initiatives is a commitment to offer locally grown produce at its stores to eliminate food miles {and, might I add, to support and benefit the local communities by buying from them rather than buying food picked while still green and ripened en route inside the trailer of an 18-wheeler purchased from the large corporations which are putting the local farmers out of business. As many WalMarts as exist, this is a HUGE step in HELPING THE LOCAL, LITTLE GUY FARMERS.
I see that due to my ranting, this article is gonna be REAL REAL VERY VERY LONG. So, I'm gonna break it up into 2 or 3 or 4, whatever it takes (don't have a plan as to exactly what I'm gonna write yet - just looking up stuff as I get finished with one) to finish saying what I wanna say, to my huge fan base of, so far, 1 loyal reader (from my own family) and my kids (I force 'em to read one here and there, every once in a while.)
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"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the deterination to MAKE the RIGHT THINGS happen."
- Peter Marshall
NOTE: There's more than one Peter Marshall in Wikipedia, and more when I used Google to find out who he is - give ya some background. One of those, probably the most common everyday Peter Marshall, was the host of Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981. That ain't him. The Peter Marshall that said this - as well as other noteworthy quotes - was, as Wikipedia said: The Reverend Dr. Peter Marshall (May 27, 1902 – January 26, 1949) was a Scottish-American preacher, and twice served as Chaplain of the United States Senate. He is remembered most popularly from the biography A Man Called Peter, and the film made from it.
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