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Class warfare summed up in a simple joke (with an accompanying cartoon)

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Double J, Feb 28, 2011.

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Page 15 of 34
  1. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    I found Wal-Mart's annual financials. They made a profit of $14.375 billion last year, after all expenses. They have over 2 million employees:

    http://investors.walmartstores.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112761&p=irol-irhome

    http://cdn.walmartstores.com/sites/AnnualReport/2010/PDF/WMT_2010AR_FINAL.pdf

    I'll use $15 billion for simplicity's sake. Cut that profit down to $10 billion. The 2 million employees (Whom I'm including everyone, from the highest paid to the lowest paid) would get an extra $2,500 in their pocket, each. That's an extra $50/week, or $1.25 per hour, assuming a 40-hour workweek. Heck, cut out the top earners, figuring they make enough anyways, and only give it to 20-hour a week workers, and they'd be making an extra $2.50 an hour, all the while still making $10 billion per year.
     
    Baron Scicluna, Mar 2, 2011
    #169
  2. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Walmart isn't owned by Sam Walton's family, Baron. It is publicly traded. Its shareholders own it. Mike Duke is the CEO of the company. The Walton's might own a big stake in the company. And they might be a wealthy family. But they can't unilaterally dictate decisions for the company. There is a Board of Directors. There is a management team. And there are other shareholders whose interest is to profit from their shares.

    Do those shareholders owe it to your sense of right and wrong, to reach into their pockets to pay a subsidy to others, too? What about someone whose whole retirement is tied up in a pension that is invested in Walmart shares? Does that person owe it to your sense of right and wrong to forgo some of their retirement money to pay the subsidy?

    Your posts are basic populism. Class warfare. Push aside the fact that the company is publicly traded, not owned by the Walton family. The Waltons are wealthy. So your perception is that they should reach into their pockets and raise wages at Walmart because it's the right thing to do. Fine enough. It's always easy to look for the richest guy and say, "He should be paying more." But in effect what you are advocating is still telling someone else he owes it to others to give away his earnings. It's always easy to tell others what to do with their money.
     
    The Big Ragu, Mar 2, 2011
    #170
  3. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Once again. Making a profit is not a BAD thing. It's what publicly traded companies are supposed to do. It's why people invest in those companies and become shareholders. To profit.

    Why do Walmart's shareholders owe it to anyone to NOT try to maximize profits? It's why they invested in the company.

    And do shareholders of any company that is profitable owe it others to pass along their profits to them?

    This line of thought is beyond reason.

    If you want to subsidize people who don't have a lot make that argument. But them give a better scheme than, "Let's take money from the shareholders of Walmart and give it to the employees of Walmart." That's not the economic system in this country. And anything approaching that has always been a failed economic system. That kind of thing stunts economic growth and ends up hurting the people you want to help.
     
    The Big Ragu, Mar 2, 2011
    #171
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Wal-Mart is one of the biggest welfare leeches in the nation (in fact, the world).

    Forget the fat black welfare mama hopping in her Cadillac to go buy vodka, lottery tickets and nachos off her food stamps, Wal-Mart fucks governments across the nation out of hundreds of billions of dollars every year in basic services they refuse to provide employees, fobbing them onto government assistance rolls instead.

    The corporate-controlled media of course runs interference for them every step of the way.
     
    Starman, Mar 2, 2011
    #172
  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Um. Walmart paid $7 billion in taxes last year. Baron actually linked to the Investor Relations site. But going there and finding the 10K is much harder than spewing that nonsense. Its pre-tax profit was $22 billion. The after-tax profit was $15 billion.

    Care to show your math, or are those kinds of silly posts all there is?
     
    The Big Ragu, Mar 2, 2011
    #173
  6. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    LOUD NOISES!
     
    YGBFKM, Mar 2, 2011
    #174
  7. Care Bear

    Care Bear Guest

    Ragu, a logical man ain't got no business posting in this circus, apparently. Did Charlie Sheen commandeer everyone's usernames?
     
    Care Bear, Mar 2, 2011
    #175
  8. Charlie Sheen

    Charlie Sheen New Member

    If you borrowed my brain for five seconds, you'd be like, "Dude! Can't handle it, unplug this bastard!" It fires in a way that's maybe not from, uh ... this terrestrial realm.
     
    Charlie Sheen, Mar 2, 2011
    #176
  9. YGBFKM

    YGBFKM Guest

    Are you posting while napping?
     
    YGBFKM, Mar 2, 2011
    #177
  10. Charlie Sheen

    Charlie Sheen New Member

    No, I'm posting while winning. Duh.
     
    Charlie Sheen, Mar 2, 2011
    #178
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Great stuff Ragu. To all of you Walmart bashers I trust that you don't shop at Amazon. I would submit that they do more damage to states than Walmart.

    Since they don't collect sales tax they are costing states millions in lost tax revenue. At least Walmart is employing a lot of people all over the country.
     
    Boom_70, Mar 2, 2011
    #179
  12. Magic In The Night

    Magic In The Night Active Member

    Why would you ask that? Most of my family are Republicans and some of my friends. I don't think less of them, I just think they are misinformed. In some cases, I can see why they're Republican. They all make a lot of money and so the decisions made by government and its corporate puppets in Washington benefit them. What I don't understand is people who don't make a lot of money supporting the Republican decisions. I do like some Republicans a great deal. I just don't agree with them. And whether it makes a difference or not, I continue to boycott products of companies whose philosophies and actions I disagree with.
     
    Magic In The Night, Mar 2, 2011
    #180
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