Wal-Mart Fights Maryland Law Mandating Minimus Level of Health Benefit Spending

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Comments

  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    when the citizens start becoming the first priority over corporations, I see a lot of good happening. you don't agree...I already know.
    I agree with you. But the government's role should be in taxation and wealth distribution via social programs. Implimenting this law at the federal level will raise prices hurting the poor more so the rich. And I thought it was the poor you were trying to protect!!!
    It will also chase jobs out of the country and deter new investment. In general both these have a larger negative impact on the poor than the rich. And I thought it was the poor you were trying to protect!!!
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • ryan198
    ryan198 Posts: 1,015
    farfromglorified wrote:
    I do have a penis...thanks for asking. Can you tell me what my penis has done for me in this context?



    I am caucasion. Can you tell me what my whiteness has done for me in this context?



    I was born in a small town. I went to private school. The first is luck. The second was earned, but not by me.



    Poor. Not abject poor, but poor. Single mother who worked her ass off.



    Hetero, unmarried.



    And to imply that an average has any bearing on my direct singular experience is a little insulting, thanks.



    That's fair.



    Not as long as people keep supporting it, no.

    Having a penis gives you an advantage given that historically men have ruled this world, as such, given this past people CERTAINLY make unspoken assumptions about others based on if they are male and/or female.

    Whiteness gives you the advantage of not being looked at as an
    automatic suspect by the cops, , it allows you to be every race and no race at once (ever seen a black band-aid or ace bandage?...how many black business-owners did you know growing up vs. black athletes? that's just the start of it) it allows you to walk into a room and (because of averages) gain the respect of people who don't even know you because of assumptions they make.

    Private school vs. Public school - you earned that? that's an advantage.

    hetero vs. homo- if you were openly gay would other people just work for you, and or do business with you? you can flip it around, but being straight is definitely an advantage.

    You may not think averages affect you, but they certainly do b/c people make assumptions based on these averages. Given that the averages tilt in your favor you definitely had advantages over "other" people in this world just based on having an xy chromosome, white skin, and being straight...sorry to break it to you but you didn't earn EVERYTHING.
  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    how do you suggest we go about educating people about walmart apart form what we are already doing? i mean something that will actually work on a large scale.
    Well the number one place where "love thy neighbour" is taught seems to be heavily frowned upon on this board, and school is certainly no place for this idea or so it seems.
    That leaves you the same method as everyone else has to get ideas out. Advertise, inform consumers through the very mediums that Wal-Mart uses.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    surferdude wrote:
    That leaves you the same method as everyone else has to get ideas out. Advertise, inform consumers through the very mediums that Wal-Mart uses.

    We have local protests at our Wal-Mart as well every week.
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    surferdude wrote:
    You know what will really make me laugh. When Wal-Mart figures out that it can hit the 8% mark just by providing a very lavish plan to a select group of management employees.

    Wal-Mart wants to keep it's employees being it's customer base. Providing healthcare benefits only helps these employees shop elsewhere. Wal-Mart will find a way arond this. Wal-Mart will find a way to protect it's customer base. They are very good at playing on the edges of the rule and winning in business. I'm sure they'll succeed again, it's what they do.

    Wal-Mart is not the problem, only the symptom. Spending time and money attacking the symptom and not the problem is a waste of resources and neither time nor money well spent. But it does alleviate a lot of people's guilt by the sounds of this board.


    People trying to do what they can to fix this horrible problem is a good thing. It would of course help more if companies like walmart didn't get unneeded tax breaks but of course no bitching from you guys where that is concerned. Enjoying your laugh about walmart continuing to find way to screw the working class...the backbone of our country or at least used to be now they are nothing more than expendable semi slaves who deserve nothing but the scrap walmart might toss them....we've got our use out of them.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • ryan198
    ryan198 Posts: 1,015
    surferdude wrote:
    and school is certainly no place for this idea or so it seems.
    not when places like Wal-Mart and Fed Ex donate loads of money to schools and decide who sits as chair in departments.
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    farfromglorified wrote:
    We have local protests at our Wal-Mart as well every week.

    haven't been hearing about too many of those
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    ryan198 wrote:
    Having a penis gives you an advantage given that historically men have ruled this world, as such, given this past people CERTAINLY make unspoken assumptions about others based on if they are male and/or female.

    Whiteness gives you the advantage of not being looked at as an
    automatic suspect by the cops, , it allows you to be every race and no race at once (ever seen a black band-aid or ace bandage?...how many black business-owners did you know growing up vs. black athletes? that's just the start of it) it allows you to walk into a room and (because of averages) gain the respect of people who don't even know you because of assumptions they make.

    Private school vs. Public school - you earned that? that's an advantage.

    hetero vs. homo- if you were openly gay would other people just work for you, and or do business with you? you can flip it around, but being straight is definitely an advantage.

    You may not think averages affect you, but they certainly do b/c people make assumptions based on these averages. Given that the averages tilt in your favor you definitely had advantages over "other" people in this world just based on having an xy chromosome, white skin, and being straight...sorry to break it to you but you didn't earn EVERYTHING.
    Why show farfromglorified or anyone be held accountable for the ignorance of others????
    farfromglorified probably promotes a level of respect for the individual that is higher than anyone else's on this board. He is all about freedom of the individual.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    surferdude wrote:
    Well the number one place where "love thy neighbour" is taught seems to be heavily frowned upon on this board, and school is certainly no place for this idea or so it seems.
    That leaves you the same method as everyone else has to get ideas out. Advertise, inform consumers through the very mediums that Wal-Mart uses.

    loving and caring for your neighbors is a grand thing to teach at school and doesn't have to have a damn thing to do with religon.

    advertising costs money we don't have
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • ryan198
    ryan198 Posts: 1,015
    surferdude wrote:
    Why show farfromglorified or anyone be held accountable for the ignorance of others????
    farfromglorified probably promotes a level of respect for the individual that is higher than anyone else's on this board. He is all about freedom of the individual.
    Part of fighting for freedom of the individual is understanding the advantages and disadvanteges each individual has because of ignorance. Plus he implied that he had EARNED everything he got in life, and that's not the case given the ignorance of others.
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    ryan198 wrote:
    Having a penis gives you an advantage given that historically men have ruled this world, as such, given this past people CERTAINLY make unspoken assumptions about others based on if they are male and/or female.

    Who has my penis ruled? What assumptions have been made and by whom?
    Whiteness gives you the advantage of not being looked at as an
    automatic suspect by the cops, ,

    Ok. But I've been arrested before.
    it allows you to be every race and no race at once (ever seen a black band-aid or ace bandage?...

    Ok.
    how many black business-owners did you know growing up vs. black athletes?

    A few, but not as many as black athletes.
    that's just the start of it) it allows you to walk into a room and (because of averages) gain the respect of people who don't even know you because of assumptions they make.

    So in other words all my customers shop with me because I have a penis, I'm white, and because of black atheletes? Interesting.
    Private school vs. Public school - you earned that? that's an advantage.

    I didn't earn that. My parents did.
    hetero vs. homo- if you were openly gay would other people just work for you, and or do business with you?

    Certainly. I have gay employees and their workers seem to be ok with that.
    you can flip it around, but being straight is definitely an advantage.

    Sure. But I can't think of a single thing it's primarily responsible for.
    You may not think averages affect you, but they certainly do b/c people make assumptions based on these averages. Given that the averages tilt in your favor you definitely had advantages over "other" people in this world just based on having an xy chromosome, white skin, and being straight...sorry to break it to you but you didn't earn EVERYTHING.

    I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm simply saying that it was a tiny factor in my life, not a major one.
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    surferdude wrote:
    Why show farfromglorified or anyone be held accountable for the ignorance of others????
    farfromglorified probably promotes a level of respect for the individual that is higher than anyone else's on this board. He is all about freedom of the individual.


    he is all about himself, while claiming that it could work for everyone. it can't. everything you do in life leaves a footprint on this earth and effects those around you. 100% freedom to do what you wish can never work.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • ryan198
    ryan198 Posts: 1,015
    farfromglorified wrote:
    I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm simply saying that it was a tiny factor in my life, not a major one.

    Tell that to the poor, inner-city black kid who's hanging out on the street downstairs from my house...I'm pretty sure he'd rather have what you were born with than what he was born with.
  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    loving and caring for your neighbors is a grand thing to teach at school and doesn't have to have a damn thing to do with religon.
    It is a central tenet of more than one religion. I would be hard pressed to find a better text book than the New Testament, especially the first five chapters, that espouses this idealogy better.
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    advertising costs money we don't have
    Then fundraise. If your idea is a good one people will donate. Start small and work your way big. It works, just look at Wal-Mart.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    haven't been hearing about too many of those

    Then start one.
  • surferdude
    surferdude Posts: 2,057
    ryan198 wrote:
    Tell that to the poor, inner-city black kid who's hanging out on the street downstairs from my house...I'm pretty sure he'd rather have what you were born with than what he was born with.
    Then lets hope that he/she wants enough to provide it for his/her children. Walk the talk, invite him over for dinner. Show an interest in his life, care for him. Become a Big Brother to the very people you say you want to help. Coach inner-city teams. Coaches are a bigger influence on kids than teachers.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    surferdude wrote:
    I agree with you. But the government's role should be in taxation and wealth distribution via social programs. Implimenting this law at the federal level will raise prices hurting the poor more so the rich. And I thought it was the poor you were trying to protect!!!
    It will also chase jobs out of the country and deter new investment. In general both these have a larger negative impact on the poor than the rich. And I thought it was the poor you were trying to protect!!!

    You act as if I'm not against exploitation and outsourcing. This problem is huge and has many fronts that people are doing all they can to address.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    Abookamongstthemany wrote:
    it's already a low stat.

    Do you know why????
  • farfromglorified
    farfromglorified Posts: 5,700
    ryan198 wrote:
    Tell that to the poor, inner-city black kid who's hanging out on the street downstairs from my house...I'm pretty sure he'd rather have what you were born with than what he was born with.

    Ok. But it's not going to change for either of us so we work with what we have. I didn't get where I am because I'm white, straight, and have a dick. The other white, straight, penis-enabled humans who aren't where I am are proof of that.
  • Abookamongstthemany
    Abookamongstthemany Posts: 8,209
    surferdude wrote:
    It is a central tenet of more than one religion. I would be hard pressed to find a better text book than the New Testament, especially the first five chapters, that espouses this idealogy better.

    I'm saying you don't have to use religon to teach this. It doesn't which religous text portrays it the best. I'm agnostic and I learned this just fine.
    surferdude wrote:
    Then fundraise. If your idea is a good one people will donate. Start small and work your way big. It works, just look at Wal-Mart.

    They have billions to counter us with. People have been doing these kinds of things for years and I'm still not seeing anything stopping the likes of Walmart yet. Of course it's still worth the fight but we need to see some results NOW!
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde

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