Retail giant Walmart to raise wages for US staff

[luckytxn 2,264]

Chefs can make some bucks.

Oh, I know there are some chefs that make that and well over, depending on the area and the quality of their restaurant. Just ribbing lost since he claims to know of such a place in his neighborhood.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Odd though that the GPI study itself makes no such claim and does, in fact, come up with a much smaller consumer price impact.

The key terms here are "cumulative" and "by". That means that this $2,329 per household savings has been accrued from 1985 through 2004 - that's a 20 year period. And it talks about the all consumer prices as measured by the CPI - that would include items such as housing, education and transportation that Wal-Mart doesn't even offer and would thus arguably not have much impact on. Yes, I can see why Wal-Mart would want to tout that study - which it commissioned - but I'd also take it with a big ole' grain of salt.

Now, none of this says anything about the wage depression that Wal-Mart's expansion has also brought about. I am quite certain that when you look at the net effect, the impact of Wal-Mart's expansion on American living standards will be negligible at best.

Yeah, I just don't understand how people can miss how the likes of Walmart have helped export so many American jobs, and then claim that Americans are better off thanks to Walmart.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Soon people will be moving if not already i could be wrong moving out of California the rent keeps going up no one would be able to afford the rent in California no matter what the an hour wage is.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Soon people will be moving if not already i could be wrong moving out of California the rent keeps going up no one would be able to afford the rent in California no matter what the an hour wage is.

Living gets cheaper the farther north and east you move. San Francisco with a minimum wage of $13/hour? Unless you want a roach infested fire trap 10' x 15' room with a common bath down the hall at $900/month or more (and those are getting harder to find), forget about it. However, up around Crescent City, you can rent a nice mobile home for less than that in a fairly nice park..

[unsmiley 111]

Even if that is true, I'd rather not save that money and buy goods made in America and foster employment in our country. It does me no good to support sweatshops in some god forsaken place in China, and in the end I feel it'll cost us all a lot more than $2K per family to keep the habit.

You are fortunate to be able and willing to forgo discount prices. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have that luxury.

Odd though that the GPI study itself makes no such claim and does, in fact, come up with a much smaller consumer price impact.

The key terms here are "cumulative" and "by". That means that this $2,329 per household savings has been accrued from 1985 through 2004 - that's a 20 year period. And it talks about the all consumer prices as measured by the CPI - that would include items such as housing, education and transportation that Wal-Mart doesn't even offer and would thus arguably not have much impact on. Yes, I can see why Wal-Mart would want to tout that study - which it commissioned - but I'd also take it with a big ole' grain of salt.

Now, none of this says anything about the wage depression that Wal-Mart's expansion has also brought about. I am quite certain that when you look at the net effect, the impact of Wal-Mart's expansion on American living standards will be negligible at best.

You almost never take facts or studies that others present at face value. Always have to parse the language, attack the source, nitpick about something, etc. The only information you unconditionally accept is that which backs your socialist leaning mindset.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You are fortunate to be able and willing to forgo discount prices. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have that luxury.

You almost never take facts or studies that others present at face value. Always have to parse the language, attack the source, nitpick about something, etc. The only information you unconditionally accept is that which backs your socialist leaning mindset.

I looked at the very study that was presented to back up the nonsense claim that Walmart saves the American family upwards of two grand a year. The study actually makes no such claim and comes to no such conclusion. It bothers you that your claim has been exposed for the nonsense it is and that's understandable. I certainly seem to have hit a nerve here. Sweet.

[JohnR! 5,495]

That may be true to some extent but I also think it is a self fulfilling prophecy. The more jobs we send away, the lower the wages for most, which drives them to shop for cr4ppy stuff at WalMart. If we bought more American products perhaps more people would have jobs and be able to afford not having to shop at WalMart.

You are fortunate to be able and willing to forgo discount prices. Unfortunately, most Americans do not have that luxury.

[JohnR! 5,495]

That is already happening. Many are moving out of California driven by high real estate prices and low wages in non-technical sectors. I can't imagine how a family of 4 would be able to live for less than $300K p.a. and modestly so, at it.

Soon people will be moving if not already i could be wrong moving out of California the rent keeps going up no one would be able to afford the rent in California no matter what the an hour wage is.

Edited February 22, 2015 by JohnR!

[LibCampFireClub 635]

[GandD 5,966]

That is because Walmart has successfully thwarted being unionized. Democrats hate that. On the other hand, if the unions actually did their jobs instead of spending all their time with issue advocacy, they may have more support in the retail industry. One friend got a job at a supermarket chain, and even before she started working, she already owed dues to the union. The store only gave her less than 20 hours a week, split shifts, all kind of terrible treatment. The union did nothing for her, except collect dues.

Not all democrats are pro union. I know I'm not.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Not all democrats are pro union. I know I'm not.

Yes, but almost all unions are pro Democrat, even though not all the membership is. That does make it difficult to recruit good workers at the local level, especially in the trade unions.

[Not a Tailor 1,370]

Y'know, WalMart is screwing over Canada, too.

Let me tell you a little story about the town I grew up in. It's a small town set in the middle of farmland. I lived in one of the small farming villages that surrounded it. When I was very small, there were two major industries. Manufacturing and farming. There was no WalMart.

Well, wouldn't you know it, one day there was a cow at the other end of Canada discovered with mad cow (a cow that had recently been imported from the US, I might add) and the price of beef plummeted. Monsanto took over the local corn farms. The small farms I'd grown up with began to be taken over by corporations with the latest machinery and chemicals, bought for a fraction of their value while farming families struggled to make ends meet with corn not selling because people weren't growing cattle. These families had never known anything but their family farms and they were left living on the little portion of land that the corporations had left them with, investing in small businesses and trying to farm other things such as strawberries. Of course, in spite of using organic farming methods, they couldn't be certified organic due to proximity to Monsanto corn, so they couldn't make enough money to stay sustainable. These people then found work in the factories.

WalMart moved in about this time.

Within five years of us getting our very first WalMart, the glass factory shut down. Two years after that, a car parts factory shut down. Two years after that, a huge printing company shut down.

WalMart built itself a larger store, twice as big as the previous one.

The year I left the area, the commercial appliance factory shut down. The jobs had all been outsourced overseas. Overnight, people went from having careers they'd been in thirty, forty years, that they were planning to retire from, to having no job at all. They hadn't job hunted in decades and no one was going to hire someone back into manufacturing elsewhere at their age. Their pension wasn't going to be enough to live on. Going back to school and coming out a new graduate at 60, when retirement age is 65 wasn't going to get them a job either. Without jobs, they couldn't afford to relocate. They couldn't afford to move to the cities and look for minimum wage jobs. They had families.

The cost of living being lower there, they chose to stay and, as one, they turned to WalMart and the other retail stores in the area for jobs. They aren't unambitious. They aren't stupid. They're poor. They're dirt poor. This is a community that has lost everything, but the people there don't have the MONEY to move, the money to invest in themselves and move up in the world.

And so the retail stores began closing. First one mall closed and was torn down and a Giant Tiger (discount store) came in. The local discount grocery store took up the other half of that lot. When last I was there, the fast food joints were sitting derelict. The second mall is half-empty, its largest retail spaces sitting without tenants because no one could compete with WalMart. A dollar store opened up across the street from the second mall and a lot of people do a lot of their grocery shopping there. The restaurants near that mall were all going out of business when last I was there.

But WalMart is doing great! There are huge lineups whenever they post a help wanted ad! They're saving people oodles of money with each purchase!

Too bad the manufacturing is gone because everyone has to meet WalMart prices and has therefore sent the manufacturing overseas, so there aren't any other jobs there, huh? I guess that's just a lack of ambition.

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

Not all democrats are pro union. I know I'm not.

you need more shock treatment.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Who can rent a $1500 + a month apartment not many in CA unless you have three jobs and a roomate.