Wal-Mart to launch voter education/registration campaign
By on Sep 19th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Wal-Mart to launch voter education/registration campaign
this fall “targeted at its 1.3 million employees in an effort to combat growing criticism from Democrats and labor unions.” The program “could be among the biggest in the country.”
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September 19th, 2006 at 3:56 pmWow.. this just made the whole game extreamly easy!!!
there are walmarts every 100 miles or so all over this country. some are 24hour operations….(24 hour protest zones in the making)
we dont even have to drive to dc anymore… THanks wallmart!
September 19th, 2006 at 3:59 pmIt is about time that Walmart stop being a punching bag for the far left. They should have stood up for themselves years ago. Walmart is true free market star. It is the people that choose to work there and shop there that make it what it is. Government should never step in the way. If we the people don’t like a business, we simply stop shopping and working there and they die. Walmart is obviously loved by most.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:03 pmThe principle is good; excellent, even. Devil being in the details and results, of course (partisan on ANY side is a minus). But I would say it’s a credit to Walmart. Double points if their program encourages people to make independent voting decisions.
Of course, this doesn’t erase their flaws, particularly regarding unions. But it garners my approval.
One thing that does bug me is that it kind of looks like a move to counter union supporters — “We would never suggest to you how to vote, but we have an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying something about your company that isn’t true”. But we shall see, no?
September 19th, 2006 at 4:09 pmI wonder if they’ll have a “two for one” sale on voting.
Register now, and you’ll get two Republican votes for every time you vote at the next Diebold machine! (Your original selection may or may not be honored, depending on if the machine is programmed by Diebold.)
September 19th, 2006 at 4:09 pm“Register now, and you’ll get two Republican votes for every time you vote at the next Diebold machine!” WOW! If i had programmed it I would make the vote 3.5-1, that way the races would not even be close. Do you guys know the next state which will be claimed to have “Widespread Fraud†that costs the Democrats to lose? We know that Florida and Ohio are off the table because the place will be crawling with press. I am betting Minnesota or Wisconsin. There is still time for both legislators to outlaw mini-bar keys. In my county we get to take our Diebold friends home weeks before the election so we can preload lots of votes for Republican candidates. Do worry I have plenty of tools and I know hold to make so they will never know I was there. If I need a tool, Walmart is just down the street. Happy election season!
September 19th, 2006 at 4:35 pmRoger-Roger
Good name for you. You’re such a kiss ass. Walmart is part of the reason this country is in the sad shape it’s in. China-Mart more like it. The rich get richer, the poor and middle class get “fuXXXed”. And some people just don’t know any better to shop their, and some people don’t have a choice to work their.
Whats wrong with them is when a company makes billions in profit every year, and cannot afford to pay their employees a “livable wage”, and insurance they need to be a “punching bag”. Sad that our govt wants to control who you sleep with, but not when a company exploits their employees. As long as wally world is making those big campaign contributions it’s okie dokie by our govt.
So keep on kissing ass Roger Roger, you’re making Bush proud.
This is all bull shit, you can be sure who they’ll be brainwashing into voting for. the big R. As such it should be, and I thought illegal for companies to do any sort of “education/registration”.
Question Authority!
September 19th, 2006 at 4:35 pmI guess it is sad if there are so many people like you that believe that we as a people are so stupid, we don’t realize what WE want. To suggest that we “just don’t know better” is dumb. People shop there because the store has what they want at the lowest price.
People work there because it gives them the highest pay and benefits that they can achieve in there geographic location and education.
People are truly not that dumb though. We are smart enough to not shop or work at places we don’t like. We most of america refused to shop or work at Walmart, it would go under in under 1 year or change. Currently, it is thriving, thus they are operating very intelligently. It isn’t Walmart (nor any other company’s) job to make sure people working for them get “more”. There ONLY job is to make there shareholders as much money as possible (just like EVERY SINGLE other company in the USA).
September 19th, 2006 at 4:48 pmI like walmart and I am a dem. Good voting program and great cheap crap whenever I need it. I certainly would prefer to shop at a momnpop, but the double price just isn’t worth it.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:48 pmRoger Roger is obviously not very educated on viewpoints that disagree with his narrow sheltered world view.
More importantly, Wal Mart is making a bold move here, but I don’t expect that it’s for the ‘good of the people’, especially since by their own claims it will be an anti-union education they’re doling out.
Remember when Wal-Mart wanted to get in to the world of banking? Expect that to be their gift for delivering the R vote this November.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:50 pm#12
You are about as un-American as it gets. Please deport yourself to Mexico. You’d fit right in with the corruption and human rights abuses.
September 19th, 2006 at 4:52 pm#8 – Retired+Republican+Soldier, Don’t worry. i’m sure that mini-bar key will come in handy on Nov 8th when you hear about how Dems have more seats than Reps.
Still not sure if either the House of Senate will change hands. Too many variables and too much time for an October Surprise to crop up.
Actually, the best test for the Diebold machines would be for the Dems to make “changes” that flip the votes to the Dem side! If there’s no paper trail, how can you tell if Texas didn’t honestly vote Democrat? ;-)
September 19th, 2006 at 4:55 pmRoger Roger
September 19th, 2006 at 4:58 pmwhy don’t you move to a town that has lost all its local businesses due to the predatory activity of walmart? How about driving around and seeing the empty shell of towns that have been destroyed because people have shopped themselves into the unemployement offices. When was the last time you worked for minimum wage? Walmart screws all the small businesses who pay aliving wage. Until you make a payroll or live in a small town that has been screwed by walmart, s.t.f. up. The lowest price is not always the best price for everyone concerned.
You’d fit right in with the corruption and human rights abuses.
Comment by Ronin_Tetsuro
Hey, hey. You have the death penalty.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:03 pmRoger Roger, When you say right to work, is that like in Texas, where workmans comp insurance isn’t required?
September 19th, 2006 at 5:11 pm#20,
I actually live in a small town. Our old “down town” is now a ghost town and Walmart is the one true store left. I love it because they have more selection and there prices are much better across the board. To me, Walmart helped my small community by freeing up alot of cash we can now spend on other things. Most all the workers by the way are high school students and the uneducated that couldn’t find a better job if they wanted to simply because of there lack of education. It worked out good for everyone except the small business owners of the old downtown. But that is the free market for you. There are winners and losers. Economies of scale often come into play. Life is rough.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:14 pmBusinesses don’t go out of business because of Wal-mart. It’s because shoppers prefer lower prices. If shoppers go to Wal-mart, then other merchants have the choice of lowering prices or shutting down.
So blame the shoppers.
By the way, do any of you shop for low prices or do you always go to the stores that charge the highest prices because you support workers making higher wages?
September 19th, 2006 at 5:16 pmThe point I have to make about shopping comes from Robert Bork, yes that Robert Bork, he has made a argument that to keep a company from becoming a monopoly the consumer has to split their spending between 3 vendors. This keeps 2 from price fixing and maintains that one cannot become a monopoly because of unpredictable competition by the others. I only shop at walmart , maybe twice a year, the rest of the time I shop at local stores, pay the higher prices and support them for being open and possibly the service. The hard part about Walmart comes from NO local municipality would rather collect several hundred tax revenue payments instead of ONE. Don’t like Walmart , don’t shop there. Now about the quote from the article”“We would never suggest to you how to vote, but we have an obligation to tell you when politicians are saying something about your company that isn’t true,†Walmart stated in its August letter, according to a report by the Associated Press. So Walmart’s only option to correct political statements happens to be in the form of voter registration? That seems quite disingenuous to me.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:29 pmThe same type of people that work at our walmart used to work downtown. We are a VERY small town that used to have VERY small business’. My guess is that the workers that went to Walmart get just as much or more as I know of no one that has every cleared more then around $7 per hour in my town. The old small business never had enough employees to actually give benefits. Any benefit from Walmart they get, no matter how crappy, is better then what they had.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:32 pmwal mar voter education?…..oh please ….that’s like asking bush to explain the difference between a lie and the truth!
September 19th, 2006 at 5:36 pmRoger_Roger,
I’ve been reading your posts and they give me the impression that you’re one of those “Screw you, I got mine” kind of people. Of course people are “free” to move elsewhere, but if you can’t afford to (do you know moving companies that charge nothing?), then it’s really not an option that’s open to you, now is it?
Your comments also suggest that you believe that businesses should not be regulated, if at all. Are you old enough to remember when Wal-Mart was proud to be a “Buy American” store, and all its products were made in the USA? That was when Sam Walton was still alive. Unregulated capitalism destroys lives, communities, and even the precious way of life you so happily enjoy. Perhaps if you weren’t so addicted to your cheap lifestyle, you might not be such a fan of Wal-Mart.
You also seem to operate under the misguided (and truly delusional) belief that if a company shows a profit, then they must be doing something right. How naive. Do you honestly believe that this company always operates legally? Did it ever occur to you that if they operated within the law, they might not be so profitable and, therefore, desirable to people like you?
Have a nice day.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:37 pmFor those who are commending the low prices of Walmart — you might want to ask yourselves why they can offer such low prices.
One reason is because they often prevent workers from doing 40 hours of work a week so they don’t have to treat them as full-time employees. And of course there is the lack of health care, the cost of which Walmart passes on to the local taxpayers.
You say shop elsewhere. Hard to do when Walmart drives other businesses out of town, and makes the locals in small areas beholden to Walmart for employment. Also shopping elsewhere doesn’t mean my tax money isn’t going to pay for health services that the state gives Walmart employees because Walmart won’t do it themselves. Can I decide not to subsidize Walmart employees with my tax money? I don’t think so.
There’s a lot more to Walmart than a better deal on merchandise.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:38 pmLisa, your points are dead on. The problem is there is no incentive for consumers as far as a tax credit is concerned and consumer spending is the single largest component of our economy. We spend we just spend, but Corporations just by getting people to spend get tax breaks, hmmm.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:52 pmI think you also have to look at the states that have high immigrant communities, like Texas and realize they’re not complaining because even the illegals have to buy stuff. Unfortunately property taxes aren’t lowered even though the retail tax rate might be at 8.25%. You cant run an economy on gasoline taxes and walmart revenues, it just makes the books easier to keep for municipalities.People will vote with their feet and we did and couldn’t be happier, but the shadow of walmart is like the blimp, you’re not quite bothered by the sound when you hear it but you know it’s there and always seems to be on the horizon, as a reminder, to got to Target.
Wal-Mart better be careful what they ask for. There is no assurance that the employees they help register will vote their agenda.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:54 pmLisa, you made a few errors in your comment. Let me correct you.
One reason is because they often prevent workers from doing 40 hours of work a week so they don’t have to treat them as full-time employees.
File this under “be careful what you wish for.” The government mandated that full time workers receive benefits. Market forces drove EVERYONE including small and large businesses to reduce work hours to fall under the full-time hour cut-off.
You say shop elsewhere. Hard to do when Walmart drives other businesses out of town,
Wal-mart never drove anyone out of town. They build a store, and if SHOPPERS decided that they prefer to shop at Wal-mart than at other stores, then the SHOPPERS are the one driving the other businesses out of town.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:33 pmSorry, muckdog, but Wal-Mart has been known to move into a town and operate at a loss in order to drive the local stores out of business. They do not operate fairly. They take every advantage of their size and buying power and use them unfairly. And they do everything they can to stop their workers from unionizing, including lying to them. When some local meat workers managed to unionize in one store, Wal-mart decided to stop selling meat there and, effectively, destroyed the unionization effort.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:45 pmDS, I would believe the stories if only they produced some proof. If fraud was so wide-spread in 2000 and 2004 there must be some evidence SOMEWHERE. Before you spout, no I don’t want to wade through all the LLL bloggers that have “documented†proof of fraud. Also the ONLY reason that many counties switched from punch cards to voter machines was the loud and insistent whining of DEMOCRATS that some people are newer voting materials. If it were up to me every voter would have a biometric voter ID card and we would be able to use them over the Internet. But then there would be complaints of some people having dialup, some DSL, and some cable ISPs. Be that as it may, where do you see this great Democratic wave that will sweep them into control of Congress? I research the Left, Right, and Center swamis and nobody paints a picture of a Democratic takeover. We may lose some seats but probably not enough to lose control of either house.
September 19th, 2006 at 6:49 pmAlso the ONLY reason that many counties switched from punch cards to voter machines was the loud and insistent whining of DEMOCRATS that some people are newer voting materials.
Sorry, but this statement, besides the syntax errors, is completely false. One of the main reasons many counties switched was because of the Help America Vote Act. I doubt that you can find even a single county in this country that switched to electronic voting machines ONLY because Democrats were “whining”.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:01 pmWayne, unions are horrible for workers. The Ford workers and union “won” in their bargaining, and 1/3rd of them are losing their jobs because the company lost at the negotiating table. Now, Ford can’t compete with other automakers and has to slash costs, pensions, salaries, health benefits, etc.
When the company loses, the workers lose, too.
Oh, and Wal-mart doesn’t operate at a loss. Check out their SEC filings.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:09 pmAlso #35 Wayne, Wal-mart isn’t holding a gun to shoppers and demanding that they buy lower-cost merchandise. If you want to pay more for a hammer, you can still go to another store and buy the more expensive hammer. If shoppers decide to buy the hammer at Wal-mart, it’s not Wal-mart putting the other store out of business. It’s free markets.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:11 pmLOL I suppose Wal-Mart will force all their employees to become Republicans!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:45 pmI don’t understand why Democrats have such an issue with Wall Mart. It is a wonderful store. Registering people to vote is a good thing – why don’t we want to encourage that?
I shop Wall Mart often and I can tell you I am no party line Republican. I’ll vote for Olympia Snowe this fall and I held my nose for Bush in 2004, but I am independent and vote Democratic often. But for the life of me, I cannot square my views with Democrats on issues like this. Attacks on Wall Mart turn off voters who want a reason to throw the GOP out, but are scared of the liberal thought police on issues of culture.
September 19th, 2006 at 8:40 pmCriticism does scare criminals. Or anyone who is wrong to the core. Being wrong without any criticism will make it easier for evil to prevail! Happy Happy Joy Joy! And they won’t have any pesky conscience to bother them!…tis the way of the Republican.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:46 pm“liberal thought police” That’s funny, the idea of the thought police from the book 1984 were police who stopped thought, not ones that create thought, as liberals do.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:49 pm“I don’t understand why Democrats have such an issue with Wall Mart. ”
Can’t understand the word wages? Fair wages, can’t understand those 2 words? People who think people should be paid fairly for a hard day’s work is hard for you to understand? hahaha, you fools are so easy to destroy.
Lemme guess what the Republican mind is thinking right now: People being paid fairly, HEAVENS TO BETSY! NOW WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!
lol. twits.
September 19th, 2006 at 9:54 pmoops that should be “People who want people to be paid fairly, HEAVENS…….
Booga booga, Jutice, Booga Booga, Truth. ….haha, That probably made some Conservatives poop their pants.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:00 pmI love to shop at Wall-Mart… They should have a union for all the hard workers. Share the wealth.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:30 pmThe democrats generally go on emotion over intelligence, so that’s why some of these ramblings against Wal-mart, while very passionate, make very little sense. Wal-mart is a great company and a real American success story. Truth is, most of the folks who work at Wal-mart would be unemployable elsewhere. Except for maybe government jobs. LOL.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:46 pmIf we the people don’t like a business, we simply stop shopping and working there and they die. Walmart is obviously loved by most.
Roger_Roger just blew his cover as an political hack…nobody I know has ever said they LOVE Walmart, in fact they usually call it Wallyworld, and I live in the great red Republican state o Texas, they pay democrats and republicans BOTH dirt wages at Walmart..
Walmart is just trying to create a partisan issue where one really doesn’t exist..I mean any fool can go to walmart and see all the poor ‘liberals’ and those ‘Illegal Aliens’ shopping at Walmart. Oh, BTW, Unions don’t give a rat’s patootie what political party you are from.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:45 pmThe democrats generally go on emotion over intelligence, so that’s why some of these ramblings against Wal-mart, while very passionate, make very little sense. Comment by muckdog
LOL how do you explain the screeching chicken stuck in the fan belts mAnne Coulter?
September 19th, 2006 at 11:49 pmBesides that Arkansas is the home base of Walmart I think was Clintons state of Arkansas.
Lets stick with the corruption shall we? I mean everyone hates a corrupt SOB right?
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/453860p-381809c.html
FBI forced to triple fraud probe squads to keep up
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON – There is so much political corruption on Capitol Hill that the FBI has had to triple the number of squads investigating lobbyists, lawmakers and influence peddlers, the Daily News has learned.
For decades, only one squad in Washington handled corruption cases because the crimes were seen as local offenses handled by FBI field offices in lawmakers’ home districts.
But in recent years, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and other abuses of power and privilege have prompted the FBI to assign 37 agents full-time to three new squads in an office near Capitol Hill.
FBI Assistant Director Chip Burrus told The News yesterday that he wants to detail even more agents to the Washington field office for a fourth corruption squad because so much wrongdoing is being uncovered.
Oh and Roger_Roger I hope they catch alot of corrupt people, be they Democratic or Republican.
Roger Loves Walmart….sheesh, how cornball can one get??
September 19th, 2006 at 11:55 pmhttp://www.wal-martchina.com/english/walmart/history.htm
1992 Sam Walton passes away on April 5.
Sure Walmart is great if your an investor and care only about numbers: [2001 Wal-Mart has the biggest single day sales in history: US$1.25 billion on the day after Thanksgiving]
But if you care about people you would know;
http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/fact_sheets_and_backgrounder/walmart/sweat_shops.cfm
In his autobiography, Made in America: My Story founding Wal-Mart President, Sam Walton, proselytized “Buy American.” USA Today, August 14, 2001, reported that, “Wal-Mart has more than 1,107 international operations.” The newspaper also reports that, “Bangladesh workers earn as little as nine cents an hour making shirts for Wal-Mart.
Hypocritically, Wal-Mart ran a “Buy American” and “Buy Mexican” marketing campaigns simultaneously, all the while reinvesting its all-American dollars overseas.
Wal-Mart is the largest importer of Chinese goods. 10% of all Chinese imports are imported by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart even established its own global procurement division this year, abandoning the pretense to its traditional “buy American” campaign. This team searches the globe for the cheapest raw materials, manufacturers and shipping routes. They allow Wal-Mart to relocate factories from one country to the next in its endless quest to squeeze countries for lower wages and cheaper goods. (LA Times 12/03)
U.S. manufactures have been forced to cut good jobs and eliminate entire operations when Wal-Mart shifts to contractors with poverty-level wages. At Master Lock, 250 union workers lost their jobs when Wal-Mart dropped the company’s products and switched to an offshore competitor. (4/00)
Once again Greed at the investor end becomes a bad thing at the social end..
September 20th, 2006 at 12:04 amOne might wonder if the Wal-Mart shoppers might run out of money to pay for the gas to get to the store. Hmm. Maybe they are as sick of this crap as the rest of us.
September 20th, 2006 at 12:32 amI do NOT shop at Wal-Mart, because they treat their employees like crap, and I do NOT like China crap products either! The day that Wal-Mart goes bankrupt will be a holiday in the United States!
September 20th, 2006 at 1:50 am#36 – “where do you see this great Democratic wave that will sweep them into control of Congress? I research the Left, Right, and Center swamis and nobody paints a picture of a Democratic takeover. We may lose some seats but probably not enough to lose control of either house.”
RPS, I said there would be fewer Rep seats and more Dem seats. In fact, I specifically stated I doubt that control would change, but it’s a fact that most predictions (left, right AND center) are calling for a loss of 3-6 Rep Senate seats, a loss of 10-17 Rep House seats, and a loss of 7-8 Rep Governorships.
Here’s a link to a Right web site that calls for the fewest seats to change hands, but no change in majority party. It’ll make you feel better than the other sites. ;-)
http://www.electionprojection.com/elections2006.html
Since the 1850’s, when the Democrats and Republicans were the two major parties, the House has changed majority party 15 times. The Senate has changed majority party 15 times as well. Each time, the party that took over claimed the moral high ground and assumed that they would remain in power. Guess what? No single party remains in power forever in a Democracy.
I look forward to the next changing of the guard, simply because the current track record of Republican control has brought us bloated federal government, record setting debt, deficits higher than whores on crack, and more scandals than any time in the past. It’s all on record.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:58 amI work at Wal-Mart and don’t feel as though i’m treated like crap at all. as a matter of fact, I was a union worker for about 7 years and was laid off shortly after 09/11.
Wal-Mart hired me, gave me a good job where i’m rewarded — not for seniority — but for hard work, dedication.
After only a few years i’ve been given the opportunity to move into management and my family and I couldn’t be happier. We have a good employer who provides good benefits (we have health insurance with a $500 deductible – works well for us), and job security that far surpasses what I had when I worked for the airlines.
No complaints here. I love Wal-Mart and I stand up every Saturday and do the cheer to prove it!
September 20th, 2006 at 9:03 amI know that when I need to hire another employee and I don’t pay enough, I DON’T FIND AN EMPLOYEE. Thus, I then need to increase my hourly wage.
Walmart isn’t forcing anyone to work for them nor shop at there store. If Walmart builds a store and the people change there shopping habits from small town stores to the new Walmart, that is simply telling me that WE THE PEOPLE like Walmart more.
If you guys are correct and so many people hate Walmart and they don’t pay enough, I can only assume that Walmart doesn’t have shoppers and can’t find any employees to work for them.
Even if Walmart gets enough shoppers to drive the small business’ out, that still doesn’t mean they could find workers. Workers in America are always free to move to a different market in search of a job with better pay. Again, this all means that Walmart must be going under. I mean, if they are thriving and making money, your whole theory of Walmart is 100% wrong. We the people, not walmart, decide where to shop and where to work. If we the people don’t like Walmart, we don’t shop there, but we do shop there so WE LIKE THE STORE. Walmart also doesn’t seem to have any trouble find workers, thus they are paying enough. I as a business owner wouldn’t pay anymore then I had to either to secure a new worker. Shareholders would scream if there company was overpaying for workers. I know I would.
September 20th, 2006 at 9:04 amWalmart is making money by shoving it’s employee’s benefits onto the backs of the taxpayer instead of providing for it’s own employees’ welfare.
September 20th, 2006 at 2:45 pmWalmart has become a monopoly, squeezing it’s business “partners” into poverty level margins and it’s competitors into bankruptcy. RICO needs a new application, and I think Walmart is presenting itself as a perfect target.
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March 30th, 2008 at 4:36 amdsl isps
Interestingly, this was on CNN last week.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 amEric
Bravo! Finally a great blog.
April 6th, 2008 at 8:11 am